Tag Archives: heat

29

Gypsy Katt and The Mating Game

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Hey Everyone! It’s me, Gypsy. Hope I didn’t scare you with the title. This is NOT about me finding a mate. I have my buddy Sgt Stripes and that is enough mancat drama for me. I have something a lot more fun. 

I don’t know about the weather around you, but here it has not been great for watching Cat TV. It’s been humid, overcast, and HOT. The only time anything’s moving is really early and after dark. But I found something on that box the humans watch that is really good and made for the feline audience. It’s called The Mating Game.

The way it works is that a lady cat sits in front of a screen. Behind the screen, there are three guy cats all called Tom. The lady asks the Toms a bunch of questions, trying to decide which one she’d like to go on a romantic walk with. (If you live with a really old human, like Mom, they might remember the human version. I saw one show. The cat version is a LOT better.) Here’s some highlights from the most recent episode:

A cat sits on a stool with the word cat on it. | Premium AI-generated image

Lady Guinevere: Tom #1, describe yourself in three words.

Tom 1: Fun, adventurous, and fearless.

Lady Guinevere: Ooh. What about you, Tom #2?

Tom 2: Smart, quiet, and regal.

Viral Video of Two Stray Cats in Love Seen by 26M: 'Us in Another Universe' - Newsweek

Lady Guinevere: Sounds promising. Tom #3?

Tom 3: Quiet, caring, and polite (for a cat).

Lady Guinevere: Very nice. Tom #2, describe a perfect evening.

Tom 2: We could go to a small cafe, enjoy some tuna and catnip tea, then go for a walk in the moonlight.

Lady Guinevere: That does sound nice. What about you, Tom #3?

Cats Who Love Salad - Messy Vegan Cook

Tom 3: I would bring you a mouse, then I would make you a shrimp and cat grass salad. I’d walk you home to make sure you arrived safely.

Lady Guinevere: Is that a live mouse or a toy?

Tom 3: Your choice, m’lady.

Lady Guinevere: You are a kind kitty. What about you, Tom #1?

Is It OK To Let Your Cat Go On The Balcony? - The Dodo

Tom 1: I would take you to my balcony and teach you how to jump on humans.

Lady Guinevere: I’m not sure that’s quite my style.

Tom 1: You’d love it if you gave it a try. Humans can yell really loud.

Lady Guinevere: Maybe. Final question. Tom #3, who’s your favorite human (living or dead)?

Tom 3: Definitely the one I live with. She doesn’t even get mad when I hack up a hairball.

Egyptian Mau Cat Breed Profile: Characteristics, Care & More - Modern Cat

Lady Guinevere: She does sound excellent. Tom #1?

Tom #1: Those Egyptian dudes. They worshipped us.

Lady Guinevere: Fair enough. What about you, Tom #2?

Tom 2: I think Isaac Newton. They say he invented the cat door/flap. A major convenience.

Host: All right, Lady Guinevere. It’s time to make up your mind. Any final questions?

File:Inquisitive cat.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Lady Guinevere: Actually. I do. Tom #2, you sound very familiar. Have we met?

Host: I’m sure you’ve never met. We research our contestants thoroughly. There’s no chance you’ve ever met any of these cats. Are you ready to choose?

Lady Guinevere: I think so. I’d like to meet Tom #3. He seems like such a nice kitty.

They lifted the curtains between Lady Guinevere and the contestants. She looked at the three Toms. She was looks intently at Tom #2.

Lady Guinevere: Ewww. Tom #2 is my brother. That’s disgusting. I don’t want to go on a date with my brother!

Tom #3: Actually, you won’t be going out with him. You’ll be going out with me. You chose me.

Why is My Cat Gagging & What Should I Do? | Lexington Vets

Lady Guinevere: But I might have chosen him.

Host: Actually, a lot of our contestants have said that they wouldn’t mind going on a date with their brother. You might be a little overly sensitive.

