Hello fellow cat lovers! I'm sitting under a duvet in my flat and wondering why my cat,Bussi, isn't showing signs of being cold... they're desert animals, after all! Is her fur sufficient in regulating her body temperature?
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How can I tell if my cat is cold?
- Thread starter meaow
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I've sometimes wondered about this too- my cats seem impervious to cold most of the time 
I do think that when cats are cold there are often visible, physical signs. I've dealt with this with some of my foster kittens especially when they are young. Typically they will be shivering and lethargic. However, older cats are very good at regulating their own body heat. I think if your cat seems fine, she probably is fine
I do think that when cats are cold there are often visible, physical signs. I've dealt with this with some of my foster kittens especially when they are young. Typically they will be shivering and lethargic. However, older cats are very good at regulating their own body heat. I think if your cat seems fine, she probably is fine
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- #3
Sometimes you will feel their ears and pawpads are cold but their bodies will still warm. Cats are generally good at temperature regulation once they are adults or young adults, but as small kittens or very frail older cats they are less so. Also Sphynx where there is virtually no fur they are unable to keep warm so if your cat looses a lot of fur for some reason this may alter. Remember not all cats have been dessert creatures for a very long time, lots of big and small cats live in the extreme cold gtemperatures of upper mountain regions in areas such as Nepal and Bhutan, or Siberia, and less so in Scotland where the Scottish Wild Cat is barely any larger than a domestic cat - considerably less friendly though. They have fur, and they do not loose heat through sweat. If a cat's coat gets wet it will not insulate so effectively though which makes it important to ensure they dry thoroughly after a bath, or water accident, or when they have been out and unsheltered in severe wet weather conditions.
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I worried about mine being cold when I got them originally (my apartment is cold for ME!) but they haven't ever seemed affected by it.
Our cats are single haired Korats, native to steamy Thailand, so they do get cold. They will visibly shiver if it's really bad, if it's not too bad they will shiver and you can feel it if you hold them. They are excellent at solving the problem though - although sometimes when we go outside and they come too, the 'problem' is superceeded by their love of exploring, so we call time when we note the shivering.
Solutions for being cold mean cuddling! Mine will actually eye my neckline, paw at it, then go down it head first like a baby kangaroo, turn around and stick their head out if they want to see something. And then they settle for a sleep! We provide lots of places they can go to to solve the cold problem - fluffy blankets, pillowy nests, and roofs over these beds - one is a blanket that rests over two propped up pillows, with the bed in between (we call it the tent or cave), and another is a pillowy bed I attached to a dining chair which is tucked under the table, the table against the wall. The wall and the table seem to keep in the heat captured by the sides of the bed, while the cave is noticeably a different temperature if you stick your head inside. We notice that our cats will come out of these places if we turn on the heating - and bask in the heating - so they are obviously solving the cold problem for them.
Another handy thing is a heating pad. We have a microwave one - microwave for 4 mins, and the thing stays warm for 10-12 hours. Tuck it into the cave or the other dining table/chair bed, and it's toasty warm.
The other thing the cats do to keep warm is eat more. They are always hungrier in winter (with no weight gain).
If you want to see pics of my warm places and details of the heating pad I use, I have a post specifically on this in my blog under 'equipment' - address in my signature.
Solutions for being cold mean cuddling! Mine will actually eye my neckline, paw at it, then go down it head first like a baby kangaroo, turn around and stick their head out if they want to see something. And then they settle for a sleep! We provide lots of places they can go to to solve the cold problem - fluffy blankets, pillowy nests, and roofs over these beds - one is a blanket that rests over two propped up pillows, with the bed in between (we call it the tent or cave), and another is a pillowy bed I attached to a dining chair which is tucked under the table, the table against the wall. The wall and the table seem to keep in the heat captured by the sides of the bed, while the cave is noticeably a different temperature if you stick your head inside. We notice that our cats will come out of these places if we turn on the heating - and bask in the heating - so they are obviously solving the cold problem for them.
Another handy thing is a heating pad. We have a microwave one - microwave for 4 mins, and the thing stays warm for 10-12 hours. Tuck it into the cave or the other dining table/chair bed, and it's toasty warm.
The other thing the cats do to keep warm is eat more. They are always hungrier in winter (with no weight gain).
If you want to see pics of my warm places and details of the heating pad I use, I have a post specifically on this in my blog under 'equipment' - address in my signature.
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- #10
I feel reassured that she's fine and warm enough... I've not personally made any dens for her, but she seems to have found her own!
Those Thai cats sound awesome! I will be perusing your profile... I used to live in Thailand, 'steamy' describes the climate perfectly!
She is eating a lot and running and playing, plus she's an indoor cat due to the fact I live in a flat.
I wish my body was as competent in beating the cold!
PS: She has just killed the PG Tips knitted monkey, and looks extremely proud of herself!
When my inside cats go out now in the 15degree mornings now they crouch and 'fluff' their fur. They don't move around nearly as much. They also come right back in about 10 minutes later and head to their heat pads. Those have been wonderful! They absolutely LOVE them! I wait until they go on sale, which they are a lot this time of the year. They still are a little pricey, 29.99, but they last for years. I've got two outdoor ones for my feral too! The indoor ones can be cheaper. Sometimes at places like Menards they close them out at the end of the year for a lot less. I think I've got 6 total and one of them is over 6 years old. They cost next to nothing to run, not heating up until the weight of the cat warms them. If you feel one outside you barely notice any warmth, but stick your hand under a cat on one and they are over a 100 degrees! I think I read on one it's about the same price as a 60 watt bulb to run. One would make a lovely Christmas present for your 'baby'!
Ooh yes, Korats are gorgeous. I thought about trying to get one before I met Mouse but breeders near me in the UK were hard to find. I've seen them at shows and they look stunning, and their nature seems very sweet.
Thank you all for your replies & suggestions
I feel reassured that she's fine and warm enough... I've not personally made any dens for her, but she seems to have found her own!
Those Thai cats sound awesome! I will be perusing your profile... I used to live in Thailand, 'steamy' describes the climate perfectly!
She is eating a lot and running and playing, plus she's an indoor cat due to the fact I live in a flat.
I wish my body was as competent in beating the cold!
PS: She has just killed the PG Tips knitted monkey, and looks extremely proud of herself!
Loving your Monkey tale.
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forgot to add, I left hot water bottles wrapped in blankies out for my girls the first couple of weeks I had them here, but they never sat on them, so I figured they were fine. Maybe try that and then your baby has the option of getting warm if she wants to?
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- #16
You guys are making me feel so mean!
Poor Mouse, I'm starting to worry in case he packs a little bag of fish snacks and tries to run off out the door one day soon. Maybe I'd better turn the heating up and get him a little heat pad. His fur's pretty dense though and I think he might start to smell sweaty.
He's funny, it you get close to him you can feel heat radiating. My furry foot warmer.
Bussy's fur looks pretty thick too going by your avatar! Very fit looking cat:-)
I'm originally from Scotland but lived in and around London, moved about a lot for a while. Never got as far as Austria though! I've never even been to Rye I'm ashamed to say. I've been to Plymouth, Hastings, Brigton and various other places on the South coast but not Rye.
I'm originally from Scotland but lived in and around London, moved about a lot for a while. Never got as far as Austria though! I've never even been to Rye I'm ashamed to say. I've been to Plymouth, Hastings, Brigton and various other places on the South coast but not Rye.
Must be short visits to outdoors at those temps, but of course depends how they are introduced for cold. With cows it took several weeks until they did adjust to colder weather, during that phase only limited times could be allowed for outdoors.
With cats amount of fur increases when exposed to cold weather, it also takes some time, not sure if they can adjust to -40C but -25C is quite ok still, but longer times only when they are adjusted.
For example my three have slowly adjusted to winter and I can let them out at -25C, but it is only 20 minutes or so.
One can't see shivering in adult cats I think, but when picked up they vibrate at different way than when purring silently, one might mix up that small shivering to purring.
Also when cat is cold they start to shake their paws like if they would of stepped something unpleasant, they attempt to shook off the cold from their paws.
When letting cats out at such cold temps it might be best to stay around and observe them, maybe picking up at times.
Mine are feral origin and have lived outdoors even close to -40C, I did help them by building heated small house for them, but often at those temps they resorted to sitting on top of the box and running outdoors instead of staying in warm cat house.
WIth ferals outdoors are lot less risky than with indoor cats, which some people ditch off from being indoor cats all of sudden middle of winter just because they were too lazy to clean up box and cat did spoil some material unimportant fabric bit, then even -5C can be deadly for the cat as often happens
One thing to remember is that cat in cold surroundings requires more food, as food is where they get energy and more food means more energy and more internal heating being possible, amount of food needed can multiply when temps go really low.
Anything above +10C, I think cat's consider warm. Remember that even at desert nights are really freezing cold. Perhaps their interest to snuggle into tight places for sleep is from those desert days when they perhaps dig partly into sand to keep themselves warm.
I think that somewhere at Sahara it was measured by NASA that at average nights are -3.9C, which is pretty different what one would think from such hot place, so probably cats are developed their senses for heat and their fur coat because they needed those to survive, long hunts during cold nights have also some requirements for staying warm.
Anyway best to keep in mind they are not polar bears with hollow hair in their fur, their limits for constant cold are probably somewhere around -15C at most, they need to get someplace sheltered from wind and warmer than that at least occasionally and even for that they would need ton of food!
For any indoor temp that human being can continually spend time in, I think that cat's are fine too, outdoors might be different story.
Cats will go to where it's warm, weather it's in a sunnier part of the house, beside a radiator, on a big fluffy blanket, and to a human where there is heat being generated. It was mentioned earlier that if their ears and paws are cold then they are probably a bit chilly but it's not a big deal unless they are kittens or elderly. Even then, they are pretty resilient, and unless they are weak and the temp in your house is below 15 degrees Celcius they are probably fine.
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