The A/C Broke and its over 90 in here

My Poor Cats are very hot. What can I do for them.

Do you have areas that aren't carpeted? Make sure they have access to them or try to create cooler flooring (like by laying down a piece of glass/linoleum/other hard cool surface. You can put out a damp towel or an ice pack, but most cats won't lay on them. It's most important to keep them hydrated. Adding an ice cube or two to the water bowl can encourage them to drink more. If they aren't drinking even with the ice, you might splash some water on their paws so they have to lick it off.

There is a great article here with lots more tips:
http://www.thecatsite.com/Care/9/Keeping-Cats-Cool.html

Put a bowl of ice water behind the fan blowing into the room they are in. As mentioned above a marble cutting board is very cool to lie on, too.

I thought the fan was supposed to blow over the ice....

Our AC smells like mold, so we only run it if it's absolutely unbearable (which has only been a couple days). I keep fans running all the time. The days that the temps got high in our apartment the guys would sprawl in front of the fan. I have a plastic table upstairs like this one: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=7679242 And my cats liked laying on top of it (we have a fan going in the spare room near it). I also made sure their fountain was topped up with fresh water. They didn't eat much dry food on those days, but ate more wet food.

Originally Posted by Mom of 4

I thought the fan was supposed to blow over the ice....

Click to expand...

The fan will pull the cold air from around the cold water into circulation.

When that happened to me this is what I did (and I had a litter of 3 month old kittens too - didn't lose any of them)

1. Put out extra bowls of drinking water.

2. Took each adult cat and ran water in the bathtub (like I was gonna give them a bath). Wet them down totally and lightly toweled them dry - not much)

3. The kittens got all wiped down with a washcloth dipped in water.

They all were put in one room for awhile. After they were dry (naturally) I moved them downstairs where we had a fan on the floor. The cat hung out in front of the fan and were not panting.

You know when they are too hot, cause they will pant.

If there's direct sunlight coming, close the curtains, blinds or shades, that helps a little.

We have another problem. I turned the fans on and something short circuited. The guy should be here in 2 hours. Who knew installing a 220 Stove would cause so many problems. When we moved to the Valley 3 years ago my cats all panted on the way out here so i was putting water on Coco the old one. They have not panted this time. It is 78 inside now. Meekos sister died at 3 months from Anemia and heat and my Meeko was saved at the Er Vet. Meeko was only 1 pound at the time. Thanks for thr ideas.

Oh gosh, I hope everything gets taken care of quickly. That A/C needs to be repaired ASAP it sounds like! Especially if you're in an apartment, maintenance should be taking care of that for you.

I agree, keep as much sunlight out as possible, and hook up some fans if you have them.

We just Moved to a House and am having the Stove changed. The guy had to add a 220 line and something went wrong and all the power cut off.

I lost power for three days two summers ago - thank goodness it wasn't incredibly warm, but it was warm enough. Try to do as suggested above, especially in providing lots of water - I put bowls in every room in the condo.

Did you have an electrical inspection when you made your offer? Sometimes a older place needs to have a fair amount of electrical upgrading before adding newer lines in. My place is about 30 years old and were I to add any more major appliances, I'd have to have a major electrical overhaul. I do suggest making sure your guy is a licensed electrician, not just a handyman. Good luck!

He is here now.
We did have the Inspection but didnt relize changing the stove from gas would cause this mess. The House was built in 1966. We had Mid come out to help.
They are the electric company here. The A/C is fine now nd he is doing the stove right now.

Oh, that's good - it's always such fun finding things out about a new home...I never knew so much about electrical lines and Energy Star ratings as when I was planning to get a new air conditioner. Hope everyone has a nice cool evening!