# Sasha HATES the AC!



## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

This is the first year we've had air conditioning in our apartment. The humans have been enjoying the cool air very much, particularly in the early evening when the weather rises to the 80's. Sasha, being a nervous little gentleman has not been happy. I must admit the AC is quite noisy. For the most part, he tried to just hide when the AC is on, usually in a back bedroom, but even when the windows are left open, it gets hot where he likes to hide.

Today, I purposely locked him out of the bedroom, and he hid in the bathroom, which is also another very hot spot. Eventually, when the AC cycled off, he came out the bathroom and then I locked the door. He began pacing about nervously. It's been over 2 weeks, and he is still scared. I am hoping he will adjust soon. As the Summer gets hotter, he shouldn't be hidden in a hot room *sigh*


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

Magneto used to be sooo scared of the stairs at my old house. The house itself was extremely old and the stairs were very creaky and made lots of noise when humans were go up or down. It freaked Magneto out. If you were holding him he'd start growling and want to flee. It took him weeks but he did eventually get over it. He'll desensitize... I would just keep cutting him from access to those hiding places.


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## Cat'sHouse (Apr 5, 2012)

how about trying this but it might be too late now.

Turn the fan on only in the ac unit. No compressor running...leave it like that all nite if necessary...it will draw in cool air any way.... even put food and water in the same room tho quite far away.....then when you need the a/c have him go into his hiding rooms...maybe soon he will 'trust' the thing to not scare the bejesus out of him.

How old is the a/c unit? I assume it is a window unit? But maybe it is mounted in a wall. Is something rubbing on the fan or housing? That could be the source of the noise. I have two used units and just put them in and they are not excessively noisy and Kermit will lay near the one in the computer room. Tho he likes a fan blowing on him too.

Can you get a new unit? Kinda hard to sleep with a noisy one isn't it?

That's about all I have.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

I remember when we brought Zuba home when he was a kitten, every time the microwave beeped, he would run out of the kitchen and hide. After a while, he only ran out of the kitchen to another room and gradually he became habituated to it over several months until he no longer responded to it at all. There are some noises tho that some cats just don't like. I never had a problem with running two different kinds of vacuum cleaners until I had to get a new upright one, and both cats hate the sound and will leave the room, when before they didn't. They also don't like hubby's "workshop" vacuum. So I would just go about turning the A/C on when you need it, and don't baby him or put him in a room, as it will just reinforce that it's a big deal. He'll eventually get accustomed to it or go to another room. _Cat'sHouse_ suggestion to run the fan all nite or most of the time is a good idea that will get him used to the noise.


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

Cat'sHouse said:


> How old is the a/c unit? I assume it is a window unit? But maybe it is mounted in a wall.


It's a 2011 model so it's not really old although it is last year's model. I got a sale on both units since they were liquidating to bring in this year's models. They are both wall mounted units, and the noise is not a clinking or clattering. It just runs loud. The one in the bedroom is not as noisy as the one in the living room, which has a higher BTU capacity. I haven't had problems sleeping at night, but I don't find the one in the bedroom any noisier than the one we used to have in there...so maybe I am just used to it. I guess, he will just eventually get used to it, too because I don't plan to roast to death because he's a scaredy cat


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## Ritzpg (Dec 7, 2010)

"Buckley" was afraid of a tall portable fan; he'd hide under the sofa. He eventually got use to it. (Foster cat living with friend; I was helping socialize).
Ritz was initially afraid of the window unit in my bedroom. To compound the problem, it took up half of the window sill; one of her favorite activities is to jump up onto the window sill and look out. I put a few treats on the window sill--I made sure she saw me doing it. And then I left her alone so she to work it out on at her own time frame. It took about a week, but I was a proud and happy Mommy when she jump up onto the window sill. (It helped that I usually turned it off during the night.)


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

Thanks, Ritz. I will have to try that.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I don't have AC, but other climate controllers do scare a couple of my cats.

I have a large box fan that I have on the floor near the door of my main room. Paizly does not like it at all, and hides on the opposite end of the room as far away as possible. Though after a while she does come out and go about her normal activities (which really is just sleeping 23/7 LOL). One week it did get hot enough that she actually laid down right in the path of the breeze!
Zinny also gets skittish and every time she has to pass by it, will circle around as far as she can get and race past as if she thinks it's going to reach out and grab her! LOL

Also, when the furnace gets turned on for the first time in the cold season, it burns off all the dust that has gathered. Paizly YOWLS and panics, because she thinks the -house- is burning. But after a couple hours I guess she figures out there's nothing wrong, when the smell dies down. It's about the only time she gets any good exercise, because she paces around the doorway (leading to outside) for an hour.


