The answer lies in the type of heat: ambient or directional. Cats like to lie in front of a fire. It feels too hot for us but our cat finds it acceptable. This is because the cat's coat protects the cat from the heat directed at her/him. Clive Dalton on Knol, a Google website subdomain, says that cats are not very sensitive to heat and then refers to the cat lying besides the fire at over 50ºC. A fair point.
He is correct, but cats do not tolerate high ambient temperatures as well as people. Cats don't sweat that much. They sweat on their paws. Cats lose heat by panting and licking fur to use the latent heat of evaporation of their saliva to cool themselves.
Cats can overheat - heatstroke - which leads to rapid breathing, very red mucous membranes, and vomiting. The cat's body temperature rises to over 106º F (41º C). If left untreated heat stroke can lead to coma and death.
Therefore, cats are more sensitive to high temperatures than us. That, I think, makes them sensitive to heat.
Featured post
Story of Logan - werewolf street cat - is full of sadness, love, joy and more sadness
Logan was a rescue cat. He was saved from a very harsh life on the street. We are not told where or I can't find out where. He became fa...
Popular Posts
-
Brown gunge. Yes, I know this is a ferret! It does show the build up of dark brown to black ear wax caused by the presence of the cat e... -
I'll write about three types of feline mange (a) feline scabies or head mange (b) demodectic mange and (c) sarcoptic mange. The source m... -
Cat Anatomy - Photo by Curious Expeditions . The picture above was taken at Wax Anatomical Models at La Specola in Florence, Italy. Th...
No comments:
Post a comment
Your comments are always welcome.