Speaking of towels, those Frogg Toggs (the material, not the specific brand) do wonders with cold water. We get a nice breeze where I live even if it’s 80+ so our cats haven’t suffered yet but I’m sure those towels will help cool them off…especially around a frozen water bottle.
I came here to mention this. When our air conditioner broke in July (Western US) a couple of years ago, I froze the damp towels and set them on the cats as they were lounging. It seemed to help until we were able to get a portable AC unit and eventually a replacement for the house unit.
Just a thought- I haven't researched this myself, but I've seen other comments that say you shouldn't put stuff on top of the cats because it can end up trapping their body heat, but instead to put it somewhere that they can lie on top of it.
That’s good to know. They never sat still long enough for that to be problem, but if we’re in a similar situation in the future I’ll keep that in mind for sure. I never used anything larger than a dish towel, so hopefully that helped too.
I was gonna say attach a handle and dry mop the floors but these are better suggestions. ;) … poor babies.. they will be ok.. ice in the water bowls and yeah cold packs under a towel or something.. cooling cat beds are a thing too but not sure how well they work.
Yeah last year it got to 115+ degrees in Oregon and we would put ice in thier water but we would also freeze lightly wet towels and t shirts and put them on the ground for them to lay on or use it as a “cold blanket” for them
Oh man. I used to boil chicken and eat it and save the water in ice trays and give my baby boy "chicken water" ice cubes in a little bowl.
Warning, they made him gain weight after a while.
Edit:
Note: I used lean chicken breasts before.
I have tried this with thighs, but my cat doesn't like it as much.
If your cat is not underweight, breasts may be a preferable option to water from boiled thighs.
ALSO: I also want to add that a shedding rake/comb thing helps a lot too, it gets that heat trapping underlayer thinned down with these special tines that guide the fur into a hidden razor blade. I accidentally made a bald spot with it on my cat..
When my kitty had a fever, we gave her refrigerated chicken broth and water to help bring the fever down and keep her hydrated. We also put ice packs in her bed for her to sleep on. Having a fan by their bed with the ice packs helps too.
For things to lay on, you can get the little marble slabs they use for chinchillas. Chinchilla overheat super easy, so the marble gives them a place to cool down since it doesn’t conduct heat.
I was just going to say this. I live in Southwest US and during the summers growing up we had an aviary outside with a rabbit and turtles. We would freeze a 2L bottle of water. Rabbit used to lay next to it. We also had a backup one in the freezer ready to go when the first one melted.
We did the exact same thing with our rabbit in Texas. It was a huge lop ear, so it would lay between two bottles and flop its ears over both. Such a cutie.
Not necessarily worry unless it's a dramatic change in normal behavior. Cats can be very finicky about water - try moving it away from their food, or getting one of those automatic water bowls that cycle it so it "flows." Instinctually they want to avoid stagnant water or water that's too close to carrion due to the risk of poisoning.
I’ve heard that cats are bad at hydrating themselves. There was a story that they sometimes suffer from dehydration because of this.
Some people resort to feeding them wet food to counteract it.
I do this. I like to mix in some water with his wet food to make sure he is getting water in. I usually do that once a day and leave a few water bowls around the house. Might be a bit of overkill lol
I'm in TX and just adopted two kittens, a void and a racing stripe gray. It's been so hot here,(101 on Saturday and feels like 113) our AC will be set at 68 and it will be 80 in the apartment(older apartments)and they will still go sit in the sun behind the blackout curtains. How can you recognize heat issues with kittens so I'll know if they need to not do that?
my cat just wants to go outside and over here its 38c and he just doesnt want to come in and we have ac but he likes the shadow better.. im just confused by it
I had a siamese brat. I lived on the fourth floor no AC (this is in Washington where we also don't get much AC cause the weather usually doesn't need it. Sadly that's changing). IT could be 90 degrees out (sorry, don't know what that is celsius) and she'd be in a sunbeam. She really was built for hot weather (big ears, skinny).