Lady Guinevere: Yuck!

The credits start rolling across the screen.

14

Forget the Dog Days; It’s Time for the Cat Nights

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It seems like whenever humans talk about the heat this time of year, someone brings up the “Dog Days of Summer.” Some folks thought they were called that because all dogs want to do this time of year is lay around avoiding the heat. The official Dog Days are July 3 – August 11, so they just ended. In the Northern Hemisphere, they generally coincide with the hottest days of the year.

Canis Major | StarDate Online

The Dog Days actually refer to Sirius, the Dog Star. Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major (the Greater Dog). It is the brightest star visible from any part of Earth. In the summer, it rises and sets with the Sun. On July 23, it actually rises and sets in conjunction with the Sun.

Roman Cats Torre Argentina Cat Santuary the oldest in Rome

Because it is so bright, the ancient Romans believed that it actually gave off heat, adding to the Sun’s warmth. It was their explanation for why that part of the year was so excessively hot. (In reality, it is too far away to provide any warmth.) The Dog Days of Summer refers to the 20 days before and the 20 days after the alignment of Sirius with the sun.

Why Are Black Cats Associated with Halloween? – Furtropolis

But enough about dogs, their days have ended for this year. Let’s move on to something a little more interesting. We are only a few days away from the beginning of Cat Nights. There is an old Irish legend that witches could turn themselves into cats. If they did it eight times, all was well. But a witch tried it a ninth time on August 17 and couldn’t turn back. She was permanently turned into a cat. This legend was the beginning of the belief that cats have nine lives. People also noticed that cats are particularly “yeowly” this time of year. They attributed it to wanting to return to witch form. More likely it has to do with the hot weather.

Why Is My Cat Yowling At Night? Causes & How To Stop Caterwauling

There’s even a poem associated with it:

Cat Nights

By old Irish lore
on the 17th of August
more cats are among us
than ever before.

It is said that witches
can turn into a cat.
But no more than eight switches
as a matter of fact.

On the ninth switch
they cannot regain
their life as a witch.
A cat they must remain.

So if in mid August
you should hear the cats yowl
amongst sounds of the locust
when cats are on the prowl

Then you will know
as lore was told over time
that cats will show
lives as many as nine.

By V. Neumann

15 Orange Cat Breeds You Should Know – PureWow

And let’s not forget that it’s also the time of year for Leo cats. Leo the lion is the zodiac sign that most closely resembles the domestic cat. Leos are born between July 23 and August 22 and are ruled by the sun. Their element is fire, their metal is gold, and their colors are orange and gold. They are born rulers. (Mom says she’s a Leo, but we don’t believe her. There is nothing orange about her.)

Regal Cat Names – [140+ Elegant Ideas!] - Find Cat Names

Leo cats are regal. They are full of confidence, and tend to enter a room with a royal bearing. They are loyal to their subjects and love their humans. As long as they are treated as royalty, all will be well in the kingdom.

Grooming Your Cat | Cat Care | Cats | Guide | Omlet UK

They enjoy the finer things in life and prefer to have things their way. They love their humans, and are usually confident around visitors. They are loving family members. But they have a tendency to not be very patient. They love to be groomed and hate being laughed at. They have an inner jungle cat that needs a lot of play time.

How To Keep Your Cat Warm This Winter | Lily's Luxury Retreat

As a fire sign, Leos like to be warm. Doesn’t matter if it’s a fireplace, sun puddle or warm blanket. They are generally not great at sharing. (After all, they are royalty.) They like to be in charge of whatever is going on.

As you can see, the beginning of summer may have belonged to the dogs, but we are now in cat season.

Pictures courtesy of Google Images.

30

We Do Not Like Ice

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Greetings from Snoops and Kommando Kitty (and Sgt Stripes). It has come to our attention that even in our nice, cozy home, winter can wreak havoc. As you might have noticed, there was a major storm earlier this week. Mom said that we were really lucky, because where we live we didn’t get a lot of snow. (Some humans got two feet!) And we didn’t lose our power.

We got ice. For the second time in eight days. Mom got sent home from work early on Wednesday, which was nice. We got to help her with her job that afternoon. But then we lost our Internet service. No computers and no TV. We didn’t think we were going to be able to blog because it was out for two days. It finally came back a couple of hours ago, but it was too late for her to come up with a good post. Something about being really tired. She’s still sick with her stupid virus too. Nothing major, but she doesn’t have any energy.

Anyway. The humans have been grumpy about no Internet. Now we’re grumpy about no Internet. We couldn’t visit anyone for days. Sgt Stripes didn’t get to talk to Mr. Google. We didn’t even get extra cuddles. Stupid ice.

Our cousins were not happy either. They lost power. And when they got their power back, they lost their heat. They almost froze to death before it was restored.

Mom says we shouldn’t exaggerate. They were only cold for a few hours, nothing dangerous. But they were really unhappy. Now they have their heat back and are sitting on the ducts and snuggling in the blankets to make up for the cold.

Anyway, we didn’t want you to think we’d forgotten about you. We’ll be back next week with a real post. Think warm thoughts.

Funny Cat Memes and Pictures About Cat Behavior - TurboFuture

17

Snoops and Kommando: Our Really Awful, Truly Terrible Week

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Greetings. Snoops and Kommando Kitty here. We hope everyone is well. We are not contented kitties at the moment. You would think with spring FINALLY starting to show some signs of life that things would be good. However, all is not kibbles and tuna steak.

First, our felines cousins visited a week ago. Our human sister went on vacation with her family and left them here. You know three of them: Angel, Onyx, and Thunder. They went home on Easter Sunday. At least, they were scheduled to go home on Sunday. Three of them arrived the Tuesday before Easter. It was supposed to be all four, but one refused to cooperate and had to come separately on Wednesday. That would be Gypsy.

We love family as much as the next cat. Meaning that we love our family – just the way it is. When the cousins visit, Mom lets us have the upstairs where she sleeps, and the visitors get downstairs. It’s not too bad, except THEY HAVE HALF OUR HOUSE. Snoops got down the second day. After that, a couple of them spent the rest of the time in the basement. Mom was not pleased.

At this point we should mention that the boiler went out the last week of March and we didn’t have any heat. The space heaters were downstairs, so we got the bed warmer. But it was still cold. Mom thinks we grew some extra fur to compensate. We still had cold feet. We were not happy cats.

FINALLY, Sunday got here and our human sister was supposed to pick up our visitors. They corralled three of the kitties fairly easily. Once again Angel, Onyx, and Thunder were pretty cooperative. Kudos to Onyx who was the easiest to wrangle.

Then they tried to find Gypsy. No one had seen her since she made a beeline downstairs directly downstairs following her arrival. Someone had been eating the food they were putting downstairs, so we were pretty sure she was OK. It’s an old farmhouse with lots of places to hide.

Finally, our sister gave up and went home WITHOUT her cat. That’s right. We have an intruder in our home. She’s here at least until Sunday. Snoops has seen her a couple of times and hissed at her, but the humans still don’t know where she’s hanging out. But she’s eating well, so they’re not really worried.

Back to the heat. Mom stayed home on Monday which was pretty pawsome. It was really cold that day. (It snowed 2 inches!) But then we found out why she was home. Human intruders came to FINALLY fix the heat.There were three of them, and they had to invade our space upstairs to put something on the wall. We couldn’t go downstairs for the entire day.

Then they came back Tuesday. The house was really cold Tuesday because they kept letting the outside air in. Mom worked from home, and she wouldn’t let us participate in the staff meeting or anything. We would have been a big improvement over the people who were running the meeting.

At long last, the strange humans left, and we had a warm house! Hooray! Now we just have to find the extra cat and convince her to go home. Wish us luck!

27

Cat Forum: Cats and the Heat

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35+] Summer Cat Wallpaper Images on WallpaperSafari

Greetings fellow felines. We’re here to talk about the heat. You would think that with as much as we all love to curl up with an electric blanket in the cooler weather that summer would be a breeze for us cats. After all, we do adore sun puddles. But there’s warm, and then there’s the ridiculous heat that comes around this time of year.

It’s time to call out your primordial cat and make sure you’re following your instincts regarding the heat. This is no time to go “doggo” and start exercising with your human.

26 Cats Who Are Getting Cozy In The ... Sink? – Meowingtons

Conserve your energy. Sleep when it’s hot; prowl when it’s cooler. Nothing interesting happens in the heat of the day anyway – everything else is avoiding the sun too. It’s the perfect excuse for taking longer naps.

Sleep someplace cool. Tile floors are great in the summer. They stay cooler and don’t retain heat. Sinks work well if you want to avoid being stepped on. Try to avoid the rooms with big, open windows that let in a lot of sun. You don’t want to sleep in those intense sun puddles either.

Cat Drinking Fountain

Groom yourself. As the saliva dries, it will help cool you down,

Hydrate. Drink water whenever you get the chance. You’re thirstier in the heat, and drinking cool water will help you cool down.

Is It Safe To Put Ice In A Cat's Water? | Purr Craze

You also need to talk to your human about things they can do to help you deal with the heat:

Make ice toys. We like to play with ice cubes. They slide nicely and are fun to pounce on. They also help to keep our paws cool. (In case you didn’t know, paws are where we gain and lose heat.)

Cooling mats. If your house is really hot, or if you get overheated easily, a cooling mat is a great idea. Your human can buy one or make their own out of freezer blocks and a thick blanket (don’t let them get the really cold stuff next to your fur/skin). In an emergency, a package of frozen vegetables will work.

Caturday Pootie Diary: Fur Couture

Wet towel. If you’re feeling extra warm, your human can help by wetting your fur with a towel or their hands. It will feel really good as the water evaporates. At the least, dampening your paws will offer quick relief.

Brushing. Our fur coat helps to regulate our temperatures, but loose furs just make us hot. Getting brushed daily helps keep us as cool as possible.

Catster Quiz: Is Your Cat a Hot Mess? - Catster

Watch for signs of overheating. Heavy panting and loss of energy are early signs that we are too hot. Agitation, rapid breathing, skin that is hot to the touch, drooling and vomiting may be signs of heatstroke and are a medical emergency. You need to see a vet.

Multiple sources of water. It is a good idea to have lots of water available in extremely hot weather. Adding ice cubes can help keep it cool. It is especially important to have water available outside this time of year.

Most interesting cat in the attic. : MostInterestingCats

Provide sunscreen. It’s best if you stay inside between 11 am and 3 pm when the sun is the strongest. If you need to be outside, your human can provide sunscreen (feline variety, not human) if you are one of our pale-colored or sparsely-furred kin. Your ears and nose are particularly susceptible to getting burnt. Warning sign that requires a trip to the vet for an outdoor or indoor/outdoor cat: crusty, scaly, or sore-looking skin.

Keep poorly ventilated rooms closed. This isn’t a good time of year to be exploring the attic or the space behind the refrigerator. If you do get caught someplace hot, make sure you drink plenty of water when you get out. And let your human know if you don’t feel well.

15 Cats Sleeping In Weird Places | Cats, Cat sleeping, Cute cats and kittens

Finally, talk to your humans about helping any stray/feral cats who may be around. If possible, offer a shady spot and fresh water. Plastic bowls are better than metal ones because they don’t get as hot and won’t burn if the cat touches it. (Metal is also not recommended in the winter because the cat’s tongue can freeze to it.)

Now that you know how to stay comfy, have a pawsome summer! And send your human out for a mouse-sicle to enjoy.

