Had to put my cat out today...

[rudysmallfry]

...and I don't mean out of the house. My morning ritual involves getting a nice fire going in my basement woodstove, then a bit of cleaning and breakfast. Anyway, this morning I was up to the breakfast part and I smelled something nasty coming from the basement. I go downstairs to find my kitten sleeping right in front of the 500 degree stove, her tail was smoking, and she was still asleep! I had to put it out in the dog's water dish. Sure glad I wasn't at work. That would have been a hard one to explain to the home insurance guys, house fire ignited by kitten fur. I always thought she might burst into flames by lying so close to it. Guess I was right.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yep. NFPA 211 Section 22, Paragraph 4:

"Clearances to felines must be in accordance with manufacturer's instructions or 36", whichever is less. ASPCA regulations and local codes may supercede this section. Clearance to combustible cats may be decreased by no more than 12" by trimming of the tail and shearing of the coat."

 

[nshif]

However cats wearing Nomex are exempt

 

[restorer]

My shop cat stays an OHSA approved 38 1/2" away from the stove. Only took him one curious sniff and touch to the hot door to learn his lesson. I accidentally moved his mat closer and he wouldn't lie on it. Just sat back where he felt safe.

 

[Bob512]

Thought maybe she was using the pellets for a litter box again. :-S

 

[babalu87]

I knew that stoves were just getting too difficult when they started the whole cat thing

 

[Bob512]

Good one! Nothing is easy anymore :blank:

 

[Hogwildz]

Now thats one hot feline...................cat

 

[Roospike]

I didn't think cats were supposed to smolder , did you engage it too soon ?

 

[restorer]

I didn't think cats were supposed to smolder , did you engage it too soon ?

Boy do we have a miss communication here. Cat is not short for catalyzed. Cat is short for feline scratch your eyes out don't mess with me. You don't engage without extra padding.

 

[Andre B.]

I didn't think cats were supposed to smolder , did you engage it too soon ?

Boy do we have a miss communication here. Cat is not short for catalyzed. Cat is short for feline scratch your eyes out don't mess with me. You don't engage without extra padding.

Engage
http://www.zsdelight.com/White22.jpg
Going to need more then extra padding I think.


http://www.zsdelight.com/homepage.html

 

[tradergordo]

My cats still haven't learned their lesson yet either, I keep wondering when it's going to happen. I can't believe how hot they feel after spending so much time next to the stove, and they walk so close that I've seen a tail brush against the stove but no reaction at all (guess that fur is good insulation). Only thing I haven't seen them do is jump up on top of the stove (I guess they either know better or they did it when I wasn't home).

 

[ecfinn]

[quote author="rudysmallfry" date="1172634978]I go downstairs to find my kitten sleeping right in front of the 500 degree stove, her tail was smoking, and she was still asleep! I had to put it out in the dog's water dish. [/quote]

This almost had me spitting water on my monitor at work here this morning. Great story! Thanks for making me laugh today. I needed that.

Eric

 

[begreen]

********* LMAO ************
The responses were as good as the story.

Talk about cat armor, here's a good lesson on how to bathe one's cat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9QwK5EHSmg

 

[elkimmeg]

There you have it, Cats do light off at 500 degrees. Only 8 more lives left

 

[Corie]

This story is too funny!!

 

[BurningIsLove]

After a full season of operation, my cat never seemed to do anything to jeopardize itself, and I was happy to see that after all the dumb things I've seen other cats of stove owners do.....

then about a month ago for no apparent reason, he jumped from a table onto the stove at around 550F, immediately jumped off and was hissing/snarling/spitting, which he never does even when he's been seriously injured by local outdoor predators. Wound up singing the crap out of a few of his pads, and he went outside and stood in the snow for about an hour. In the end, a few of his pads got badly infected but healed w/ the aid of bacitracin.

He now gives the stove a ridiculously large clearance and eyes it warily..... Im guessing he wont try that again.....until next year.

 

[bcnu]

Good Story. Makes me glad I have a dog.

 

[rudysmallfry]

Unfortunately my dog's not much better. I had a fireplace in my last house. More times that I can remember, she'd walk by it with her big, hairy, golden retriever tail and manage to come in contact with some glowing embers. I used to keep a spray bottle handy in that house. That's where I learned to recognize the stink of burning fur. Guess my 4-legged gang's not too bright. Sure makes for good comedy though!

 

[BurningIsLove]

Im a fan of dogs myself, but there's something to be said for near-zero maintenance pets like cats, excepting the occasional table-stove jumping & stitching him back together when he tangles with animals bigger than himself.

Monthly maintenance:
Fill large bowl w/ dry food
Repeat when empty

No walking, no litterbox (cat door), easy to take vacations/ business trips without a kennel/sitter.

The above being said, I really wish I had the type of job that would allow for a hound.

 

[DriftWood]

I put the cat outside for to have a hair ball this week. Never seen one burn. My cats do not have a clue what to do with a mouse. Must have slept through that lesson when kittens. Those little pea sized brains won't work unless ma cat educates them right. Could be your kitten was removed from the litter before the stay away from fire lesson was given.

 

[BurningIsLove]

Mine definitely didnt have much of a mother-cat....he's a stray that I adopted. He would sleep in trees for the first year I had him, not to mention killing just about every rodent/bird he laid eyes on (my neighbors called him "Killer"). So apparently eating skills trumped dont-jump-on-500-degree-stove skills. Although somewhere along the line before adoption he learned some odd skills for a cat, such as swimming, fetching, and gnawing sticks to a pulp like a dog.

Attached is a pic of him hunting for birds nests, dont think I ever got a picture of him swimming.

 

[Corie]

Does he come back down from the tree on his own?

 

[BurningIsLove]

Comes down on his own, never have to go after him. In his youth he even came down frontwards like a squirrel if the tree wasn't smooth-barked (like the attached pic). Several years later, he usually comes down backwards if he is more than 20 feet up. Normally he charges a tree, runs up about 6-10 feet, hangs there and checks out his surroundings for prey/predators for about 10 seconds, then climbs down a few feet before jumping the rest of the way. He doesn't sleep in the trees anymore now that he's older and has a warm house, but it's not uncommon to see him sitting on a tree branch surveying his kingdom.

Do you all have lots of mice nests in your wood racks? Crazy number of them in mine, cat cant possibly get rid of them all......

 

[Roospike]

Mine definitely didnt have much of a mother-cat....he's a stray that I adopted. He would sleep in trees for the first year I had him, not to mention killing just about every rodent/bird he laid eyes on (my neighbors called him "Killer"). So apparently eating skills trumped dont-jump-on-500-degree-stove skills. Although somewhere along the line before adoption he learned some odd skills for a cat, such as swimming, fetching, and gnawing sticks to a pulp like a dog.

Attached is a pic of him hunting for birds nests, dont think I ever got a picture of him swimming.

no, no, no .........You ment HE adopted YOU !