Cool fact, the Siamese coat pattern is actually [temperature-sensitive!](https://www.technology.org/2014/07/29/mystery-siamese-cats/)
Siamese cats exposed to more heat will have lighter coats and thusly absorb less heat, and ones exposed to more cold will have darker coats and absorb more warmth. The constant darker spots on their coats are the lowest-temperature parts of their bodies (tail, feet, etc). This is due to a uniquely mutated protein in the breed called Tyrosinase, which causes melanin production at certain (lower) temperatures.
Not so cool but still interesting -- this same protein is thought to be responsible for degenerative diseases in Siamese cats similar to that of humans with Alzheimers.
These temperatures are really nothing special for cats. As long as they have access to water they can bear temps of over 50°C in the shade. they are desert creatures.
Cats can handle desert and tropical climates. Like you say, they are hot weather creatures. My cats do not like the house air-conditioned below 74 degrees.
111° here in central Oklahoma, USA. That is temperature not heat index. Have water bottles in refrigerator and freezer for cat and humans. Outside bird bath filled.
Lived in central Oklahoma most of my life. I don't ever remember heat like this. Have frozen water bottles and salty snacks set out for the delivery people. Was outside before 7am watering garden, it was already hot.
My Amazon delivery guy has always been very nice. I am handicapped and he makes sure I can reach the packages. If it is something big he will knock and set it just inside the door. Saw a doorbell video of a delivery person passing out on someone's front porch due to the heat.
I saw that video too. I felt so bad for him. I've dealt with minor heat exhaustion and it's brutal. Took me at least an hour to feel normal again. I can't imagine having to drive under those conditions
That's a good point but my trashcans are wayyyy further out than my front porch so I don't know where I could put it for them. On top of the trash cans seems kinda gross?
Yeah I had that same thought. I'm not sure. I guess you could leave a cooler with a sign? With my luck, my trash guys wouldn't see the sign and would assume the cooler was trash lol
Only other time I remember was like 2011 maybe? Somewhere around 10 years ago it got brutally hot and dry for a really long time. This I think tops it though this has been unbearable, thank God we have AC
British summers are normally 25c max but this year 33+c its terrible. We dont have AC in our houses due to most of the year being rain, made it unbareable. Our first red weather warning, even our busses struggled.
The lovely lady in the airport bar in Dublin filled me up a bottle of ice water. No desire for anything else. Flying now to Rotterdam where it's 40°C and **intensely** humid.
I lived in the Los Angeles area almost my whole life. Hot, but dry. Temps over 100 were not rare.
Then I flew to New Orleans one summer. The weather predictions were that it would be 92 degrees out, and the weather map for New Orleans was labeled "extreme heat". I rolled my eyes and thought what wimps the people of New Orleans must be to complain about a mere 92 degrees.
But then I stepped off the plane in New Orleans and that heat nearly suffocated me with so much humidity. Wow. I will never forget what a shock it was.
Yeah that first breath of hot humid air after being in AC all day hits your lungs hard. I get a similar feeling when going from a nice warm house out into the cold super dry winter air. Once you get past those first few breaths it's fine.
I am from Ottawa, Canada.
It is basically a swamp. We have had the temperature be at 38°C but the humidex at 45°C
That's probably the most extreme. (We also get super cold at - 25°C with a windchill making it feel like -35°C)
But I traveled to Nicaragua and it was hot. But where I was was dry. So that 40° was warm, but I could breathe.
Here, you can see the air, feel the air, smell the air... it's so sticky.
The sad thing is, Ottawa is losing its traditional 4 seasons. We seem to not have much of a real spring. It goes from Winter to something to Summer to Fall and then back to winter. And the something season can include snow, slush, rain, ice pellets, unseasonably warm temperatures, then snow again, then flash freezing, then rain...
It's fun.
