Too cold at night???

[lillymonster]

Hi everyone, I'm always concerned for my little Lilly when winter comes. She's a 2 year old short hair, indoor cat in So Cal. I'm in an apartment with a wall heater and I try to get the temperature to 72 for her before bed but this morning I woke up an it was 61 in the apartment. It was an unusually cold night. 37 outside. She seamed fine and layed on top of me on a fluffy blanket for the entire night. I try to put a thin blanket over her for warmth but she's not having that. When I woke up I turned the heater on again for her. My concern is at night. Is her laying on top of me and the blanket enough warmth

for her to be ok? I do notice at night she gets up and eats, walks around and jumps back up on top of me. I wish she would be ok with a blanket over her to make her warmer. Just curious if anyone knows. Thanks in advance.

 

[andrya]

She'll be just fine. lt sounds as if she's not lethargic, but going about her business as usual. She probably isn't sleeping on you only for warmth, but just to be close to you.

Unless she's shivering and acting as if she's uncomfortable, l wouldn't worry too much.

l have a cat with only an undercoat (Cornish Rex) so he does get cold easily. He shivers, and burrows under blankets to stay warm. l keep the house at 24 degrees Celsius through winter, but he still has to get IN the bed till the summer heat returns.

 

[orientalslave]

Gosh no need to heat to that degree for the cat.  The thermostat in my living room is set to 16C overnight (60F) and my cats (Orientals so thin coats) are fine.  They have plenty of soft warm beds.

Agree she is probably sleeping on you because she likes you.  If it gets colder than normal here two of my cats go under the duvet with me, but they do that sometimes when it's warm as well.

 

[missymotus]

My cats get a fire a few times over winter, never overnight and air con sometimes in the summer (our summer is far more extreme than winter), and they're just fine. I don't think there's a need to keep the home at a certain temperature, not to mention the expense. 

 

[sivyaleah]

Reading this made me feel a lot better right now.

We just adopted a long haired domestic and have had her in a safe room for a bit over a week now.  She seems eager to come out but our resident cat isn't quite ready for her to have free reign over the house yet.

The room we have her in, seems quite cold to me when the door is kept shut all the time.  We live in a nearly 100 year old home, and while all the windows were replaced when I bought the house (and a door in that room which leads to a 2nd floor balcony too), the radiator in that room is the last on the line and it just never warms up completely because some of the window frames have deep gouges in the wood leaking air.  Those really need to be fixed too but it hasn't been my top priority.  I would have used a space heater but was warned that it probably wasn't safe to leave her alone in there with one running since she might knock it over.

I've been turning up the heat since we got her to keep that room at least somewhere in the high 60's (the rest of the house is in the low 70's).  While I can afford to do this temporarily, it still made me feel less guilty to know she isn't suffering up there from cold, especially since she's been under the bed a lot where it's draftiest (although I do know she's been on the bed a lot too).

I guess it's just me that is the uncomfortable one lol.  I slept in there a couple of times the first few days she was here to get an idea of what she was up to and for company at night, and let me tell you - it was NOT pleasant without being bundled up in a load of quilts!

 

[mrblanche]

As you might imagine, different cats have different preferences.  At least 3 of ours like sunshine, but Punkin is just not interested.  He IS the long-haired one in the bunch, though.

You might build a little nest that she can sleep in and that will retain heat well.  Will she use it?  Who knows?
 

 

[duckdodgers]

No need to worry about those temperatures- she'll be just fine.  When I'm at my parents' house for periods of time (like now for the holidays) Stella lives in my bedroom as my parents don't want her roaming the house.  The upstairs heater has almost never been used in the house as downstairs heat rises, but with my door closed the heat cannot enter through the door.  It instead exits through the windows and gets very cold.  I'll get to the point where I'm uncomfortably cold, but Stella is just hanging out not caring

  I know that it has times where it gets down into the 50s.  Jason, the outdoor cat living at my parents' house, gets brought inside when it gets down about to freezing.  He does just fine down to those temperatures and makes no effort to get inside, but we would rather not come out to find a kittysicle. 

Keep in mind that I live in south Louisiana.  It is generally quite warm here, but cats are adaptable! 
 

 

[Willowy]

Heh. It was below zero the other night and my ferals are fine. They're fattened up for the winter, have crazy thick coats and are fully acclimated, of course, but the cold doesn't seem to bother them at all. Last year it got to 20-30 below for a few days in a row and still everyone was fine. I don't even know where they sleep---I provide insulated houses with straw in them but I've never seen them use one.

One of my mom's cats INSISTS on sleeping in the garage. She makes her come inside when it's really cold, but it's a fight. She has a box with a quilt in it and half covering it, plus she's a longhair and seems annoyed by heat in general, but it really is her first choice to sleep out there. I keep my house at 64 in the winter the upstairs is colder (58-ish, usually), and the cats don't mind.

Basically: cats are adaptable, and tough. Unless you have a cat who has not much fur for some reason (health problem or breed), I don't think you have to worry.

 

[sivyaleah]

As you might imagine, different cats have different preferences.  At least 3 of ours like sunshine, but Punkin is just not interested.  He IS the long-haired one in the bunch, though.

You might build a little nest that she can sleep in and that will retain heat well.  Will she use it?  Who knows?
 

Really.  I put a nice little box with a fluffy towel in the room for Cocoa, and there is also a warm blanket on the floor in front of the bed.  I have no idea if she's utilizing either of those.  I do know she's been on the bed, not always under it.  So I guess if the draft bothers her enough she has enough sense to get off the floor

 

[ritz]

Your cat will be fine.

I sleep in a twin size bed, and Ritz sleeps in between my legs.  Until I adopted her three years ago I always had to have an electric blanket turned on HIGH during winter.  Now, Ritz is my electric blanket (and non-habit forming sleeping aid!) and I am hers.

That said, until recently I lived in a condo where I was lucky if the temperature during the summer got below 82 degrees with the ac running 24x7.  Then, Ritz would sleep next to me, not in between my legs. I miss her during the summer.