The Austin Kitties
How Spot, Frodo and Benedict survived the Polar Vortex of 2021
Guest blog by Roxanne Coyne
In mid-February, we went through a stretch of at least six days where the temperature never got above freezing at our new home in Austin, Texas. One day it never got above 5F.
The cats were freaked out from the moment the first white stuff fell. It snowed and snowed and snowed and it never thawed out. It got colder and colder, and the snow turned to ice, and then more ice fell on top of the old ice and the entire world turned into a huge, frozen skating rink.
The cats are California natives and all the snow and ice made them exceedingly nervous. They could hear their paws crunching on the ground and ice and tree branches crashing down. Every time I opened the door to feed them they would run away, spooked. I don’t think they liked the sound of my footsteps on the ice or maybe they were scared of all the extra clothes and hats I was wearing. We almost never saw the cats during that entire stretch of time.
At night, they all huddled in their enclosure, but soon as I’d go out to feed them they would flee. Sometimes they didn’t even eat their food. I’d put food out in the morning and by noon it was frozen solid. So was their water. Frozen SOLID.
I feared the cats would all freeze to death. I wanted to bring them inside,but that was NOT going to happen. So I did my best to keep them warm. The cats have two kitty condos – one single and one double – with heating pads on the floor. I added plenty of extra insulation to the condos, both inside and out, but the power was out for the better part of six days so the heating pads didn’t work. It must have been FREEZING in there! Texas is NOT set up for sub-freezing temperatures.
This photo of the three cats was taken the day the big freeze finally broke. It was the first time in many days that they were at the door awaiting their breakfast. I breathed a great sigh of relief to see them. They (and we!) had survived the polar vortex!
