Heat or Strange Place?

[Dobby]

Hello Everyone,

I’d like to hear some of your opinions on what would be best for Dobby right now.

I live in Washington DC where it is currently 93 out.  The AC in my building decided to break today so the inside of my apartment is 83 and probably climbing, as I am on the 12th floor and face west, so get the afternoon sun, with nothing to block it’s way.  There is no ETA on AC repair.

Dobby is surrounded by frozen water bottles right now and more are freezing so I can rotate them out.  I also have a fan blowing around the room.  I’ve wet his ears down once or twice, but he does not like that.  Shakes his head like crazy afterwords.  He seems OK but is not sleeping like he usually does at this time of day.

I don’t have the option of going to anyone’s house with him. I also don’t have a car.  My options are…

-Stay here and keep up the water bottles and fan.

-Go to the mall across the street with him in his carrier.  This would be cooler of course, but he’d probably be freaked out and wouldn’t have easy access to litter, water, etc.

-Get a room for the night at a nearby hotel.  This would be pricey (hotels in the DC area on the 4th of July weekend) but I can do it.  He’d still probably be a bit freaked out but I’d be able to easily give him the things he needs, after lugging them to the hotel.

What would you guys do?  Is there an absolute temperature that I should leave, regardless of the stress it will induce?

Any opinions would be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[Stickerbunny]

He’ll be OK without you leaving the house as long as you keep him cool. If you have fans, you can make a home made swamp cooler – take a bucket or container of water, some hand towels and place in front of fan. Put the towels with one end in the water and one end draped over the container edge, so they stay wet and the fan blows over them. Make sure the water is cold, iced works best, but cold works too. You can place this where he can reach it, if the cords are out of his range, it works like a mini-A/C and cools the air off that is blown around.

If you have a cool surface you can let him on that will help too – tiles, concrete etc stay cool even in the heat. Make sure he has PLENTY of fresh cool water to drink. And maybe offer some chilled greens throughout the day to keep him hydrated. You could even offer him a frozen fruit treat (safe fruit juice frozen) to lick if that would help.

[Dobby]

Thanks. I feel better staying put now. And I will try the swamp cooler if I can find my old fan.

We have moved into the bathroom and walk in closet because it’s about 5 degrees cooler in here. Unfortunately, he associates being locked in the bathroom with having his nails clipped so he’s a bit on edge right now, waiting for me to grab him. He’s hiding behind the toilet, although he did come out once to pee on his fleece, which was nice of him. 🙂 Hopefully his jitters will pass shortly and he’ll enjoy the cool tile.

Fingers crossed this is fixed by Monday…

[Roberta]

Try to block out the windows as much as possible too, a big part of the heat is the radiant heat coming through the glass and heating the air on the inside.

[Dobby]

Yes, windows are one of my biggest problems. The entire west wall of my apartment is floor to ceiling sliding glass doors, which makes it great for sunsets and watching lightning storms but not great for making it cool in the afternoon. There are hanging blinds but they don’t really do too much.

Still no AC so sleeping will be no fun but it is a little cooler in here now that the sun is down. I hope something comes on soon. When I lost power last year, because of a big storm, it got up into the 90s in my apartment. With the humidity it was obnoxious. And no power meant no elevator, so it was 12 flights down in the dark to get out. Luckily that was before Dobby became my roommate.

[LBJ10]

I would only take him to a hotel if absolutely necessary. I think he is ok right now. People have given you some good suggestions.

[Roberta]

I know what you saying… It gets really hot here in Western Australia… Last Summer it hit 104F at the beginning of December and stayed there for 3 months… I got my guys through by moving them into the second bedroom and keeping the swamp cooler going all day and replacing the ice bottles frequently. The second room only has one small window so there was less heat coming in. I live in a duplex and the whole side of the house faces North so it was full on sun and heat from sun up till sun down. Pascal was in the lounge room so he only had the fan and ice bottles but I also found angle right he would get the cool air coming back from the swamp cooler pointed into the bedroom.

[BinkyBunny]

You can also get ceramic tiles for him to lie on and it will help take the heat away from him. But the ice bottles, swamp coolers (DIY too) will help him get through. You can also check out the Cooling tips on our site for additional info.

[Dobby]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I’ve tried to incorporate as many ideas as I can. Still no AC. It’s over 90 inside at this point.

Dobby is in the bathtub now, surrounded by frozen bottles of water with a fan circulating the air above him. He was looking pretty hot outside the tub but wasn’t staying near the ice. This way he has no choice and I’m not constantly worrying about him. He was upset at first but is now exploring, rearranging his blanket and occasionally eating hay.

The temporary replacement unit for the building’s AC is supposed to be installed today. I’m hoping it’s up and running before I have to leave for work tomorrow.

[Author]

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