Conference misery::feline_v1

suggestions for keeping kitties cool:

	1) float an ice cube or two in the water dish...very refreshing
	   on a hot day.  And, of course, keep plenty of fresh water
	   available.

	2) take a wet washcloth and get the cat's head wet....really, it
	   works.  If the head is cool, the cat is cool.  This also helps
	   "mom" or "dad" when it is stifling - wet your hair thoroughly
	   and you'll cool off.

	3) don't worry if the cat is off the food for the duration of the
	   heat wave.  They are generally smart enough to know it isn't
	   healthy to eat in really stifling weather...unlike us humans
	   who will eat and then be miserable.

	4) don't worry if they are "rugs" until it gets cooler.  They are
	   being smart.  Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday
	   sun - note:  no cats in that old cliche...there's a reason for
	   that...cats are too smart.

	5) do groom or brush daily to keep loose hair off the cat...furniture...
	   your clothes....the towels...well, u get the idea.

	6) do offer access to the coolest areas of the house...but if they
	   choose to bask in the sun, let 'em.  In general, the cat knows
	   more about when it is really too hot than u do...remember, they
	   live in a fur coat - something u would find impossible to do.

    The Fickle used to like ice cubes when she was a kitten, but she is too
    dignified to play with them now.  Nebula, on the other hand...!  The
    cats were fine yesterday, but it wasn't all that hot yesterday; judging
    from the heat radiating from the windows at the end of the row (those
    windows face my house, which is only a few blocks from here), it is
    REAL HOT out now.  I hope the kitties are OK when I get home; I'm going
    straight from work to a lecture tonight and won't be home to open up
    the windows and stuff until late.
    
    They definitely seemed to have more tolerance for heat when they were
    younger kitties.   I guess I can try putting ice in their water
    machines.  They didn't take too well to being made wet!  JFCL used to
    like that when it is hot out, but maybe she is remembering the last
    time she got *really* wet, when I had to give her a bath because she was
    allergic to her new flea collar (boy, was she MAD!!).
    
    
    /Charlotte

    Charlotte - Are you saying all the windows are closed all day?
    Be careful with wetting the cats and then putting them near a fan.
    This can cause serious problems. You know what it's like to have a
    stiff neck caused by a draft?
    
    They do know enough not to eat in the hot weather, but it's good to
    know they are drinking their water.
    
    (We have a neighbor who puts her cat out in the morning as she
    goes to work. NO water or shelter. I have called the animal control
    officer but nothing yet.)
    
    Barbara

    What we do is pull all the shades and leave the windows open only
    an inch or two.  It really does seem to keep the cooler night air
    in and the hotter daytime air and sun out.  The house is always
    cooler inside than out when I get home.  We also have new thermal-
    pane windows and that may have alot to do with why keeping the windows
    down keeps the house cooler.  Of course we open everything up at
    night.
    
    We refer to our furfaces as "flat-cats" during the heat.  Everyone
    seems to be doing ok.  
    
    re: the mid-day sun - Thats only mad-dogs, Englishmen and Nancy DC
    who does her walking at lunch!
      Nancy DC (Darn Crazy)

    When we were in Durango, CO last week for our motorhome club state
    rally, it was very hot during the day. The first day we couldn't run
    the generator to run the air conditioners (explaination too long), so
    Jane wet paper towels and draped them over the cats and they thought
    it was "real nice".  It took Purrkins (4 months) a little while to
    figure out that the paper towels were not for ripping to shreds, then
    he proceeded to lay on top of his and hollered when it began to dry
    out.
    
    Chuck, Jane, Peaches, Cassandra and Purrkins(I can smell a Kleenex a
    mile away)
    

    My kitty (9 years old) seeks out the hottest part of the house during
    these dog days.  She goes upstairs -- where it's probably 90 degrees
    -- and plops down on the carpeting.  Or, she lies on top of
    the warm cable box on top of the tv.  I leave her be, since she must
    know what she is doing.  You'd think she'd go down in the basement or
    lie on the cool tile in the kitchen! She does enjoy when I fan her with
    a magazine though.
    
    

    re: 6
    
    Boy, and I thought I had the dumbest cats in 
    the world!  Very few of them seek the cool
    comfort of the lower level of the house.
    
    Funny thing also, is that they really 'don't drink much water'
    either - that I find strange!  It's like their entire systems
    shut down !
    
    E.T.

>    Funny thing also, is that they really 'don't drink much water'
>    either - that I find strange!  It's like their entire systems
>    shut down !
    
how much energy does it take to immitate a rug?

				d-with-a-smile

    something I've noticed is the walking shag rug (Pip) has been napping in
    the upstairs hall way, right in a beam of sunlight coming through the
    top part of the window. Her fur is hot to the touch, but she is purring
    away. Meanwhile, Panther and Eirene are lying flat on their back on the
    bed, basking in front of a fan).

    Deb

    
    Deb,
    
    Thank you for figuring out for me just what it is that Panther (mine,)
    is doing!!!
    
    She is an all black siamese, (read silky short fur, no undercoat) with
    bright gold eyes, and on these 
    very hot days she is upstairs in the hottest part of the house
    lying on a royal (of course) blue blanket in front of a sunny window.  
    
    I like to think that she is storing up enough yellow sunshine to keep
    her eyes bright for the whole winter!!!  :-)
    
    Hmmmm...never thought of tanning!
    
    Feline Silly,
    
    Sue & Panther (turn the *HEAT* on Mummie)
        & Spot (Please pass the fan!)
    

    >She is an all black siamese, (read silky short fur, no undercoat) with
    >bright gold eyes, 
    
        You have just described Panther and Eirene to a T. The funny thing
    about them lying in front of the fan is that in the winter time they
    are both such heat-seekers they sit on top of the old steam radiators
    that I have (I've put their beds on to of the radiators as I am afraid
    that they might burn themselves.

    Deb

    re: 10 & 11
    
    You both have just decribed my 11-year old Sasha - what a crazy.
    NOTHING IS TOO HOT FOR HER.  She used to sleep UNDER my woodstove.
    She is eating and playing like it's 70 out!  The rest of us are
    just comatose, but not Sasha!  One don't know, do one, about these
    felines.  Last night Terror looked at me with this look in his eyes,
    like, 'Why are you making it so hot out, mum?'  IF you ask him, it's
    all MY fault!  Lil doesn't even want to lift her head off the floor.
    Poor thing, she really HATES the heat - she still has coat, too!
    Speaking of coat, SilVee is now in FULL coat - dripping ruff, full
    pantaloons, huge tail.  Weird cat!  Pretty, but very strange - she's
    the only one that spends a lot of time down in the lower level!
    
    E.

    Too hot, too hot.....
    
    We had a Burmese once named Daktari. When we lived in Florida he
    would lay out in the sunshine on the hot concrete driveway NO
    matter how hot it was. We would see him out there and feel sorry
    for him and go out to pick him up and his fur was SO HOT you could
    barely touch him. We would bring him into the air conditioned house
    and the next thing you knew he was at the door crying to go back out
    into the sunshine.  He was a stray and came to us almost frozen stiff.
    Guess he never forgot that experence.
    
    Mocha would rather be out in the heat than inside the air conditioned
     house.  Crazy critters we have.
    
    Barbara
    

    Guess cats are like humans.  Some of us heat better and some of us
    cool better.  I'm the former and jack's the latter.  It can be 95
    degrees, I'm dieing in front of the fan and HE wants to cuddle!!!!!!!
    ARGH!!! DON'T TOUCH ME YOU'RE TOO HOT!!  
    
    Most of our cats to the "flat-cat" routine and they drink LOTS
    of water in this weather.
      Nancy DC

    Maybe someone can explain this to me...my 3 month old kitten (a
    short-haired tabby) used to shed like crazy when the weather was in
    the mid-70's a few weeks ago.  She started cleaning herself at about
    10 weeks, and now, when I brush her, there are no loose hairs! (at
    8-9 weeks the brush would be FULL).  Is it because of the weather 
    (I thought cats shed more this time of year) or because she is taking
    care of herself?  I've also noticed she is alittle more irritable in
    the heat and bites and claws me more than she's ever done.  Am I going
    out of my mind? or IS it the heat?

    RE:  Nancy and Jack cuddling........
    
    Jack, 
    
    What!!!!  No comeback !!!!!  
    
    Nancy,
    
    Jack likes to cuddle, but you walk in the noonday sun.  Ok, which one
    is weirder???
    
    Only kidding,
    
    ta, ta from an English Lady who loves the sun.
    
    SANDI AND THE STORM TROOPERS
    

    re .16
    
    (insert generic comeback here)
    
    jack
    (who's put up with mad dogs, englishmen, and NancyDC for long enough to
     know when to be quiet.)
    
    No, really, I'm serious.