The forecast is for a July-like nasty hot day (81°F or 27°C, with a thunderstorm in the afternoon). It’s a more tolerable 61°F (16°C) at 5:30 AM, a pleasant coolness I will enjoy as long as it lasts!

I make sure my boys, Andy and Dougy, have plenty of water available in their cat fountain. They are very good about hydrating themselves, though cats sometimes are water-shy. (Especially when immersed in it!) That helps them keep cool.

If the temperature inside gets too warm, I do turn on the air conditioner. When I am away from home for any extended time, I like to leave it on for the cats, too, just in case it gets too warm for their comfort and safety inside the closed apartment.

Andy is cool~!

Cats, though, are pretty smart about coolness. (“Cool cats”!) Andy likes to sleep and laze one of two places in hot weather: the top of the washing machine, which is cool to the touch, or on the floor by the shower. Dougy lounges on the cool floor in the bathroom, too.

Neither cat is as active in the hot part of the day as they are in cooler weather because they are smart about such things. “Mad dogs and Englishmen” alone go out in the mid-day sun, as they used to say, but not “cool cats”!

A friend used to talk about the life lessons he learned from watching his family cats. In defense of other animals — dogs, for example! — I think it is fair to say most animals instinctively know to avoid heavy activities during hot weather, and have developed strategies that work very well toward that end.

I mean, how many dogs do you think would deliberately lock themselves in a hot car while their human runs into the store for the weekly groceries? They are smarter than that, animals are!

My childhood dog Peanuts, for example, went inside his dog house, which had a dirt floor, and excavated a good-sized hole in the moist, cool earth for his hot day comfort. Good doggy! He had lots of water and a nice flowering crabapple tree over his doghouse, too, which added to his comfort.

Myself, I will avoid going outside today. Tomorrow, another hot day predicted, I have no choice since I go to the military museum in the afternoon for my weekly volunteer “work” there. Fortunately, it’s air-conditioned for the safety of the displayed items — and any humans who stumble off the sweltering streets!

My home air will be turned on for the boys.

You! Keep hydrated, remember to treat yourself to any coolness you can, but don’t forget to help your pets keep cool, too.