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Japanese cats commandeer space heaters, owners left shivering from cold and cuteness 【Photos】

Casey Baseel Nov 5, 2014
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Japan gets pretty chilly during the winter, but houses and apartments aren’t designed with centralized heating systems. Since mounting an array of full-blown AC/heater units throughout your home is a pretty expensive endeavor, a lot of people instead opt to use space heaters to warm up a patch of their living room.

The downside to creating this tiny oasis of warmth, though, is that it can be hard to force yourself to leave it. This phenomena isn’t limited to humans, either, as shown by these Japanese cats lounging luxuriously in front of their owner’s space heaters.

After enjoying a pleasantly warm early autumn, temperatures have been steadily dropping over the past few weeks in Japan. The change has set people scurrying into their closets to unpack their winter clothes and pull out their space heaters.

あ、写真付け忘れた。今季初のストーブ着火で猫がこんなになった。 pic.twitter.com/5ve2vCZWpI

— 海輔 (@Kshatlina) October 21, 2014

▲ “I turned on my space heater for the first time this fall, and this is how my cat reacted.”

You’d think that’s cats’ coats would make the animals more resistant to the cold than their considerably less hairy human caretakers. Still, everyone likes to feel cozy.

https://twitter.com/YUKI_chm218/status/524774553835151361

▲ “My cat has set up camp for the season. So comfy he looks like he’s going to melt.”

ストーブつけたら猫死んだ pic.twitter.com/fBPVaAHRd7

— おさる(終了) (@RZ_4AG) October 23, 2014

▲ “Turned on the heater, and my cat may as well have dropped dead.”

Walk into any electronics store in Japan at this time of year, and you’ll find a huge variety of high-tech room heaters with bells and whistles like timers and digital displays. Nevertheless, you can still find some people, and cats, that prefer old-school radiators.

https://twitter.com/YUKI0609XXX/status/524607571580043265

▼ In a country that loves hug pillows, this kitty’s commandeered himself a heated one.

ストーブあったか〰い | 猫画像・猫写真の投稿サイト「うちネコ」

Found at http://t.co/0QyXkk5whm　#猫 #うちネコ pic.twitter.com/gYpAHlYlWN

— うちネコ - 猫画像・猫写真の投稿サイト (@uchineko_rin) October 4, 2014

As the pictures show, cats have a pretty universal love of loafing by these sources of warmth and coziness. Couple that with pet owners who have more than one cat, and it’s easy to predict what happens.

https://twitter.com/tei_na/status/522518635416276992

@ichi_kura ありがとうございます！寒くなって、ストーブがつくと、猫達のおりて来る率が高くなります！こんな感じでお待ちしておりますね！(*^^*) pic.twitter.com/56T4X5owi5

— たまゆらん保猫園 (@neco_tamayuran) October 22, 2014

▼ Two’s company, four’s a kitty crowd.

https://twitter.com/owarai_cat/status/523339073285398528

▼ “No way are we letting you squeeze in,” the one on the right seems to be saying with his stern stare.

ストーブの復活を喜ぶ猫々。 pic.twitter.com/fm1R4RsPbf

— 福武忍 (@shinobuns) February 22, 2014

Of course, by definition, space heaters only heat up a small area. With only so much available warm real estate, at least one group of cats seems to have developed some sort of queue system.

https://twitter.com/mike13003/status/522378575622586372

Others, though, aren’t quite so civilized.

https://twitter.com/honwaka_iya/status/522070861067464704

▲ “The cat population density in front of my heater is pretty high.”

So if you’re looking to invest in the best option for feline crowd control, an omnidirectional space heater may be what you need.