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## Cat'sHouse (Apr 5, 2012)

Vivid, Just a thought about the furnace burn smell when you first turn it on in the winter season.

If it is a forced air gas furnace with no a/c, I wonder why so much dust gathers on the heat exchanger....if gas unit, are you running the fan blower during the summer?

If an electric unit I can see that dust would gather somewhat but still to be that smelly makes me wonder. 

Just curious.....and do you use quality filters rather than the cheapest kind?


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

I have no idea. It's my dad's house - I just give him money to cover the cost of the gas since I live in the basement and just trying to keep it at 68 (and I prefer 72ish) in the winter gets expensive!

Gas furnace. Dunno about filters, but they do get changed when my dad can hear the furnace making clunking noises. (which apparently means the filters are clogged)


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

If you are getting a furnace burn smell when the heat kicks on, get your repair person to check it out. You could be getting carbon monoxide in your house and that is a deadly poison. Please have it checked out. I recently had to replace my furnace because the 46 year old cast iron burner chamber had developed a quarter inch gap crack in it and was leaking fumes into the house. 

My Persian, Vincent the Beast, loved air conditioning. He would find a way to sit or lie right in front of the air conditioning blower almost the entire day in the summers. He was an addict. When I took him to Florida with me on vacation, he loved lying on the top of the in window air conditioners and having his fur blown up into the air when the blower turned on. He was a hedonist par exallance.


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## Cat'sHouse (Apr 5, 2012)

I agree with Laurul about getting the furnace checked out. I wasn't thinking about the 'smell' of the furnace when a cracked heat exchanger is present. Google such and learn how dangerous this can be. A checkup now in the summer could be cheaper. Get a new Carbon Monoxide detector now as there is probably a gas water heater in the basement also. Many things can cause CO to happen to a gas appliance.

As for the filter.....learn how to change it...it is not hard. What you said about Dad waiting to change it is also alarming. A clogged filter makes the heat exchanger hotter than it was designed to be and causes stress to the metal which ultimately results in failure of the seams....i.e. cracked heat exchanger. I retired from hvac and have seen many of these. At first I was only thinking of dust buildup when filters get plugged during a/c and then the furnace is used for heat and this dust 'burns' off.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

Actually, we just got a new furnace about two years ago. It was when Nebbie was still a foster, because I remember my dad telling the guy "Don't let the cats out, or she'll get mad" (I had to explain I wouldn't be so much mad, as more sad LOL)

Got a carbon monoxide detector...and boy does that thing eat batteries! I thought they were supposed to last 6 months. More like 3 months when it starts chirping for a change.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

CO detectors are battery eating monster. When I had the new furnace put in, I had them wire two CO detectors to the house current so I would no longer have to put up with batteries. I do still have one battery CO detector in the hall upstairs, but the other two are right by the heater in the birdroom and the furnace in the basement.

Does the cat respond to the furnace coming on? I put an independent heater in the birdroom to keep that area at no less than 70F year round. When it first came on the birds would all panic and it took them about three days to get used to it. My oldest cat loves to lie on the hot air register in the living room in the winter; when she isn't lying on me, that is.


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## hoofmaiden (Sep 28, 2009)

Keep in mind that domestic cats are descended from desert cats. They LOVE being warm--even hot. They aren't really fans of A/C at all. I turn the A/C down whenever I leave the house to give the cats (and the environment!) a break. It may indeed be the noise (which needs fixing) but it may also be the coolness, which seems like a Good Thing to you, but may not to Sasha!


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## Cat'sHouse (Apr 5, 2012)

Got a carbon monoxide detector...and boy does that thing eat batteries! I thought they were supposed to last 6 months. More like 3 months when it starts chirping for a change.[/QUOTE]


Don't know about that...some take 3 AA batteries..I think the older ones took a 9v ....The ones I use plug into a wall outlet. CO is not like smoke which rises...it just moves around in the air...so a plug in the wall model will work.....use quality batteries too as well...they should last almost a year. some models give a ppm reading and that might take the life out of batteries but I am not sure....I have all three models and install them in rental units as well as smoke detectors.


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

UPDATE - Sasha is now used to the A/C. He seems to realize that a cool room is much better than hiding under a hot bed in 90+ degree weather.


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