Here's an idea you can pass along to other cat colony caregivers...
Bottom Line? Serve Your Cats Warm Food
Freezing winter temperatures had me thinking of ways to (literally) serve my cats better. Here's what I came up with. (This applies to canned wet food - obviously.)
I feed my colony cats using heavy glass serving bowls (see link below). The glass itself is an insulator. I warm the glass bowls with a heated floor mat (again, linked below).
Here's the scenario: I feed the cats and then return a couple of hours later to retrieve the dirty bowls. (I don't leave the bowls out too long for fear of attracting daytime insects and nighttime predators.) When I get back home I wash the bowls (including scalding with boiling water) (a garbage disposal is a must-have tool for this job), dry them, and sit them on the floor warming mat. I then choose the canned cat foods for the next meal, and place the cans in the bowls unopened. I cover lightly with the bowl's lid. The can heats up nicely over the next few hours until it is time to open the cans for serving the next meal. Voila!! Warm cat food!
NUTRIUPS Glass Casserole Dishes with Lids
COZY PRODUCTS Heated Rubber Mat
This mat contains an electric heating element that produces uniform radiant heat. By enclosing the heating element in rubber, it eliminates the danger of shock. It is designed to meet strict TUV standards, and operates silently to maintain a noise-free environment.
IMPORTANT: Although the mat itself is thermostatically controlled to maintain the heat at a constant temperature, I have found that the lowest temperature setting is still too warm for my use. Plug it into a Table Top Plug-In Lamp Dimmer spec'd to the correct wattage, and decrease the heat to your liking.
