It is a scorching hot day here in the UK, even up here in the North East where Ekanath and I live. Today we have discovered that Ekanath and I share a common trait - neither of us do well in the heat. Now, most cats I've had love the warm weather. They bask in the sun or nap on the window ledge regardless of how warm it gets. Golgotha was a right sun worshiper, for example. This morning I awoke hot, sweaty and uncomfortable to find Ekanath sparked out on the bed trying to hide from the heat and get as close to the fan I had running in the bedroom as he could without having to sit on my head. Reluctantly I got up to get on with the day - it's a Sunday so I usually walk along to the local community center. I'm a trustee there and help out some days, but not on a Sunday. On a Sunday Marie helps out in the kitchen while I sit at one of the tables and write a chapter of my novel, then have lunch there. Today I was late because while I was brushing my teeth Ekanath was busy being sick on the bedroom floor - poor little mite. I checked him over but he seemed fine, just suffering a bit in the heat. It was nothing some time in the shade with the fan and some water with ice in it didn't solve. Anyway, once I was certain he would be okay I headed a long to the community center and left Ekanath in the care of Craig, my brother-in-law who lives with us. It's as well I did because to my surprise my mother was sat at one of the tables, having lunch. This is unusual because she lives on the other side of the county. It turns out she had been at my Grandfathers old flat, it being fathers day she had wanted to feel close to him but didn't feel she wanted to visit his body in the chapel of rest where it is waiting till the funeral on Tuesday. She wanted to be among the things that reminded her of his life, not his death. On the way home she decided to drop in at the center, have lunch and a chat since she knows it is my habit to be there on a Sunday. Anyway, on returning home I discovered that Ekanath was still lying by the fan in the shade and avoiding the heat. He otherwise seemed fine and was pleased to see me, purring and licking me as a greeting. No power on Earth would get him away from the fan though, even when I opened the downstairs window which he loves to lean out of (I tend to open it just wide enough for him to get his head out, but not his shoulders). After petting him for a bit i decided to leave him to wilt till it gets a bit cooler, and I though I would have a look on google to see what it had to say about Bengals and their heat tolerance, since cats usually like the heat. I wanted to know if Ekanath's dislike of it is a breed thing or is a personal idiosyncrasy. As of yet, I am still non-the-wiser on that point but, I did find this gem on a blog about Bengal cats: "...if you want to bring them outside Bengals are easily harness trained." Uh hu. This might be true in general, for all I know, but two things are for certain, no one explained this to Ekanath and he has some very strong opinions of his own on that topic! I know, because we have discussed it at length over the course of several days and he has made his feelings very clear on the matter. His opinion can be summed up in these handy graphics:
