Wednesday's Question of the Day: thunder

Good morning friends! 

We had a very, very rare thunderstorm last week, with a lightning show and everything. Before that, I've heard only one clap of thunder in the 11 years I've lived here - right before a deluge at an outside festival. 

Last week's lighting and thunder went on all day... the cats were freaked! My Texas kitties were very used to thunderstorms since they were commonplace, but here? They thought the world was ending. 

Do you have thunderstorms where you live? How do your cats deal with them?

We had a very wet summer this year, with frequent thunderstorms. My cats don't usually mind them at all unless it's almost right on top of us. They jump a bit, but get over it pretty quick.

We have them a few times a year and my cats don't mind them. They just snuggle on my bed and we make it a lazy day. My room also is the quietest room so you cant really hear it so that's probably why they choose to snuggle in there.

It's been a soggy summer here too. The thunder scares my cats, but I don't know what I can do to help them.

Yup, have thunderstorms here just had one couple days ago, very early in the morning. I really like them.

The cats seem to handle them just fine, Morgana will just snooze through one, and Camelot will be the same. Even when awake they seem indifferent about it.
 

Having thunder and rain here in Ohio now

Bella & Thunder are doing just fine.

We have frequent thunderstorms in May and June, though they're pretty common the rest of the summer, too. Occasionally we get them in winter - thunder, lightning and snow are a weird combination. Mogli runs from window to window trying to "see" the noise. :lol3:

We get them here.  I wasn't aware that there are places getting them is rare!  Neither of the girls seem to pay much attention.  We had one of those derechos come through earlier this year and I don't think that bothered them much.  At least not enough that I remembered.  I'd pulled the shades down and closed the curtains before it hit because I didn't want the kids scared.  Maybe that helped.

lt's unusually hot and humid here today for this time of year. 27, feels like 35 with severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings right across southern and eastern Ontario.

We get a fair amount of wicked storms, but normally tornadoes are only seen on TV. We've already had one touch down in Ottawa last month, and some microbursts. The weather's been crazy lately.

Don't get very many thunder storms here, may be 3 or 4 a year and they don't usually last more than half and hour. Rarely right over head and if they are they more on pretty quick. A few weeks ago we had one than went on almost continuously for over 2 hours and even that didn't phase him.  Never seemed to bother any of the cats I've had and Mouse is no different. Maybe as I'm not too bothered so they doesn't pick up on panic from anyone around them. Mouse  might go in to the hall where there are no windows if there's been a real loud clap of thunder right over head but he'll come back pretty sharpish to where ever I am (even if I'm looking out the window).  He's fine with fireworks too which is just as well as there are loads of them in this city.  I'm sure it would be different if he went out though.  

SwampWitch said:

 
Do you have thunderstorms where you live? How do your cats deal with them?

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We do. We even get tornadoes as we are part of "Tornado Alley".

Some years we get more storms than others.  I might have slept through some, but this summer I recall  us having 2 bad thunderstorms, some producing tornadoes.

I also remember some years where we had more storms than I could count.

My cats aren't too bad with the storms. My RB kitty Chynna was afraid of the noise, and so was I. We would hide under my blankets together.  Abby, Spencer and Katie just carry on normally, unless there are really, really loud booms.

We have them here in Salt Lake City UT, we actually just had one. Most of the cats could care less unless the thunder cracks right near the house and sound like a bomb going off. The mama kitty we are taking care of and her kittens kind of freak out and hide out of site in their room.

The only one who really used to flip out was Bootser. She had been an outdoor cat before we catnapped her from her previous owners and we think lightning must have hit very close by to her one time when she was hunkering down in the field somewhere. When we brought her inside and we'd get a t-storm, she would go down to the lowest step on the steps to the basement, right at the basement door and huddle there until the storm had passed.

Then one night I was preparing their dinner and it started to thunder. I thought for sure she'd be gone, so I walked over to the closet to get the plastic wrap to cover her dish. And tripped over her....she was still in the kitchen. Evidently, hunger won out over fear. And she's been OK ever since. She tends to get wary when it starts to thunder, but she doesn't let it interfere with her meals anymore.

I think the cats get leery when I get leery. We've had storms that just scared the heck out of me and I start to walk around the house, looking out the windows for a greenish-yellow sky. Or if we have that kind of sky, I'd go down and bring the cat carriers up, just in case I thought we'd better head for the basement. When they see me acting screwy, it tends to rub off on them. 

For the most part, they're all fine during storms now. We just had a nasty t-storm last night as I was coming home from work and the thunder roared around the house when I got home. Did they care? Nope, they just wanted supper! 

Abby is normally OK with a regular thunder storm. I'm actually much worse than her. :lol3: If it is crazy loud she will get a little stressed. Last week we had probably the worst storm I have ever been through, with nickel-sized hail. She freaked out, as did I. :lol3:

Autumn has no fear at all.  She usually sleeps right through it.

We have stormy weather often! So much so,that my boyfriend and I took a Storm Spotter class a while back to be trained spotters! They're pretty fun; I recommend them for those of you that are interested and can find one in your area!

Since we have storms pretty often, my animals are use to it. I try not to make too much of a fuss over the weather or coddle them, so I don't reinforce any fears. My dogs know the minute they see me with the weather radio that it's time to get into our "safe room". I always keep a special treat for them that they only get during bad weather, so they see storm preps as a " positive" thing. The cats on the other hand could care less! They normally just go about snoozing. If the weather gets severe though, I put soft food out for them (to attract them) and shut them in the laundry room with their litter boxes, since that's the safest spot for them.

When I foster new animals, I always work on desensitizing them with recordings of storms/thunder/etc. I play it in the background on low while I do things around the house (completely ignoring it and not making a big deal of it) then gradually turn up the volume and get them used to it. (Works like a charm, and really helps during actual storms.)