Think of your cat when you decide to turn the central heating thermostat down

Couple of Siamese cats need the central heating thermostat turned up in winter! Screenshot.

Just a little reminder that cats love heat. A lot of home and pet owners or renters might want to try and minimise their heating bill by turning down the thermostat as recommended. This will help in the battle against climate change too.

It is good idea in general as you can turn the thermostat down a degree or two and wear some warm clothes to make up the difference. Money saved at a stroke or the turn of a thermostat knob.

But what about the cats? Yes, they have coats to keep themselves warm but the Siamese has a very close-lying single coat. It is not hugely effective in keeping them cosy warm in winter as is the coat of the Siberian for instance.

The Siamese will like the thermostat turned up. As this video shows:

It is a compromise situation. You have to consider the cats when you turn down the heating. Or a least ensure that there is a warm little cubby hole somewhere in the home for them. The space next to the boiler is ideal. Or the 'airing cupboard'. This is the place where the hot water cylinder is located if you don't have a combi boiler. Cats love and need to have access to these places in winter.

An alternative might be a little igloo bed and an electric heating pad underneath! Or is the going too far. I don't think so.

The video is from Mae's TikTok channel: link.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Domestic cats prefer underfloor heating to radiators

I have come to the decision that domestic cats prefer underfloor heating to radiators. To the best of my knowledge, underfloor heating is fairly unusual. I just happened to have it and I love it. Don't think that it is more expensive than conventional heating because it is not. The boiler runs for longer in the morning when it heats up the floor but once it is heated up the boiler is not required to work for the next 22 hours because the floor retains the heat. And it is this retention of heat which helps to maintain a very stable air temperature inside the home even during cold nights in winter. But this is not about me. It's about my cat. 

Domestic cats prefer underfloor heating to radiators. Photo: MikeB.

As you can see in the photograph he loves underfloor heating. It's unusual for a cat to plonk himself down in the middle of a kitchen like this and curl up on the floor because it is a bit too exposed. Cats like to find a quiet place, preferably high up, where they feel secure. This location does not meet that requirement. However, it does meet the requirement of warmth. This floor is warm. It's hard which is not great either for him but despite those downsides he has decided to rest there and but for the fact that I photographed him, which disturbed him, I think he'd be there right now.

I realise that you can't use those radiator hammocks which are quite popular with domestic cats and which are attached to radiators which heat the air in the room. But when the whole ground floor is underfloor heated (except for the hallway) a cat has a lot of choice as to where to put themselves. It opens up some added options for a resting place for a domestic cat.

I would recommend underfloor heating if you are buying a house with it and are uncertain about its functionality. It functions very well. I can vouch for that. And the heating bill is no more than for standard heating using radiators. Further, you have all that extra wall space because radiators take wall space away from a room. The walls are completely sheer in my home. You can put furniture where ever you want to.