Cat Facts: 5 Amazing Ways Your Cat Stays Cool In The Summer - CatTime

Pictures courtesy of Google Images.

28

Cat Forum: Beating the Heat.

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TOO HOT - Imgflip

Greetings. Snoops and Kommando Kitty here with another edition of Cat Forum. To be perfectly honest, we have been too hot to really do anything this week, so we thought about writing about how hot we are. But that would be boring since everyone else is hot too.

Cat Loves Cooling Off In The Pool And Swimming | Focus Newspaper

Instead, we did some research on how to keep cool. Some were pretty basic like never let your human lock you in a hot car or stay out of the sun as much as possible. But some made more sense, so we’re sharing those. (If you’re one of those kitties who like to swim, that is another option.)

Cats licking ice balls - YouTube

Enjoy ice treats – We were really excited because we thoug it they might have recipes for mousesicles or moths on ice. No such luck. It’s pretty much licking ice balls. Maybe you could ask your human to add tuna juice. Sometimes Mom adds ice cubes to our water fountain.

WHEN YOU SWALLOW AN ICE CUBE Just Let It Slide | Cats Meme on ME.ME

Play with ice cubes –  We don’t really understand this suggestion because the “experts” also say we should limit play during the hottest part of the day. You need a hard surface to do this game. It may cool off your front paws which could make you feel cooler.

Aluminum Cat Nest Summer Cool Kitten Bed Cooling Cats House Lovely ...

(Yes, it’s an actual cooling bed you can get from AliExpress)

Lay on a cooling mat – You will need to talk to either your human or Alexa to get one of these. You can cool the whole side that is laying on It. It’s like an electric blanket for the summer. We do not recommend lying in ice cubes

31 Funny Memes & Random Pics That'll Rock Your World | Funny cat ...

Wrap yourself in wet towels or have your human stroke you with wet hands – This one sounds a little icky to us. But it probably works if you don’t mind your human wiping their hands on you like you’re a towel.

5 Ways to Brush a Cat and Make Him Love It - Catster

Have your human brush you daily – Hopefully, you already have your human trained to either brush you daily or on command. Loose furs can get trapped in your coat and add to the heat of the season. Besides, we all look even more beautiful freshly brushed.

Cooling Off A Bit

Elevate your bed – It’s a good idea to sleep where the air can circulate below you as well as around you. We recommend a shelf on a cat tree in the shade as a good possibility. If your human has a shelf that is open to air flow, that is another choice. Make sure you have cleared it before you try to sleep.

Cat memes – Feeling hot | Cute cats, Funny animal pictures, Crazy cats

Get a personal fan – Once again, you will need your human’s help. A fan is one of those things where the blades go around an make a breeze. Be sure that your fan is large enough to cool the air, but not so large that it ruffles your furs. Never put your paw near it. It’s your human’s job to turn it on and adjust it.

Summer Heat Is No Problem for Cats | Diamond Pet Foods

Close the drapes – Unfortunately, when you’re too hot, it’s no time to sleep in sun puddles. The direct sun will make you even hotter. So stake out a spot in a nice shady spot and sleep in comfort. The heat wave will end eventually, and you can return to sun worship.

Cali"-fornia Cat Conserves Water | From Diapers To Diamonds

And one final word – Hydrate! Drink as much water as possible to keep your insides and outsides healthy.

When It's Hot You're Hot... - Life With Cats

All pictures courtesy of Google Images.

 

8

My Inquiring Mind

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Questions that have been roaming my brain recently:

Why are we being invaded by June bugs in May?

Why do some people get allergies as kids and outgrow them and some get them as adults? Do the kids just shed them onto some random adult? Can I find some obnoxious child to pass mine to?

Why do those drug ads on TV tell us to talk to our doctors about their products? Do they think the doctors don’t already know about them? Besides, why would I want to talk to my doctor about ED drugs?

