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tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4504
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:23 pm: | 
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I am seriously concerned that my cat may have some mental defect - is that an oxymoron - cat with mental defect. Anyway, I came home yesterday evening. The house was about 200 degrees but felt warmer due to humidity. I found the cat, of her own free will, lounging in the third floor where the temperature was actually closer to 300 degrees. Given the other discussion about the merits of shaving cats in the summertime, I am concerned that my cat may be abnormal.
Has anybody experienced this sort of thing and, if so, what remedial steps did you take? |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 1691
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:34 pm: |
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the way cats behave I am positive that it thinks the same about you (no offense, its cat thought).
You know its their world, we only live in it. |
Catastrophe
Citizen
Username: Cat
Post Number: 88
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:36 pm: |
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There is nothing wrong with your cat. I also prefer temperatures over 100 degrees if possible. In fact, last night I had to search out some warmer temps when my humans returned to the house and turned on that cold-air thingy. I headed straight for the front porch, where the early evening temperatures were above 90 degrees. A little cool for me, but a lot better than the ice box environment the humans prefer. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8411
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 12:42 pm: |
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Mine used to do the same thing. When she reached senior status, I would lock her in the basement with water for her own good. Well, no, not like that. The water was in a bowl. I didn't flood the basement.
I worried about her getting dehydated since she was on subcu fluids. She could sit in the window in a sunbeam, it was cooler but not A/C cool and I didn't worry as much. |
Ms. Cooper
Citizen
Username: Ms_cooper
Post Number: 88
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 1:02 pm: |
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In this oppressive heat, my guys like to lounge in the direct sunlight for hours on end and then look at me like they are about to melt. You can tell what time it is by which piece of furniture they're sitting on--kind of like a sundial with a 5:00 am breakfast habit. They remind me of people that go to Florida in August and complain about how hot it is.
I don't think they care for air conditioning but are in AWE of the fan (it doesn't take much).
I just keep putting ice cubes in their water and make sure they are kept hydrated. Beyond that, I can't really enforce the no-direct-sunlight-in-heatwave-conditions policy. |
crossroads
Citizen
Username: Crossroads
Post Number: 151
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 1:20 pm: |
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Mine prefers the heat. Complains when the AC is on. Has direct access to the basement where it is much cooler, but only uses that for the necessary. She thinks she is a big game cat from the Serengeti: (FMI http://www.serengeti.org/). |
Joanne G
Citizen
Username: Joanne
Post Number: 354
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 1:47 pm: |
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Don't you people close your curtains when it's hot during the daytime? I'm asking in polite but tired tones (it's nearly 4 a.m here and I can't sleep).
In southern parts of Australia we do close windows and curtains/blinds during the day Mediterranean style to keep the heat out; at night we open everything up for a cooler breeze. However when I lived in Queensland (sub-tropical and more like what you're experiencing how only for longer periods - like up to 6 months of the year) they didn't close up the windows, they built their houses elevated from the ground so air could circulate underneath to help the cooling process, and I kept the curtains/blinds half-drawn. Those houses also have very wide verandahs and people almost live on them in hot weather - you usually find cats under the house, on the verandah or somewhere high pretending to be in the African or Asian tropics and hanging out for a breeze. |
CLK
Supporter
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 2342
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 2:15 pm: |
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I close the curtains during the day, but if Mr. CLK happens to be home he will open them up again. He is normally the most environmentally-conscious, energy-saving guy around, but he likes natural light. Our house doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight (at least on the main floor) so even then it's not too bad.
As to the cat - she is a heat-seeking feline, and loves this hot weather. Like tjohn's cat, she hangs out upstairs where it is brutally hot. I think it's actually 400 degrees in our upstairs .... even with all the curtains drawn.
During the winter she hangs out in the furnace room - the rest of our house stays pretty cold (ref what I said about Mr. CLK ... we wear sweaters). She even will lie on TOP of the furnace if it isn't actually on, and hops down when it gets too hot.
As Calvin said re: Hobbs, "all that fur must be purely decorative." |
tjohn
Supporter
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 4506
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 2:31 pm: |
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This all supports my long-held view that cats are lizards with fur as opposed to mammals. They do nothing but lounge about all day in the warmest places they can find. Unlike lizards, cats have learned to feign affection when they want something such as food or a neck rub. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8416
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 3:17 pm: |
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We don't put shades down unless absolutely necessary. The same natural light thing. In the bedroom, we have top down shades for light and privacy. When The Monster was a baby, he did not like the fact that the window over the radiator had a shade pulled down. So he made himself a window by eating a hole at his preferred bird-viewing height.
We had a cat who loved A/C. When we put the window unit in the bedroom, it rested over the radiator (same radiator with the cat window referrenced above). She'd sit with her face in it, letting it blow on her chin and whiskers. |
mim
Citizen
Username: Mim
Post Number: 645
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 3:42 pm: |
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Thread drift alert -- where did you get those top-down shades, greenetree? I have searched for them without success.
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greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8420
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 3:53 pm: |
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Blinds To Go and Smith & Wesson or whatever they are called.
Smith & Noble. That's it. |
combustion
Citizen
Username: Spontaneous
Post Number: 253
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 3:58 pm: |
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Um, I know Smith & Wesson make guns and handcuffs. Are they branching out into home decor? |
mim
Citizen
Username: Mim
Post Number: 646
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 4:10 pm: |
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Thank you,
-M
(Bullet proof shades?) |
musicme
Citizen
Username: Musicme
Post Number: 1732
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 4:27 pm: |
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Smith and Wesson shades, for when Realtors are doing drive-by's |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 2083
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 8:31 pm: |
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And this is how they maintain their body temperature when they think you're not paying attention:
 |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8427
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 8:35 pm: |
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Mine don't care if we're paying attention. They expect us to move the tall water bowl to a convenient spot on the dresser.
This morning, The Monster nudged TS out of a chair and proceeded to curl up and go to sleep on it. |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 2086
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 8:40 pm: |
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What I find fascinating is that TS got up! |
Michaela
Citizen
Username: Mayquene
Post Number: 208
Registered: 1-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 9:40 pm: |
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Cat could be dumber. My friend's cat got her paw stuck in her ear. The other one, as a kitten, used her claws to climb up the drapes but didn't know how to get down.
We should start a "stupid thing my cat did" thread. See Cerebus screw with that! |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 8431
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 9:52 pm: |
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Oh, he'll find a way, I'm sure. It would probably be emotionally abusive to pets.
Las- I said the same thing. She claims that she thought he was looking for a toy and was just temporarily getting out of his way.
BTW - the poor thing was just cowering behind the couch. He's afraid of thunder. It's strange, because of all our cats, only the gray ones have been afraid of thunder. |
las
Citizen
Username: Las
Post Number: 2089
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 9:55 pm: |
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Only my gray one is afraid of thunder, too... |
LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 2070
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 10:26 pm: |
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I have two cats - one runs to the far reaches of the underground (aka basement) when the thunder hit. The other one - we opened the front door for her (there's a full view storm door there) and she couldn't get close enough to the storm - she pushed her body against the door and just watched the lightning and rain as the thunder roared... |
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