I got such great help on my last question so, I have decided to post another question. Now that summer is here in Tennessee, I am concerned about the hot weather. It's known to hit 100 or more degrees here. Being covered with fur, I would think my cats feel the heat more than I do...so if I am uncomfortable, they surely must be. How can I tell if my cats are too hot? I keep the a/c between 72 and 75. Is this cool enough? If they are too hot, what is a good way to cool them off? Any help appreciated.
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are my kitties too hot?
- Thread starter whitephantom
- Start Date
Cats come from desert animals- 72-75ºF is fine.
Cats do not cool themselves through their skin like humans do, so the fur is not a problem. If they get too hot you will see them pant, but indoors under A/C I doubt you will ever see that.
Cats do not cool themselves through their skin like humans do, so the fur is not a problem. If they get too hot you will see them pant, but indoors under A/C I doubt you will ever see that.
I've been wondering about that. Cats may be desert animals, but does that apply when we're talking about breeds that humans have artifically altered -- such as Maine Coons, Persians, Angoras -- to have longer hair than cats in nature?
If you take a breed like a Maine Coon and you put it in the Southern U.S. or the tropics, is that really a natural state of affairs that the cat's system can handle without fur trimming? Even if cats don't lose heat through the skin, the fur must insulate and keep them warmer... that's why Maine Coon coats developed the way they did.
If you take a breed like a Maine Coon and you put it in the Southern U.S. or the tropics, is that really a natural state of affairs that the cat's system can handle without fur trimming? Even if cats don't lose heat through the skin, the fur must insulate and keep them warmer... that's why Maine Coon coats developed the way they did.
It's not the heat that's the problem - they love the heat (you should see them plastered up to wall heat vents in winter that I don't want to touch!), but the sun can really do them in with no shade shelter - one of ours got heatstroke and we almost lost him after only a relatively short time outside.
It's true that cats like sitting on the radiator in the winter, but that's when it's cold and they can choose/regulate the warmth. During a summer heat wave, it seems to be a different story... you get home and the cat is plastered to the floor and much less active than normal. I notice that their appetite for wet food seems to decrease when it's hot, also.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
One reason I ask about this...yesterday, I had my ceiling fan on in the bedroom and Kitty got on my bed , rolled over on his back, spread his back legs open, and went to sleep, lol...wondered if maybe he was hot, poor thing.Thanks for the info, everybody!
I thought that my boys were doing that to be crass!
I out ice in the water but with AC I think u will do fine.. Your babies too...
Well- as evolution goes 100 years is nothing, so I doubt they have changed all that much physiologically.
Fur insulates against heat as well as against cold too, and especially since we are talking about indoor cats I don't think there is a problem. If you can stand it your cat is probably fine.
I would think body type has more to do with heat tolerance than coat, just like in dog breeds. Slender fine boned breeds cool themselves more efficiently than heavy boned cobby breeds, and breeds with no nose really suffer. Using that line of thinking Oriental breeds would fare much better than Persians, but I doubt anyone is going to run controlled studies on cats outdoors in the tropics, so as far as I know it's still a theory
I groom in South Florida and see all sorts of breeds that I don't feel belong here- Samoyeds, Huskies, Newfies, etc. You'd think they'd quit growing coat especially when they are kept outdoors but oddly enough they don't. I've seen just as heavily packed undercoats here as I ever saw grooming up north.
It's fascinating really.
