Keeping Cats Cool

Any cat fancier will tell you that their cat is cool. But when the temperature starts to rise, how do you keep your cat cool? How do you prevent heat stroke from occurring, and if it does occur, what do you do about it?

Unlike dogs, cats do not sweat by panting. They instead sweat through their paws. On a hot summer's day, you may notice your cat has taken to groom himself more than usual. This is how they cool down. By licking themselves, and leaving the saliva on their fur, when the saliva finally evaporates off the fur, the cat's temperature goes down.

Cats will seek cool places to lie down in when they get to hot. Common areas are; sinks, bathtubs, litter pans, potted houseplants, shady tile floors or parked in front of the fan or the air conditioner.

If your home reaches 90 degrees, your cat will begin panting. This is your cat's way of exchanging heat inside his body with the cooler air outside. Cats will also pant when they are frightened or scared.

Your cat's temperature should be 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The only accurate way to determine if your cat is running a fever is to take his temperature using a rectal thermometer, or one of the newer ear thermometers.

Recently, we asked the readership of our newsletter KittyBytes...

"How do you keep your cats cool?"

Let's look at some of the responses:

• I keep lovye [my furchild] cool by putting a pan of ice in front of her personal fan. The fan blows cool air across to her. Plus I let her lie on damp towels
• My friend and I take care of a family of ferals (outdoors) as well as a houseful of indoor cats...you can well imagine the challenge of keeping everyone happy and cool...
• We use the dog as a status of 'cool' ...if the dog pants more than usual, we figure the cats are even hotter...
• We put ice cubes in the water bowls throughout the day.
• We have ice packs that we put in pillow cases and often some of the cats will sleep on or near the 'ice' pillow.
• We have window air conditioners so they may not cool as well as say central air, to move things along. We have a few fans around the house at the floor level (this pushes the cool air around more and raises the hot air out.
• We have one room on the top floor where we leave the window a crack open so that hot air can exit the house (no it's not wasting air conditioning it's actually helping cause hot air rises and cold air drops).
• We change their water daily.
• Two of our cats are extremely thick and long haired...they get a 'lion' cut just before the major heat...
• In very hot weather, I put an ice cube in each water bowl. The kitties love this. Also I get all their bellies shaved for the summer. I raise Persians so getting rid of all that hair makes them more comfortable. The adult males also get lion cuts.
• To keep my 3 moggies cool in very hot weather I leave out plenty of fresh water with a few ice blocks in to keep it cool a bit longer.
• I also stand them (one at a time) in the laundry sink in 2 inches of cold water, After the initial shock you can watch as their eyes cross in delight as their temperature drops. I will also wipe them down with wet hands every now again, which has a double bonus of cooling them down and having a much needed pat.
• I have 8 cats and I keep them cool by putting ice cubes in their water and leaving 2 air conditioners on for them on low all day long. My mother-in-law checks in on them a couple of times a day as she lives downstairs and loves them just as much as I do.
• I always wet a couple of paper towels with cold water and wet my babies from head to toe. They see the towel coming and they run over because they know it is going to cool them off. They even roll on their back so I can wet their stomach. I also make sure I keep filling their water bowl with ice cubes to keep the water nice and cool.


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