Newton: I’m not supposed to get on the counters, but I’m here to tell you a story today for National Pet Fire Safety Day. Once upon a time, I jumped up on the counter to see if anyone had left any good stuff up there.
Well, okay, maybe it was while the head peep was making my dinner on the counter and I wanted to get a head start on it.
Well, okay, maybe I try to get a head start on dinner every night. But that’s not what the story is about. The story is that one night, I jumped up to help prepare dinner and the head peep started tell me that I was naughty because I had turned on the knob.
You kitties might wonder what a knob is. Apparently, these are knobs. Ours are under special protection so I can’t play with them any more.
Sometimes humans take all of the fun out of my adventures.
About Newton and the Stove Knobs
It’s a true story: Newton used the stove knob as his personal stepping stone to the promised land of the countertop. We have a gas stove, so it was frightening to see him turn on the stove like that. Thankfully, he did it while a human was standing right there preparing food, so the gas was turned off before anything dangerous happened.
We now have stove knob covers as if we had toddlers in the house, because the last thing we want is for Newton to pull this stunt while no one is home to turn off the gas!
That doesn’t mean that Newton won’t think of another way to be a little bit naughty, but hopefully his next idea will be a little safer for all of us.
Do you take fire safety precautions at your house because of your cat?
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The stove knob thing has never happened here, but it is a good reminder that living with us kitties is like living with toddlers, and similar precautions need to be taken!
That was a great post and we never thought about the know thing, yikes!
OMCs Newton what valuable information. We don’t have a gas stove but we have heard horror stories about them accidentally getting turned on by toddlers. What a wonderful invention. Now good buddy let me just say you have some skills to have been able to use them like a climbing wall.
We have a flat top electric stove. Every so often I might walk across it. After mom uses one of the eyes she will put a pan with water in it on top of the eye while it is cooling off.
Hugs madi your bfff
I think I should look into those! Do they work for electric stoves too? I think those are a great idea. We posted on Dakota’s blog today about a fire in our building (not our unit) last week………..this is important info!
Just ordered those stove covers! Thank you! I clicked on them from your link 🙂
well that is certainly scary….glad you found something to cover the knobs
Although no furry ones around here have ever managed to use the stove knobs, the kitties do indeed get on the counters and help themselves (even despite many efforts to train them otherwise). So, I do love the idea of knob covers. Thank you for bringing these to our attention!
(I actually have a child-proof cover over my garbage disposal switch. Mine is on the front side of the cabinet section beneath the sink, and all it would take to turn it on is a reaching paw pulling the switch down. And especially since certain kitties like to play in the kitchen sink with the scary disposal monster, a cover was deemed a necessity.)
Mum only cooks with an electric cooker and one word “DOWN”. Hannah never jumps up on the work tops and Lucy only does it now and again but she knows that “Down” means DOWN NOW!
Can you believe that our Angel Hercule used the stove knob as a stepping stone to the countertop too ? Claire and Momo didn’t know about knobs covers ; they asked the electrician to install a general switch to shut off the cooker power. Purrs
Hmmmm, we never thought of the knobs. Ours are across the back of the stove, but it could still be done by an enterprising kitty. A naughty kitty just makes for a safer house.
OMC that could have been a terrible disaster. We don’t have knobs on our cooktop and it will only activate if there is the right type of pot on it. Mom does worry that someone will jump up while the burners are still hot though.
The Florida Furkids
dood…..az crazed az thiz soundz; paranoid pollee unplugged de stove
heer; if de cooked kinda foodz canna go in de micro wave ore toaster oven
..it doez knot get eaten..
coz sum cat tuna haz thing for electricitee & paranoid pollee came home
from her place oh employ one day ta find sum cat tuna on de stove top
chewin on de knobz, one was bout thiz close __ ta bein considered “stove on”
thanx for de fire saftee post !!!
heerz two a yellowtail catfish kinda week oh end two everee one ~~~~ ♥♥♥♥
Bear’s a cord chewer (he’s not particular … if it looks like string …) so all our cords are taped to the wall with packing tape. And within a few weeks of getting him, he ran across a burner on a flat top electric stove that was on high (I was draining grease from the skillet I’d just taken off the burner). He was burned on his back paws. I felt so incredibly bad – it was all my fault. Not a fire danger necessarily – but it scared us both. I’ve gotten in the habit of turning off the circuit to the stove when I’m not using it because I’m scared of him accidentally turning it on with his tail when I’m not around (or even when I am) – but we have an electric stove. They have built in guards but I refuse to take a chance (and I’m over-protective and not sorry either). Bear’s been great at teaching me how to cat proof a home. I never would’ve thought a plugged in toaster would be a problem (when it’s plugged in, he loves to stick his paw in there to get attention and make me come running). Luckily, the burn from the stove was the worst (and the only injury) result of his shenanigans before I learned a lesson. Then again, it happens once and I act. I also have those stickers you can get for free from the ASPCA on every single window so if I’m not home or unable to tell rescuers – that they know I have a cat in need of rescuing in case of a fire or any emergency.
Yikes…I’ve seen stories on the news about dogs doing that too. I’ve never had a fire bug kitty, thankfully, and I also have an electric stove so I’m safe there too!
Thank you for a great post! We will share is this is good fun AND very important!!!
Excellent post, I need some of those knobs. Millie is always trying to get on the stove.
Norty Norty Newton ! *** Giggle ***
I love this excellent post and Newton I should have had you in as s mdncst I gave had a crush on!!!
We’ve never messed with the knobs on the stove because ours have to be pushed in and then turned before they come on. But Ernie is a cord chewer so the mom covers cords with cord covers though Ernie just chews on the covers then.
What a scary thing to happen! We are so glad your peep was there! Mommy has been reading a lot about fire safety and we should have a plan.
What a great idea! Our mom has worried about similar mishaps in the past with different kidlets but we’re pretty good about staying off the cooktop. And our knobs are practically mom-proof, let alone cat-proof, so we think we’re safe there. We have cat-proof cabinet latches, though, to save us from other dangers.
That could have been very scary! The stove knobs sound like a very good idea.
Yikes! Newton, you can’t play with stove knobs! We are glad that your parents were home to turn the stove off. Thanks for the reminder to be aware of things like this!
Also, thank you for the kind words of love and support on Milton’s memorial post today. We especially appreciate what you said about it not being the amount of time we knew him, but how much we loved him. We truly appreciate it more than you know.
When I worked at the vet one of the client’s had a house fire because the dogs used to get into the trash, so they picked the trash can up and put it on the stove not even thinking. The dogs jumped up and accidently turned the stove on trying to get to the trash. it was heartbreaking.
I’ve never seem knob covers before! What a great safety item to have.
we need those knob covers just in case on account of a certain black kitten who shall be nameless… but whose initials are sharpie…
thanks for this post!
pip, minnie, smidgen, hollie
Our angel sisfur Chloe once burnt some of her whiskers off by getting too close to the gas burner when mom was cooking something. None of us have ever turned a burner on. The knobs have to be pushed in before they can be turned. It is difficult to foil an adventurous cat, however. Good thing to protect Newton and his fursibs. Love Newton in the fire hat! XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo