Cold Stubborn Indoor Kitty

KavKit

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Hello fellow Kitty Kare Takers! I have a senior little lady. 12 years old with arthritis. She snuggles with me and my husband every night in our bed for warmth. But during the day she always seems cold. Her fur is cold and her little nose and ears and she is in a little ball. But for the life of me I cant convince her to sleep in her super lovely warm cat clam shell, or her cat bed, or her cat cave, or a blanket with a heating pad, or a towel, or anything really. She just curls up on the stupid floor NEXT to all these warm soft objects almost spitefully being cold. She will only get cozy if I let her lay on my chest. Then she rag dolls out and snoozes. But I cannot be her personal space heater bed all the time....I have a life lol! Any tips to ensure the old girl is comfy and warm? I know due to her arthritis the winter months will make her more stiff and achy and cold and I want her to be comfortable. We keep our house pretty cold as I like air conditioning. 72F during the day and 68F at night. Maybe putting her in a sweater? But I don't know how I feel about clothes on a cat. She is a long coated calico. Lots of fur.
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Babypaws

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why not put a sweater on her?? At her age I’m sure the 72 during the day isn’t very comfortable for her. I know cats are strange, I know some of my cats are with some of their actions, hard to understand why she won’t sleep in a warm cat bed during the day…she’s old and I’m sure if something happened to her you would feel guilty about not keeping her warm….
 

game misconduct

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the cold nose and ears i dont think are to reliable indicators to know if your cat is cold graycie will have both cold ears and nose when its in the 80s inside and i sweaty and sticky. you could try getting a low laundry basket pile some dirty clothes into it your cat might use that as a cat bed to snuggle into i know graycie uses ours as a place to nap all day in a pile of stinky dirty clothes :lol:also i forget whee i read it but cats have a higer body temp average than us humans so she might feel perfectly cozy where you see her at all we can really do is guess
 

vince

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They make cat beds with higher-tech heat-reflective material inside. Not really a heated bed, but it does send most of the heat which would be lost back to kitty, making her feel warmer. They're not too expensive. Maybe you could get a few and place them strategically around the house in places where she likes to sit?
 

Kflowers

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Have you tried putting some of your T-shirts, socks, nightwear - after you've worn them in her cat caves? Scent is terribly important to cats and that might comfort her. Is it possible that her spot on the floor catches the flow of air, and thus your scent?

does she still sleep in the same place on the floor if you put a throw rug on it?

Have you considered giving her some of the joint care available? I'm not thinking the expensive stuff from the vet yet, though you should talk to the vet about it. As far as I've been able to find out, unlike steroids and cortisone, cosequin, dasuquin and other joint supplements don't have side effects. As always, talk to your vet. Be aware that not all arthritis medicine works for all cases.
 
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KavKit

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Her arthritis (and nerve damage from prior owner declawing) means she is actually already on long term prescription pain medication so that does help but yes she also takes dasquin.
She doesn’t really have a specific spot on the floor. Really just anywhere. She will lay on a sweater or two of mine that I wear often but not on a consistent basis. I might try my pajamas after I wore them all night.
 

neely

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We keep our house pretty cold as I like air conditioning. 72F during the day and 68F at night.
If you're worried about her warmth during the day could you set the a/c a little higher to 76 and also at night? I understand you like it cool but if she's uncomfortable due to arthritis it may help. It's worth a try. Since you mentioned she likes to sleep in your bed at night could you put her cat clam shell, cat bed or blanket w/heating pad in your bed during the daytime? Maybe she would try sleeping in one of those if it was in your bed. Also worth a try. Best of luck!
 
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