Life in a flat is tough sometimes, oh how I wish I could just go outside whenever I want, to lie on the cool grass and in the shade of a tree. Catching the warm breeze on my fur and just listening to the world go by. Hey, even a blind, rescue kitty who has already had her dreams fulfilled by being rescued and finding a furrever home still has dreams. Since that’s not happening we’ve been doing the best we can to stay cool, pass the time and keep out of mischief as much as we can. So I spend most of the day wandering around the flat trying to find a cool spot and moaning constantly to mummy and daddy about how warm it is. I know, I know, I can just hear you saying it, I’m originally from Cyprus, where the sun is hot and the days are long and warm. There though I could wander around until I found a suitable spot to spend the day, hiding in the long grass or in a bush somewhere but indoors there aren’t any of those, nowhere to chill, it’s all just hot, hot, hot. Mummy and daddy have fans which make a nice cool draft so it’s just a matter of finding the best spot to splodge in but come on mummy take me outside for a bit.
So, on any hot day you’ll generally find us moving about the flat more and there will just be cat splodges in various places until that bit gets too warm and off we go again to find a new coolest spot. Mummy and daddy do their best to make sure we don’t get too hot, we’ve got cool pads to lie on and there’s always fresh water in all out water bowls and drinking fountain, sometimes just for fun daddy puts an ice cube in for us to play with.
Sometimes if we’re really good and as an extra special treat mummy will give us a frozen lick-e-lik for us to enjoy and cool us down, who doesn’t love a kitty ice cream on a hot day? Both of those are as you would expect a messy affair, I just love to play with the ice cubes in the water and, we’ll, sorry mummy but there’s a giant puddle for you to clean up but my paws are cool and I had great fun.
As we’re too hot to properly curl up and sleep all day we often play games with each other to pass the time, it’s just been too hot to run around, chase and fight with each other. Angelin’s the baby of the family so I thought I’d have a bit of fun with her to pass the time, we had a really small cardboard box in the flat, I had felt my way around it before and had already decided that it was too small for me to bother getting into so I bet Angelin that she couldn’t fit herself into the box. There’s no way she was going to win that bet, this was a sure win for me. Well Angelin is nothing if not persistent and I really should have known better, she took me up on my bet and lo and behold not only did she manage to sit in the box, she went one better and actually managed to fully curl up and go to sleep! Well I must admit that she is the queen of contortion. That’s 1-0 to Angelin.
When mummy does eventually take me outside for walkies, it’s a bit later than usual as she says it’s better to go out when it’s slightly cooler. We never go out on the paving side in hot weather as mummy doesn’t want my paws to get too hot, she says the paving soaks up all the sun all day so we always go out onto the grass side. The first thing I do is go for a good roll around. Mummy is never best pleased as she always tells me that I’m filthy and I’m going to need a bath when I get back indoors. But rolling just feels so good, I only ever do it when it’s hot and the ground is dry so what’s the problem mummy? Plus you’re joining in my fun game and tickling my tummy to make me roll back the other way. I think secretly she enjoys playing this game with me so I keep rolling and mummy keeps tickling until I get distracted by a bird and then it’s off for the chase, complete with my mud camouflage- those silly pigeons won’t even realise that I’m sneaking up on them I’m so heavily camouflaged. I love hearing the sound of their flapping wings as they take off almost within paws reach. I think they like playing this game with me as they only ever fly over to the other side of the garden so that we can play chase again and again. At least they’re getting some exercise 😹.
Then, after a little rest on the cool grass to get my breath back (chasing in the heat is tiring work), we eventually head back indoors and when we did today mummy decided to water the plants on the balcony. I love helping water the plants, I like trying to catch all the drops of water and find the noise of the water hitting the leaves of the plants exciting and fun to play with. All three of us like helping water the plants but this time mummy played a trick on me! She told me that I was so dirty that I needed a shower and watered me! I shouted with surprise but she kept washing me, moving the water side to side until I was completely soaked. I shouted and shouted and then mummy rubbed me all over, it was like a extra, super, mega version of the damp hands game, I shouted with glee for mummy to keep going. This should help cool you down she said. I was so wet that mummy had to give me a towel rub before she would let me back indoors. This was the finest game ever but even that didn’t get me completely clean but it was worth a try mummy.
So as you can see mummy and daddy do everything they possibly can to make sure we keep cool on the hot summer days.
Jenny’s Story 