Hot Cats in the City

It is summertime and we are having a typical Toronto heat wave. For the last three days it has been 43C with the humidex (that’s 109.4 for those of you who use Fahrenheit) and an extreme heat alert was issued. We have air conditioning in the house but the cats still feel the heat. Molly forsakes her beloved basket in favour of a cooler spot under the bed and the boys loll around on any hard surface they can find in order to stay cool. In the morning the boys usually zoom around the house chasing each other, but not when it is this hot. During the high temps, there is great economy of movement in order to stay cool; except of course if you are a young cat named Archie with more energy than brains. This morning he was rocketing around the house trying to interest Casper and Ben in a game of tag, but they would have none of it. He regularly gets himself so worked up that he starts panting. I have been online researching cat panting and it is not a good thing. It can be indicative of many serious health issues unless of course you are a goofy youngster who doesn’t know when to take it easy. “Panting can be a normal behavior if it occurs in a young cat after a period of rough play” was one of the quotes I found which describes the situation perfectly. Even though Archie is growing up, he is still a big ole kitten at heart and has not figured out yet to settle down before he gets overexcited. I wonder if he would have the good sense to come in out of the rain…that is if he were an outdoor cat! Btw, just to be on the safe side, I have contacted my vet to ask his opinion on cat panting.

Here's Archie flaked out after his morning activities

Swim Cat

I love this picture of Benners. Doesn’t it look like he is doing the front crawl? Let’s analyze his form shall we...

His body position is very streamlined and his front paws are in perfect position. You can see his left paw is in mid “pull” and has the perfect hang from the elbow. However that back paw is bent too much throwing off his stabilization which is going to cause some drag in the water and really affect his chances in the finals!

Tuesday Trio

Cat Kissing

Many years ago I read a book called Catwatching by famed zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris. In it he said that our feline friends view the humans they live with as sort of giant cats. A pretty cool theory…

However, if that is the case, I wonder if they think we are quite strange giant cats. Example: several times a day I will kiss my cats on the head while making a very loud smooching sound. As far as I know, this behaviour does not exist anywhere in the animal kingdom. Although my kitties have come to tolerate/accept this form of affection from their giant cat mum, they probably think it is totally bizarre!

Casper helps

Casper helps papa paint the horrible door

Thank you

For she’s a jolly good feline, for she’s a jolly good feline, for she’s a jolly good fe-e-line (kitty voices rise to hold the high note), which nobody can deny!

Molly, Casper, Ben and Archie wanted to say a meow and purr to the generous and silky Huffle(puff) Mawson for sending so many of her nice friends to say hello. It’s been an exciting day here and we look forward to visiting with everyone who dropped by.