We are being hit with a very rare and extreme heatwave in the Pacific Northwest, as Nomilynn (?sp) from B.C. noted on the Max thread. Last night, in spite of feeling pretty awful from the heat, I set up a bedroom downstairs for the two cats who normally have free roam of my daylight basement living area, and opened up the door so my upstairs cats could move down into a wide open space that is a good 20 F cooler.

Did they all rush down to the cooler area? Of course not. They lay prostrate all over the floor upstairs leaving me to carry the most comatose looking ones downstairs. Did they say "oh, this feels good and here's a cosy chair all set up for me"? No, they nosed around (they are used to being downstairs until a few months ago, so it's not a strange area to them) and then went back upstairs to lie around prostrate again. The only cats who went downstairs themselves, and stayed for a while playing, were the few really young ones who were the least affected by the heat anyway.

I mentioned this to a friend at work and she told she'd just gone through the same experience. She ended up shutting her two cats in the cool rooms when she left. As with mine, this was not a new space for them, it is one they've enjoyed many times the rest of the year.

So, what is the reason. Contrariness? Enjoyment of being overheated? Death wish?