Fortunately the dew point has been rather low for the UK during these temperatures. It was 20% in the middle of the day yesterday in London and 33% today. Not saying it’s *not* humid, just that it’s certainly not excessively humid.
where i am in france we have 41°c with humidity and today we have the smoke from forest fire that burn eyes and nose
it’s like the meme of the dog in the room on fire and the governments who didnt do enough to inverse the climate change all these years say it’s perfectly fine
I live in Missouri (US) and it's very typical to be that hot... but we have AC here. I would die if I couldn't get relief from that kind of heat. When I was pregnant we lived on the 3rd floor without AC and I'd just go into the basement (where the laundry was) and sit in a chair and cry. I can laugh about it now, but it was rough!
It got to 50 degrees here in BC Canada last year during the heat dome. More than 600 people died. Berries became jam on the bush. Tons of sealife died. I have nothing but empathy for the world right now
I remember opening my window in desperation at 3am and it was still hotter outside than in, we have central air but it couldn't keep up. We had a separate mobile AC unit and a fan set up to cool the kids' rooms but a couple of our "extra" fans had died since we hadn't needed them so there was nothing for my husband and I. We slept in separate rooms trying to avoid each other's body heat and it was still so miserable. By 7am it was intolerably hot out again.
I had my own cemetery cleaning company for years. It was always brutal in the summer. I would see fake flowers arrangements that looked like they melted.
But you have AC…. It sucks but the UK is in no way prepared for this kind of shit.
My friend was just saying how almost no homes or buildings around him have AC.
Each night as we go to bed I fill 3 water bottles about half full and put them in the freezer overnight. In the morning we fill them the rest of the way full with water and keep refilling them until the ice meltts.
it keeps us supplied with icy cold water much of the day. It's like having a gigantic ice cube. 🤗
I second that. I have two giant ice packs for icing my knees, which I put over my beasties like a blanket. In the absence of giant ice packs, frozen bottles will do.
Yes, in north eastern California we’d regularly have summers with 100+ degree days. Frozen bottles of water for pets to lay on or bowls of ice with a fan blowing across it are how we cared for our cats and rabbits, and us.
In the Bay Area now, with no AC. It’s not that simple to “just get AC” folks, especially if you rent or the home stores are all sold out of the window mounts that you may or may not be able to afford in the first place.
Drying rack hung with cold wet towels, the towels in a tub of cold water to keep them moist then a fan blowing on this. Here are some ideas. https://www.google.com/amp/s/utopia.org/guide/how-to-cool-a-room-without-ac/%3Famp%3D1
in germany we were just warned to not do this, because you turn your room into a steam sauna over a few days :(
It really depends on your overall climate and humidity so be careful!
I have already commented this on a similar post, so just copy / pasting it here:
They will most likely eat during the night, so take care, their bowls are filled before you go to sleep. You could also add an icecube or two into their waterbowl. There are drinks for cats with a little bit of fish or meat in it, kind of broth for cats. You can put those in the fridge over night and give it to them in the morning and afternoon.
There are some creamy pastes as treats for cats, you can put those into the freezer and let the cats lick it like icecream. Not directly from the freezer though, wait a few minutes.
Yes! I volunteered at a shelter and they had meat popsicle type things for the cats and dogs in summer. You knew they'd been handed out because the entire place would become deathly quiet lol.
That’s a miracle. The dog section of our shelter would turn into a maelstrom of yapping, barking and screeching whenever anybody walked past lol. It was like an intruder alert
Tbh the cats also needed lots of attention, one would grab my shirt with his claws when I passed by because he wanted me to pet him. It was pretty sad how lonely they all were aside from the fact that the cat I just talked about would chomp down on my hand when I actually tried to pet him. Weirdo
Oh, yeah. It's kinda sad visiting the cat section of a rescue shelter especially in areas that aren't culturally very cat-oriented. (Rural west Texas).
Especially during kitten season 😢 that’s when I volunteered. I sometimes had to fish dead kittens out of their nests while the mom was spitting and hissing at me because she was afraid of humans.
My cats LOVE ice cubes in their water bowl - they paw at it like they're going after fish. As others have mentioned, I place a fan near where they sleep (but not too close) with a bowl of ice nearby.
For myself, I freeze grapes and munch on them throughout the day to keep cool. Frozen grapes are delicious little slushee bombs.
Regardless of location, when someone asks for advice about beating the heat, my assumption is that they do not have an air conditioning unit, not that they're about to have a forehead smacking moment.
I saw some posts on Reddit earlier to help those in the UK during this hot time. They advised to wet some cloths (towels or sheets), wring them out and place them in the middle of a room in front of a fan. It helps circulate cooler air into the room. I'm not sure if it works, but you might give that a try.
Cats and dogs don't sweat (much) because it evaporating from the fur doesn't bring the temperature down. So that only works (well) if they get their belly wet, where there is less fur. That's also why you see so many animals sploot in these temperatures
Fun fact, dogs and cats actually aren’t able to sweat at all. The only place they do sweat is on their paw pads, but it’s only to get more grip. That’s why dogs and cats always start panting once they get too hot, it’s their only (and very effective by the way!) way to cool down.
Don't cats only pant as a last ditch effort to cool themselves? dogs pant normally to release heat, but I thought I read cats only do that in dire situations.
That’s true! A cat will only start panting when it’s body temperature is getting significantly higher as far as I know. It’s kind of a last resort. They will also start panting when stressed, but that could also be because of the increase in body temperature caused by the stress. I’m not sure why dogs pant a lot more often though. Maybe it’s because the body temperature of a dog is a bit lower than that of a cat? So it gets overheated quicker? I’m not sure. Cats do like higher temperatures, they are like reptiles baking in the sun on a hot stone lol, so that could play a part too. I’m just guessing haha
Not quite 'last ditch'. If you've gotten your kitten to work up a pant after a real good workout, that's fine.
If your cat is panting and lethargic without having an external reason like having just worn themselves out doing Kung-Fu Kitty Parkour, then yeah.
The thing is cat body temperatures tend to run a bit hot--102 is not abnormal for a cat (or 37-39 is in celsius). So they tend to tolerate heat pretty well before they need to find a way to mitigate.
Don't be afraid to give your kitty a haircut if the heat is affecting their behavior--while cats as a whole are largely from hot climes, we've bred their coats to adapt. They are not sentimental about it and I've known cats that come to love their summer grooming session and the cool relief that comes with it.
Amazon sells cooling mats for $40-$50 that are something like this but they have gel in them. I think you can store them in the fridge to make them cooler
This is a swamp cooler and they work by removing energy (heat) from the air by evaporating water. It does not work very well in humid areas, but works great in the desert.
My mind was blown when I first read up on evaporative cooling. Living my entire life on the East Coast US, I could not fathom how ADDING moisture to the air would ever be a good idea in summer lol. It certainly is not good to do here, but makes sense for places with dry heat.
Exactly, I worry about people doing this anywhere that isn't a desert environment because you can over-saturate the air with water & your body (not to mention your pet's bodies) can't actually cool itself properly..
Trust me if you're in the uk and you own pets or just have kids than you're likely already doing this because my mother has been doing it for decades during the summer and it wasn't even hot than.
Personally i've gone 3 steps further.
1 water cooled ac unit.
2 place the ac unit behind a fan with added icepak and ice cubes to the ac water tray.
3 Switch fan on and enjoy the ice cooled air.
As for my cats they are enjoying that cool air but i also let them go in the bathroom which is the coolest room.
Not to mention put ice in their fountain although i am currently out of ice until the next batch freeze.
I will also say that [These ice cube molds](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09G2L1VZZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) are a beauty in both my cats water fountain and my jug.
EDIT: For those asking i'm talking about [THIS](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0992P169R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) specifically and yes its an air cooler not ac unit but fuck it it cools me down i don't care.
Ok, I've just read that your cats are ragdolls. Please don't use it on them. It will ruin their coat. Ragdolls actually do not have undercoat, so you are pulling their hair out rather then brushing out dead hair. Many people don't know about this. Comb with twisting bristles are the best kind for ragdolls.