How did women survive the heat back when they had to wear full-length dresses and all those other layers? No A/C and most of them couldn’t just lay around and fan themselves all day.

What was the driver thinking when he passed 3 cars on a blind curve? I know what I was thinking coming the other direction. It’s weird how long it seems to take the brain to realize there is a car coming toward you and there’s nowhere to go.

Why is the Store Director yelling (yes, really) at my Team Leader for not having enough people in the deli when she now has to live with the computer telling her who can work which hours?

Why do I open my Xfinity newsfeed to see yet another story on one of the Real Housewives of Wherever and open my MSN newsfeed to see that 1400 Indians have died from the heat? Maybe because I was able to choose mostly foreign news sources on MSN?

Why are they still heating our Receiving area? It’s in the eighties and humid; and all we do back there is unload boxes. Seems they could save some money there.

Speaking of boxes – why do they tape them shut, then label them not to be cut open. Isn’t that what box-cutters are designed to do?

We don’t have A/C. The house stays cool in the summer until the first really humid day. So why did we have to get high humidity before high heat this year? (Of course, it’s supposed to drop 25 degrees in a couple of days.)

Why is the bedroom in the northwest corner of the house 10 degrees colder in the winter and 10 degrees hotter in the summer?

Why did the county put up a sign on a local road saying, “Road construction coming soon”? Like a movie trailer. Of course, one day the road was at a standstill while they paved it because no one knew “soon” had come.

If airbags are for safety, why is the only injury I’ve ever gotten in an accident was when the airbag pushed my teeth through my lip? (Including the times I rolled a car and was broadsided by a tow truck towing a car.)

Why do some cats see shorts as an invitation to get on your lap? (Oooh look – bare skin! It needs fur!)

Totally unrelated observation: There was a man in the store today who looked just like the pictures I’ve seen of Rasputin – right down to the spooky eyes (my guy had less beard).

(BBC Archive)

6

Critter Capers: Wintertime Blues

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Super Snooper (SS): It’s good to finally be back.

Kommando Kitty (KK): Yeah. Mom’s been sick so much this winter that she keeps putting off typing our article. It is nice having her around to sleep with, though.

SS: Particularly when she turns on that bed warmer thing.

KK: It’s really nice when she turns it on and goes away for a few minutes. We can lay on the warmest spot before she gets in bed.

SS: And she finally understands that it’s impossible to move both of us at the same time. The only bad thing is that they shut the door to downstairs down. So we have to find someone to let us up there.

KK: Dad keeps talking about how much it would cost to heat the upstairs as warm as the downstairs. He makes it sound like it’s warm downstairs.

SS: I know. We have to sleep together to keep from freezing. And we have fur!

                   IMG_20150108_010733762

Horatio Hedgehog (HH): What are you two yowling about now?

KK: How cold it is. Mom won’t even open the drapes sometimes. She says the old windows let cold air in. Why don’t they just buy new windows? Why should we have to suffer?

HH: It doesn’t feel very cold to me.

SS: That’s because your cage is heated!

HH: I come out to explore sometimes.

SS: Dad puts you on a heated blanket before you go anywhere!

HH: Maybe he just likes me better.

(low growls)

HH: Well, you know I am more popular. My introduction was the favorite story last year according to that report Mom got. (https://cat9984.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/horatio-hedgehog-intrepid-explorer )

KK: Yeah, we saw it. You were a couple of spots above the one talking about fake cheese (https://cat9984.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/cheez-whiz-love-it-or-hate-it )

HH: You’re just jealous. There is one problem with Mom being sick. Dad forgot to tell her that I was almost out of treats before she stayed home from work. No wax worms for days!

KK and SS: Awwww. Poor hedgie!

HH: Fine. I’ll just go back to my nice warm bed and sleep.

20150111_221420

SS: Let’s go see if there’s any food left in the kitchen.

KK: OK. Then we can go back to sleep.