Their body temp is a few degrees higher than ours. I doubt this is the whole reason, because dogs also have a higher body temp than we do. Dogs don’t sleep with their bodies up against hot radiators for hours on end. One of my cats used to sleep on top of a very hot steam radiator in an old house. For her that radiator was like a hit of kitty Nyquil.
I ordered a heated cat bed for my 15 year old, Emma.
I was just reading some research from the 1960’s on cat sensitivity to heat. While reading, I realized I’d forgotten that sensitivity will be different depending on body location. Face more sensitive than back, most likely. One study, a behavioral one, found that paws do have sensitivity to temperature. They could tell the difference between stimuli with as little as 1 degree celsius (1.8 degree fahrenheit).
What’s really cute is that they received pieces of fish as a reward!
