I was thinking about this the last few times I had a fire in the fireplace both the cat and the dog run over and plop thenselves directly in front of the fire.
Aside from the fact I thought animals were afraid of fire, both animals get quite hot to the touch. It’s especially quite noticable in the cat which is mostly black. The dog which is tan gets hot but not as much as the cat. I am assuming it’s the color difference.
The cat felt so hot twice I picked her up and moved her away. She just mewed at me and walked back over directly infront of the fire and plopped herself down.
So obviously she isn’t bothered by it.
I mean if I sit directly in front of the fire, I get too hot and have to move, but the animals enjoy, and I was thinking does their fur keep the heat OUT?
You would think with the fur they’d get hotter faster. So is the fur keeping the heat out or do animals have a higher tolerance of heat.
Heat always flows from whatever’s hotter to whatever’s cooler. Insulation slows down this flow. Most of the time, humans and other mammals are hotter than their surroundings, so fur (or a winter coat, or a wool sweater, or whatever) will mean less heat flows out into the environment, so the mammal will be warmer than it would be without it. But if the environment is hotter than the mammal, then insulation will indeed slow down the heat flowing into the animal.
As for fear of fire, that’s only for animals that aren’t used to it. Animals which are (like humans and their pets) like it just fine.
Yes. A blanket over a warm pie will keep it warmer longer; the same blanket over a tub of ice cream will keep it colder longer (as long as it isn’t still hot from contact with the pie when you put it over the ice cream, of course).
I saw a show on one of Discovery Channel / TLC one time about house cats. The narrator indicated that cats love heat - that often blacksmiths would keep them because they were so comfortable around the fire… they would singe their whiskers before moving away from the flame.
Bear in mind that both cats and dogs have a slightly higher average body temperature than humans (100.5-102.5º F for cats and around 101º F for dogs). Things would presumably feel slightly cooler to them than to us, all else being equal.
Yes, I was wondering how Mangetout came about this knowledge of the thermal effects of laying blankets on top of various foodstuffs. I suppose we all find our own ways to pass the time.
I’ve read that you aren’t doing your long haired dog a favor by shearing them in summer. Dogs get rid of excess heat by panting which draws cooling air past a mesh of veins in their muzzle. They don’t perspire so they don’t get the nice refreshing cool breeze over their skin that humans do from evaporative cooling. And the hair acts as insulation to slow down the heat input from the sun and the hot air.
To** David Simmons** , I am not a dog expert by any means, but I have had dogs for thirty years, and have learned from observation. One is just like you said, that dogs need lots of water because their cooling system is based on the panting, not sweat. Without water and shade a dog is in deep trouble. In the wild a dog will find shade and water. Chained up the dog cannot, it must be provided, and in great quantity. Fur does help keep heat out, but shade is ultra important. Best way to deal with excess heat is to not let it get in. As far as humans, look at the Beduins, they do not run around in the sun in shorts and t-shirts, they shield them selves in clothing. Not the same clothing one might wear in the arctic, but the idea is the same. I was Arctic Warfare in the army back in the day, but I can tell you I talked with troops that deployed in the desert, and they told a similar tale of layering clothing to keep the outside outside. I have not researched this a lot, so I am just guessing that the idea of insulating one from the out side is the same, but the implementation must be much different for it to work.
I live on the desert. Summer and winter I wear a hat with a large floppy brim, long sleeved shirts and long pants. Winters I add a sweater and a jacket if the wind is blowing.
I look on those who wear T-shirts and shorts in summer as just plain nuts.