Housefly Chase Turns Heated When Cat Crash Lands on Stove

Sherri Johnson had concerns about how her cats would handle the wood stove in her New Hampshire vacation home. Her husband assured her that Eddy and Bella would sense the heat from the stove and stay away, and he was right—until the flies came.

“If there are any flies in the house, they always seem to come out of hibernation when we heat up the wood stove,” said Sherri of Belmont, Mass. “Naturally, the cats go nuts and chase the flies through the house. Our cats were running up and down the stairs chasing a fly, and my husband was worried that one of them might fall over the railing, so he went upstairs and shoed the fly into the living room. Eddy followed the fly, jumped in the air and came down with all four paws right on top of the hot wood stove.”

Eddy immediately gave up his pursuit of the fly and ran under a bed where he proceeded to growl at anyone who came near—even Bella. Sherri called the veterinarian who recommended that they keep an eye on Eddy’s paws and come in immediately if they observe any blisters. The next day, Eddy’s paws were covered in blisters, so Sherri wasted no time getting to the veterinarian’s office. Eddy received bandages on all four paws and antibiotics to prevent infection of any broken blisters.

“He was walking like a mummy for about a week, but he’s doing better now,” said Sherri. “The veterinarian gave us several good tips for preventing anything like this from happening again. We’ve found that tea kettles on the stove prevent the cats from having a place to land and also help humidify the house. Obviously, we’ll also do what we can to keep flies out of the house and window sills.”