Picking your brains as I prepare for winter and time away from the cats.
First, a very long story short, about a year ago I had to start separating my cats due to redirected aggression. My sister cats live together now--except when I'm not home. When I'm away I separate one cat to the bedroom and the other to the rest of the apartment. The cats rotate locations daily.
The problem is that the bedroom faces north and the living room/kitchen faces south. The thermostat is in the living room. As you can guess, the bedroom is much colder than the living room. And this is especially so in the late morning and afternoon. As the living room is heated by sunshine, the thermostat doesn't turn on the heat and the bedroom is freezing. If I compensate by upping the thermostat, it becomes unbearably warm in the living room. This was a noticeable problem for the two winter trips I took last year. So much so, the cat sitters pointed it out too. And of course, it's a problem when I have to be out for the day too.
This year, I'm once again traveling (Thanksgiving and Xmas) and I'm determined to remedy the situation.
Low wattage heated beds seem to be the way to go. I think the warmth from the bed will suffice but I worry that the bedroom cat will never move from the heated bed as the rest of the room will be so cold in contrast. I worry about the cat holding the bladder a little longer because she doesn't want to hop off the bed and go to the litter box. Am I overthinking this?
Because of the above, I am considering an oil-heater in place of OR in tandem with the heated bed. I'd keep the heater on the lowest setting and also on a timer so it's not on 24/7. This low-heat approach wouldn't make the bedroom hot but give it enough slow low warmth so it's not much colder than the living room. Of course, the concern is safety. I understand there are very safe oil-heaters, but of course there is always the chance of a fire hazard (are heated cat beds much safer in comparison?). I'd ask the cat sitter to be particularly mindful of the heater.
The cats have had the self-heated mats for years but they do not seek them out in the winter so I wonder if the mats work for them. I also recently bought hooded beds and I'm hoping the covering will help in terms of retaining body heat. One cat uses them a little bit and I'm hoping both cats will catch on as the weather cools. But again, I'm not sure if it will be enough to keep the bedroom cat warm.
Would appreciate your thoughts on the above and if you have other recommendations.
First, a very long story short, about a year ago I had to start separating my cats due to redirected aggression. My sister cats live together now--except when I'm not home. When I'm away I separate one cat to the bedroom and the other to the rest of the apartment. The cats rotate locations daily.
The problem is that the bedroom faces north and the living room/kitchen faces south. The thermostat is in the living room. As you can guess, the bedroom is much colder than the living room. And this is especially so in the late morning and afternoon. As the living room is heated by sunshine, the thermostat doesn't turn on the heat and the bedroom is freezing. If I compensate by upping the thermostat, it becomes unbearably warm in the living room. This was a noticeable problem for the two winter trips I took last year. So much so, the cat sitters pointed it out too. And of course, it's a problem when I have to be out for the day too.
This year, I'm once again traveling (Thanksgiving and Xmas) and I'm determined to remedy the situation.
Low wattage heated beds seem to be the way to go. I think the warmth from the bed will suffice but I worry that the bedroom cat will never move from the heated bed as the rest of the room will be so cold in contrast. I worry about the cat holding the bladder a little longer because she doesn't want to hop off the bed and go to the litter box. Am I overthinking this?
Because of the above, I am considering an oil-heater in place of OR in tandem with the heated bed. I'd keep the heater on the lowest setting and also on a timer so it's not on 24/7. This low-heat approach wouldn't make the bedroom hot but give it enough slow low warmth so it's not much colder than the living room. Of course, the concern is safety. I understand there are very safe oil-heaters, but of course there is always the chance of a fire hazard (are heated cat beds much safer in comparison?). I'd ask the cat sitter to be particularly mindful of the heater.
The cats have had the self-heated mats for years but they do not seek them out in the winter so I wonder if the mats work for them. I also recently bought hooded beds and I'm hoping the covering will help in terms of retaining body heat. One cat uses them a little bit and I'm hoping both cats will catch on as the weather cools. But again, I'm not sure if it will be enough to keep the bedroom cat warm.
Would appreciate your thoughts on the above and if you have other recommendations.