Cats In The Hot Weather

Larry's just sacked out on the tile floor most of the time. I have the a/c on when I'm home, but he still just stretches out on the floor. Last night, I don't think he even jumped on the bed all night - just loves that floor.

I've been putting an ice cub in his water, too, and he's fascinated by that. "What's that moving thing in my water, Mom? Hey! Where'd it go?!"

I feel bad for him when I leave during the day. I turn the a/c off, as I dont' want any electric stuff on while I'm gone. But the shades are down and he's got lots of water. He can just lounge around on the floor.

How do your cats react to the heat?

Originally Posted by nanner

I feel bad for him when I leave during the day. I turn the a/c off, as I dont' want any electric stuff on while I'm gone.

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But I assume you don't unplug your refrigerator? Your AC is just as likely to start a fire as a fridge is - probably less so since I doubt you're pulling your fridge out every couple of months to vacuum out the cat fur.

Turning it off completely in the day then completely recooling your place when you get home is not energy efficient.You make the AC run harder and use up just as much, if not more, power than it would if you just turned it down while gone.

If it's hot in your home, don't turn your AC off if anything is living there! Turn it down if you wish to 80 or so, but not completely off. Your cat can't go open a window if it sudden gets too warm. If I did that with my closed up house in summer my cats would probably end up dead or near so.

My AC stays on at 77-78F all the time. The house cats are content and playful. The outdoor cats have several areas they can go to lay down in the cool dirt, plus wind outside. They avoid activity in the daytime as much as possible. (and if MewMew can ever get over herself, I'll have no outdoor cats)

Oh, I leave the windows open. It's not as if I'm leaving him in a hot car with the windows rolled up.

I came home 3 years ago to my apartment having been destroyed by a fire. I'm a little paranoid.

My cats pretty much the same, just splay themselves out on the laminate floor or if they are out in the garden with us they usually come and sit under the table where its shaded, all they seem to do is sleep. Same as usual then lol. x

Originally Posted by Ruthyb

My cats pretty much the same, just splay themselves out on the laminate floor or if they are out in the garden with us they usually come and sit under the table where its shaded, all they seem to do is sleep.

Same as usual then lol. x

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Yup. That's Larry!

Originally Posted by nanner

I came home 3 years ago to my apartment having been destroyed by a fire. I'm a little paranoid.

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Oh I understand being worried. Do you have a home or an apartment? If home, you may be able to look into the security systems that have alarms for fire that notifies the local fire department, too. (it's not cheap, but there's usually benefits in insurance and maybe some other credits you can get)

Otherwise, leave the ac off when you're home one day when it's fairly hot and see how bad it gets inside. It's possible that even with the windows open it's just not cooling down enough for him. Once you get overheated it can take a while to really cool down again.

I don't know how hot it gets in NYC with all the pavement and concrete - here, even though it's rural Oklahoma, summer temps are usually over 100. It's only cool right now thanks to the hurricane in the gulf that keeps sending rain this way - it's been raining for days which isn't that common in July.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Oh I understand being worried.

Do you have a home or an apartment? If home, you may be able to look into the security systems that have alarms for fire that notifies the local fire department, too.

Otherwise, leave the ac off when you're home one day when it's fairly hot and see how bad it gets inside. It's possible that even with the windows open it's just not cooling down enough for him. Once you get overheated it can take a while to really cool down again.

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It's an apartment.

I wasn't really worried about him - that wasn't the reason for this post. I've been in the apartment without the air on, it's fine - just more comfortable with it on. I lived for years without an air conditioner - it's basically a luxury for me. I have the blinds down in the morning when I get the morning sun, and it doesn't get that hot, so I know how to live comfortably without the a/c.

I was just curious about how other people's cats responded in the summer vs. the winter, I guess. Maybe I didn't word it correctly.

We don't really have air conditioning over here, I just leave the upstairs windows open and all my cats have been fine over the hot summers! x

(no, not THAT kind of heat...)
In Washington, DC, we're experiencing a triple digit heat wave. I leave my ac on during the day, but the temperature still reaches 87 or above inside in the afternoon. I do leave the ceiling fans on as well as a free-standing fan. This is the first summer I've had a cat, so I'm particularly conscious of the heat.
Ritz conserves energy as much as possible; she sleeps a lot during the day. She splays out, thereby venting heat. The temperature in the bedroom is about three to five degrees cooler, but strangely, Ritz sleeps in the living room on a low bench (not near the free-standing fan) or sofa (directly in front of the fan). We play only in the morning; the temperature inside doesn't drop below 80 until around 9 p.m. I have reduced the amount of dry food I give her and increased the wet food so she gets more fluids.

I know - I was talking to a friend yesterday and she said, "My cat just lays around in the heat, conserving energy." I said, "Mine too!"

