We also have two more cats. These animals live outside.  One, is Huggy's brother and a Main Coon Cat. We call this cat "Teddy Bear."   The other is a little domestic short hair, grey with stripes.  He is a little guy and quite shy.  We decided to give him the unlikely name of "Tiger."

I would like to say that these "outdoor cats" are a bit worldlier than our indoor cats, but they are not.  We used to try and feed them outside. This was a mistake.  The more aggressive cats from next door would always know when our cats were being fed. Not just cats, but raccoons and possums also saw this as an opportunity to supplement their diets with a bit of cat food.  They would rush over, chaise our cats away and eat until the food disappeared.  Our cats started losing out to the neighborhood critters.  This was an untenable situation and our only solution was to feed them indoors. 

These cats were not indoor cats.  They did not like being in enclosed spaces, and they also were not house trained.  They would grab their food and leave. This was fine with me and the cats quickly got used to the routine of eating inside and then going out.

Our cold weather arrived this year, and my wife was concerned for the outdoor cats.  She found a foam rubber cat bed that was on sale.  It had a pseudo sheepskin cover and it looked warm.  She put it in a large covered card board box and the cats immediately found it as a great place to sleep.

I thought that this solved the problem, and I was quite happy about it.
The temperatures continued to fall, and my wife looked at the out side thermometer.

It was around 12:30 AM and I was in the process of climbing into bed.

"Bill" said my wife.  "It's below 20 degrees outside.  The cats are really cold, what are we going to do?"

I groaned: "We can't let them in the house.  They aren't box trained."

"Isn't there some way to give them some heat?"  Asked my wife.  "I've seen people use a light bulb."

"I guess I can try something," said I.  "What can I use to hold the light?"

"How about the desk lamp," replied my wife. 

I got up, and hunted for our desk lamp.  I located an outdoor extension cord and plugged the extension into our outdoor patio outlet.  I then set the lamp in front of their cat bed.  I looked at the sleeping cats and turned the light on. 

"YOW!"  Now you see them, now you don't.  The cats disappeared. One moment I had two sleeping cats in a warm cat bed, and the next moment, I turned them into fear crazed animals hiding in the darkness of my back yard. 

I muttered a phrase that my wife would not have approved of, and returned to a warm house.

I went upstairs and got ready for bed.

My wife asked: "Are the cats all right?"

"I don't know," said I.  "The cats didn't seem to like the lamp."

"Where are they?" 

"I don't know, probably out in the back yard."

My wife got up, put on her robe, and went out to minister to her cats.

It was close to 1:30 AM when she returned.  "Well?" I asked.

"They were scared to death of that light," responded my wife.   "I put it in front of the patio door, they like sitting by the door and looking into the house.  I hope that they will get used to it."

I yawned, "I am sure they will.  Now let's get to sleep…"

I know my wife loves animals, and I love them too.  It took several days, the cats finally got used to the warming light… and it occurred to me that perhaps they were better off in their cat bed without it.  Cats do have fur coats…

Still, we have always been suckers for animals….  We love Gods creatures and sometimes they even love us…