RE: Cat on a Hot Tin . . . I mean cast iron . . . roof . . . I mean woodstove

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firefighterjake

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Jul 22, 2008
19,588
Unity/Bangor, Maine
Well it finally happened . . . Theodore Roosevelt (the cat, not the dead President) came in yesterday cold and soaking wet. He went through all of last year with the woodstove with zero issues (i.e. he would sleep next to the stove, but would not touch it) . . . but yesterday my wife had a fire going in the stove and Teddy decided to jump on top of the stove.

My wife yelled at him as Teddy was in mid-leap, but of course at that point he was committed to the leap. Needless to say, he leaped right back down and while his feet were not badly burned proceeded to start licking his feet.

My only issue now . . . my wife is insisting we get a soapstone slab and put it on the top of the stove in the hope that this will not be as searingly hot in case Teddy decides to try tap dancing on the stove top again . . . my thinking is that Teddy is a pretty smart cat and will no doubt remember his infamous leap . . . but on the other hand as some of you may recall I was thinking about doing this a few months back . . . and while the soapstone topper might still get hot (I am planning on putting it up on some tile so it will have an air gap) it might actually look pretty good.
 
My old cat "stinky" (no laughing) did the same thing. I had a stove out in my moms work shop, and she would let him come out to hangout with me. he always sniffed a little towards the stove and it was very apparent that he knew not go near. but one day he for what ever reason decided to make the jump, and he looked like a cartoon character jumping right back off. same thing he went right to licking the paws. a few days later he had some small blisters nothing major.
 
firefighterjake said:
Well it finally happened . . . Theodore Roosevelt (the cat, not the dead President) came in yesterday cold and soaking wet. He went through all of last year with the woodstove with zero issues (i.e. he would sleep next to the stove, but would not touch it) . . . but yesterday my wife had a fire going in the stove and Teddy decided to jump on top of the stove.

My wife yelled at him as Teddy was in mid-leap, but of course at that point he was committed to the leap. Needless to say, he leaped right back down and while his feet were not badly burned proceeded to start licking his feet.

My only issue now . . . my wife is insisting we get a soapstone slab and put it on the top of the stove in the hope that this will not be as searingly hot in case Teddy decides to try tap dancing on the stove top again . . . my thinking is that Teddy is a pretty smart cat and will no doubt remember his infamous leap . . . but on the other hand as some of you may recall I was thinking about doing this a few months back . . . and while the soapstone topper might still get hot (I am planning on putting it up on some tile so it will have an air gap) it might actually look pretty good.

I'm willing to bet that the cat has learned it's lesson and won't make that mistake again.

If it does do it again, I bet that will be the last time.

If it does it a third time, it deserves to get it's damned paws burned because of being such a stupid animal and I recommend either putting it down or (if you really love the thing) making sure that it is spayed or neutered to prevent the spread of it's obviously weak genetic characteristics!

pen
 
If it has any brains at all, it won't happen a second time.

I gotta go with Pen on this as well.
 
Clearly PETA will support a ban on all non-cat friendly stoves. They'll start with the plate steel and go from there. :long:
 
You know... my preacher always quotes a Mark Twain saying...

“The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either.”
 
Puts a whole new spin on the cat versus non-cat debate.
 
if you put the soapstone topper on it, i would be afraid the cat would get on it more since it wont get burned and use it as a sleeping pedestal!
 
I'm surpirsed it took until for post 7 for someone to make a cat stove joke! I did think before I clicked into the thread you were thinking of putting in one of those inline cats to your stove pipe or something.... The I saw it was you and figure there's no way that was your plan.

I don't think he'll be jumping up there again. Not even when it's cold.


Edit: I remember the original thread with you debating putting a soapstone topper on the stove, and I'm still in favor of it. Now that you've got manager approval, I'd go for it before the approval expires.
 
The cat should be fine. If you want to go for soapstone, go for it. I don't think it will be any less hot over time though. Cast iron, like soapstone, takes longer to heat up, but I can assure you it gets quite hot after a while. The only thing I can think of that would work is a large, complete stovetop trivet. The air should cool everything down enough to touch for a second or two.

Matt
 
Now we know that Jake has a cat stove.
 
My mom told me a story about one of our cats jumping up on the woodstove when I was a wee lad and she screamed "Nooooooooooooooooo!" The cat landed on the hot surface, then bounced off much as has been described. In all the time they had the stove after that, he never once jumped on it - cold OR hot. I think your cat will learn just fine.
 
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