When the thermostat of Urbana decided to turn upupup with big time humidity and stay there, i was ready for the heat. i had been waiting. finally it had come. I didn’t have a problem with not turning on the air — leave the sliding door open and the front door to create a breeze and sleep with the fan on me. Saving energy by not turning on the air, i’m a genius! Wrong. I has a cat. Battlecat started laying around looking like a dead slut. She wasn’t as chirpy as normal. As much as i liked the quiet, i’m pretty sure i was killing my cat or at the very least making her miserable. SO. How to keep her cool.
I looked up kitties on the internet and found that cats keep cool by sweating through their paws (teeny surface area) and panting (only when it’s really bad). They lay around to conserve energy and groom constantly to create a cooling effect by their saliva evaporating from their fur. Well i had to help my bitchy cat. I came up with an idea, i hope i’m not the first: brushing her with a damp brush.
Battlecat does not enjoy brushing. she will sit for about fifteen seconds before she tires of my vain attempt to keep hair from getting all over my place and her developing hairballs. WELL i wet the bristles of the brush and brushed her during one of her death poses and she make a HUWHAAAAAA face. And she let me brush her for a good minute. The brush was dry by then. I’m fairly certain it works because i will brush her about three times a day and she willingly sits for me. She’ll even turn around so i get everywhere, and she smashes her face into it so i get her head. If you try this on your cat, don’t be put down by her not reacting. Battlecat acts like it ain’t no thang when i’m done each time, but her change of heart on brushing tells me it helps.
Since this discovery i have broken down and turned the A/C on because a cat looking like a dead whore is the opposite of fun. Now she’s gone back to looking annoyingly bored all the time. If only i could get it down to 75F. at least it’s not 85F.
