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Purrfect Thermostat Temp?

Monica

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I'm curious as to the temperatures y'all keep your houses at for your kitties!

We keep our house at 72-73 during the day, and 68 at night. Kenzo wears sweaters about 1/2 the time, but even naked, he doesn't seek out blankets very often. At night he does sleep under the covers. The colder night temp actually keeps him from doing the late night zoomies! The air kicks on at midnight to cool the house, and he takes a cue and burrows in with the rest of the crew until morning (usually sandwiched between my yorkie and I).

I want to make sure he's comfy and that he doesn't decide to sprout a fur coat any time soon. Please share your temp tips. We are in TX, so it's very hot outside currently.

I have a VERY FULL shopping cart of sphynx clothes waiting for him.... We will see his size at 6 months, then it's go time!
 

Toa and Ross

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Living in the Netherlands, where it's usually not very hot, I always leave the thermostat at 19 degrees celsius during the day and at night 16 degrees. I have blankets on different spots where they can crawl under. My crew never wear cloths cause they hate it but I never had the idea they were cold!
 

Monica

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@admin @Toa and Ross Thanks for the replies! I didn’t get the impression he was cold either, except in the early mornings before the nightly cycle shuts off for the day. I was going by the rule of thumb that if I was comfy, then he was comfy. What messed me up was an article I read that said cats are happiest in the 80-85 F range! It went on to say cats are miserable in the 70s F. (Sorry @Toa and Ross for my American temps, lol. I duno the metric equivalents).
 

Bailey21

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Good question Monica! I also wondered about this myself, as our thermostat is always held at 70-71, and I always worry if the floors would be too cold on their little paws on the tiled flooring. Our 3rd floor I assume is always much warmer than the rest of the house, and that's where our kitties usually hangout. They also have 3 heated beds to pick from( and of course plenty of blankets) if they decide they're a bit nipply!
 

Cleopatra Beers

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You will know when your cat is cold. Our guys literally pester us to sit down and give them a warm lap when they are cold. Marcus especially has a “cold look” that makes it very clear when he’s too cold. We lived in the desert until last month. In the summer, we kept the house between 77 and 80 degrees, much to their happiness. In the winter, Bob and I argue about the thermostat. If he gets his way, the thermostat is kept as low as 65 degrees. When I get home it goes up to 72 or 74 degrees. At night, we set it to 64 degrees. Both cats are good at searching out quilts and blankets to burrow under and at asking for laps. Cats can get tangled in clothing and hurt themselves, so we don’t usually put clothes on them unless they are wearing harnesses to go out.
 

Monica

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@Cleopatra Beers Thanks!

Please don't take this the wrong way... I'm curious how cats can get tangled in the clothing... Not trying to be a smartass or anything, I've heard this before here, and I can't seem to figure out how Kenzo could possibly get tangled up in his clothes. He runs, flips, and flails around like the best of them, wrestling my dogs and anyone else he can pick a fight with. He wears clothes 50% of the time. Maybe it's just dumb luck, but he's never had any issue, and I can't for the life of me see how he could. Here is the picture of him in one of the sweaters he wears frequently:

Sweater.jpg


In all seriousness, could you please explain the hazard. I plan on ordering him many new items, and they aren't cheap, per say. If there is some asphyxiation risk that I'm overlooking, I would rather save my money for something else. Thanks again!
 

Catzzzmeow

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I also do not do clothing due to this fear. Ours jump and climb. They could get hung up easily on our handles on kitchen cabinets and other things that jut out. Even the breakaway collars ours wear I am paranoid over. I actually make sure every time I put them on I slip 2 fingers under and pull up to be sure they break away. 2 collars didn’t break and I threw them out. Another hazard is cat trees with those elastic strings with balls that hang from them...our one girl somehow got one wrapped around her neck when she was a kitten. Thank goodness we were home and I noticed and snagged it off. I cut the others immediately. Blankets work for us and I buy many lol. It is my go to safe and warm option.
 

Cleopatra Beers

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Cleopatra does wear breakaway collars, and she likes being neatly dressed in her collar with a bell. If the bell doesn’t ring, she is upset, because she uses the bell to help nag us into submission.

As far as clothing goes, when he was a kitten, I put Marcus in little sweaters like your kitten is wearing, and he would immediately get one leg tangled up in the armhole. He would also get legs squeezed into the neck hole, and stand there crying, because he couldn’t move very well. When we put a breakaway collar on him, he would get his jaw stuck in the collar. No matter how much we tightened (never too tight, but I would tighten the collar a bit) the collar, he would get his jaw caught. I stopped putting collars on him because I was afraid he would break his jaw if he got it caught when we weren’t at home. The danger of tangling in clothing is that the kitten could suffocate, if he gets the neckline twisted around or legs caught in the neckline. If the leg is caught so tightly that circulation is cut off, the baby could lose a leg.

Then there is the problem of fabric eating. A sweater made by cutting up a sock will have edges with yarns hanging free. If a kitten starts licking a yarn from one of those edges, the yarn will get caught on the tongue spicules and the yarn will go down the throat. Cleopatra ate 32 inches of yarn from a skein of yarn that she apparently started licking, and we had to pay over $4000.00 for surgery to remove it and save her life.

I don’t want this to sound elitist or nasty, and you may never have any of these problems. But we had at least 10 cats before Cleo who were around yarn every day with no problems. All of our cats wore collars with no problems until Marcus. You can never tell what a cat will do until he or she does it. Bob and I decided that our cats would go without clothing (Marcus is a complete nudist) unless we are photographing them or taking them out with leashes. It is safer for them, and they do like to cuddle down in blankets and quilts.

I hope this long post answers your questions. I didn’t think you were being offensive; you were looking for more information. I hope I could help.
 

Cleopatra Beers

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Besides, think of how many cat posts and toys you can buy if you don’t buy all those expensive clothes! And we do dress them for pictures. This was our Christmas Card the last year we had our last furry cat, Sydney. I made the clothes Cleo and Marcus are wearing and the cape Sydney is wearing. And the cats wore them for all of 10 minutes while we took pictures.
3941A111-F4C0-4143-9FD8-35779D3527A3.jpeg
 

Monica

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@Cleopatra Beers @Catzzzmeow Thank you for your input! I'm new to this whole cat-mom thing, so I am a bit naive to some things.

Personally, I like how Kenzo looks naked vs in the clothes. Plus, I love petting him! I was ordering the clothes mostly to keep him warm.... although from everyone's responses, it seems the general consensus is that if he is cold, he will seek out warmth on his own. We already have blankets everywhere in the house bc I am always cold by nature. I still may order a cute seasonal sweater or two, but I'm definitely going to pull back on the volume of my order. I guess my yorkie will remain best-dressed in our household!
 

Anansi

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Orpheus has clothes for when he goes out with us. He doesnt wear any inside as a general rule and is totally fine he snuggles in a bed or under a blanket if its cold or otherwise he's happy to just hangout :). So i would say Definitely have a couple if you plan on taking him out and just in case it gets super chilly but mostly I wouldn't worry .
 
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