I sincerely can’t tell who loves our fireplace more: me, or our cat! In hindsight, it should not have shocked me in the slightest that our cat now seems to prefer our fireplace.
He genuinely loves sizzling spaces, as most cats do, and even seems to get angry when our heating is not on point. However, I had no clue in the least that our cat would prefer our fireplace this much… When the people I was with and I moved into our modern dwelling, which happened to have a fireplace, our cat was somewhat apprehensive at first. He didn’t enjoy the sound of the logs burning, he didn’t like its sizable imposing stature, and by the looks of things he didn’t like the smell of the burning wood, either. As time went on, though, I noticed that he started to easily warm up more and more to our fireplace… My cat would join me when I would rest in front of the fireplace to read, cuddling up to my side and purring softly. Eventually he was able to gain the courage to venture closer and closer to the fireplace, curiously taking in the warmth. Then he would fully bask in it as though it was like rays from the sun. He would stretch out in front of the fireplace and soak up as much warmth as he could manage, seeking solace from the frigid weather that was going on outside. It became a section of his routine to soak up the warmth coming from the fireplace each night after I would supply him some lunch, and he seemed to be completely satisfied with it.