It still fascinates me, though, that even in the heat, he'll go under the quilt to hide if someone comes. He doesn't stay under there too long, though.

It gets really hot in the strawmow during the summer. The cats up there don't know how to get down (they lead pretty protected lives ) so if it gets above 80 outside I get the tame ones down (5 of the 8 up there) and put them in large dog crates (3 cats per crate).

If it is 80 outside it is easily 100 degrees up in the strawmow. 90 degrees outside and it will be 110-120 up in the strawmow. So it really IS a huge improvement for them just to be downstairs for a few days. The strawmow door is pushed the whole way open so the ones that stay up there sit next to it when it is really hot.

The cats left in the strawmow will not let me catch them so they are stuck up there. I give them plenty of water and they are raw fed cats so they get most of the water they need from their food. I do give them wet food soup (95% meat wet food) when it gets really hot up there.

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

If it is 80 outside it is easily 100 degrees up in the strawmow. 90 degrees outside and it will be 110-120 up in the strawmow. .

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Holy moly! That's hot!

Butzie is having a hard time getting used to the fact that my new apt. doesn't have a/c as is I am as a matter of fact. I can go to the pool outside but pretty sure that that is not on her wish list. Butzie lies around on the linoleum floor and looks like she may be panting. I have glasses of water for her. Yes, glasses. She decided she wanted to drink out of glasses. We have fans and an eastern-facing apartment.

Yeah, Larry likes to drink out of glasses. I have a big empty yogurt container sitting in the bathroom with water in it. He's fascinated by water in things other than his water dish.

Before we had AC, BooBoo really used to mind the heat and the older he got, the worse it was for him. DH and I used to take cold wet cloths and rub him down. And he figured out that lying on the kitchen table was the perfect place for him to catch those breezes given off by the ceiling fan.

Mollipop didn't do well during our spring heat wave either, so we think she was really bothered, too.

Whisper and Bootser will be 16 years old next week and they don't mind the heat at all.

We now have AC in the kitchen and another unit in the computer room; between the two, they keep the house cool. Too cool for me as now I'm usually walking around in sweatpants and a t-shirt at home. But BooBoo is now a happy kitty and that's what matters most. We can really see a difference with him. And I guess, since he's 14 years old, he deserves a little pampering.

I was remembering the days when I didn't have air conditioning. I had cats, too. You find ways to try to keep the place cool-ish. Torfinn and Gudrun (my cats in those days), always seemed to find the cool places. I would do the cool, wet cloth thing on them, too. They each lived to a rip old 17!

I think cats' metabolisms just naturally slow down. I keep thinking of Larry out on the streets during his first year - and the rest of the ferals around the city. Yikes - I'm hoping they're finding cool, dark places.

Originally Posted by nanner

I was just curious about how other people's cats responded in the summer vs. the winter, I guess. Maybe I didn't word it correctly.

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You worded it just fine, as evidenced by the fact that most people answered your question without feeling the need to go off on a tangential lecture.

My boys are really feeling the heat these days as we don't have a/c and live in the top floor. As you walk up the stairs you can feel the temperature rising. They flop around most of the day. We keep the blinds closed and windows open, fans in every room, lots more water dishes. And we take them outside or down to the cool storage room when possible for a break.

Mine LOVE the heat. I've been calling them Desert Cats, because they will avoid the air-conditioned rooms (we only have window units) in favor of the sweltering un-cooled areas. They like to be near me, but they'll lie on the wool carpeting right outside the bedroom door and refuse to come in. The spare bedroom upstairs gets unbelievably hot, and they love it. I actually caught them CUDDLING in there a few days ago, in the middle of a giant sunbeam on the floor. Crazy much?

We're in the middle of a weeklong heat wave in Pittsburgh - 90+ degrees
all week. So, like it or not, they're staying in the air-conditioned bedroom with me. It's so bad right now that the a/c can't even keep up...I have it set on 62 degrees and I'm sitting here sweating.

It was 112 degrees up in the strawmow today when I went to evacuate some cats. It is about 90 outside.

I got everyone downstairs into 2 differant dog kennels except for Lynx. I left him up there with a wet towel to lay on, canned food soup (5.5 ounce can of wet + 5.5 ounce water), and a few extra bowls of water. I wish I could get him down but he is impossible to touch.

But at least he isn't long haired like three of the ones I got down. Three I took down are very long/thick/darker haired cats. Amiga and Panther are both competly black and Clover is mostly black with some white. Not the type of cats to have anywhere to hot!

My kitties scream for me to turn on the fans when I come home. There was a fire in our apartment complex a few years ago from a coffee pot left on downstairs so we don't leave ANYTHING plugged in except the alarm clock and the microwave and stove for when we leave - they're all brand new. If no fans, they just lay around like blobs. Mandarin especially does not like the heat. Didn't really bother him until this year. But then again Majel isn't that active of a kitty except when it comes to her string...