Cat Thermometer

After a very cool and wet early spring, it finally got HOT this past week. Yesterday it was 86 and very sunny. Too hot to work in the yard. We even had to break down and turn on the AC last night so we could sleep. It gets very hot in the bedroom at night because the afternoon sun beats down on that side of the house. When I turned on the AC at about 8pm, it was 88 up in the bedroom. YIKES.

Anyway, a sure sign that it's hot is the first sighing of the 'Cat Thermometer'. If you have cats, you probably have seen the Cat Thermometer. When it's warm, a cat will find a cool spot on a floor or on cement and lay itself out as long as possible to cool off. The more the cat is stretched out, the hotter the temperature. Same with winter, the tighter a cat is curled up, the colder it is.

Here is a Cat Thermometer scale:

1. Curled up in a ball = 60 degrees
2. kitty loaf style = 65-70 degrees
3. On side with legs out = 70-80 degrees
4. Layed out on side with body and legs stretched way out = 80-90 degrees

My first official exposure to the Cat Thermometer was from the comic strip Mutts:



One of my cats, who coincidentally is named Moochie after the cat pictured above from Mutts, was in about an 85 degree Cat Thermometer position yesterday. I tried to get a picture, but he moved. So we'll have to make do with the cartoon..