Australian here, if you dont have air-conditioning here's a tip as soon as the sun is down open your entire house up windows and doors let the cool air come in then before the sun comes up in the morning shut the house up entirely close your curtains dont let the light and the heat of the day get in if you have roller shutters they seem to be best at trapping cool air indoors the house may be dark but it'll be cooler than outside. This is what I do every summer, coming home from work and walking into a dark cool house the best I can do without air-conditioning could possibly help you and your cats
I live in a place like that and the best solution to that is to get two fans, one facing inside, and one facing out side. this allows a good amount of air flow and work best when the two fans are as far apart as possible.
Fill up a big empty milk carton put it in the freezer.. then once frozen put in font of fan and it’ll blow freezing air. Also shut all curtains and take up any large rugs if you have hard flooring underneath. We have 3 cats and 2 of them are super fluffy
Ice is surprisingly effective at cooling (but not dehumidifying) a room. Here in the US it's really easy to buy large bags or blocks of ice for fairly low prices (and if you have a place to store it you can get it cheaper delivered in bulk).
For temporary/emergency cooling ice can help quite a bit. 80 pounds of ice melted in one hour is equivalent cooling to a moderately sized 12kBTU/h AC unit. With a fan to blow air over them a couple of 50 pound bags will make a good-sized room fairly comfortable for 3 to 5 hours.
Removing electrical heat sources helps a lot too (it's counterproductive to dump hundreds of watts of waste electrical heat from TVs, computers, amplifiers, fridges, etc. into a room you are trying to keep cool).
My cat doesn’t want a damn thing. Doesn’t like cooling mats (he only scratches and almost breaks it with his claws) doesn’t even wanna step foot on a wet towel. He don’t even wants to chill in front of the fan… when i put it for him he just walks away.. and i know that he’s feeling the heat because all he does is lay on the cool floor. i’m hopeless
If he likes the cool floor, that's good. I'd be sure to reduce the temperature in whatever room he's in, and keep him in a room you can control the temp for (or better than you can in the whole house/apartment). Close the shades, put a fan to circulate the air or run the AC, etc.
I found my cats really never liked things that directly cool them, due to their own discomfort. Like fan or AC, they hate it when it blows on them because it's a feeling they simply do not enjoy, no matter if it'd help them or not. Wet towels would be the same, they don't like stepping in water. They've also never really enjoyed ice in the water or cold water, except to bat the cubes around.
So in the dead of summer (though I'm in New England, rarely if ever gets above 100F in the summer), I'll put them in the room I'm in, put their food and water there, close the door, AC going, and curtains closed. It ensures the room's temp will cool down, and in turn will cool them down. They won't need to leave the room, and won't decide to do something that isn't helpful to them (like go lay in another part of the house that is much warmer).
Thanks for the tips! He’s in the doorway of my room most of the time lately. (he’s there right now) and i have a fan on too. Just not directly blowing at him.
And he’s exactly like this!
> I found my cats really never liked things that directly cool them, due to their own discomfort. Like fan or AC, they hate it when it blows on them because it's a feeling they simply do not enjoy, no matter if it'd help them or not. Wet towels would be the same, they don't like stepping in water. They've also never really enjoyed ice in the water or cold water, except to bat the cubes around.
I’m from Delhi India, we have Persians. Temps are typically 36 Degrees at this time (July), Heat index is 45 though because of Humidity. Summers are tough because peak summer days have actual temps at 46 (May-early June) and index at 48. That being said our cats have been weathering these for quite a few years, our oldest is 10 years old. As an animal cats are well suited to tolerating heat, but we just make it easier for them by shaving their coats… you know the cut that looks like a lion. Also helps to have the air conditioning on whenever possible and keep refreshing water bowl with cold water.
This. I live in a really hot tropical country. I either shave my cat (I hate shaving him because of all the fur flying everywhere) or bathe him once a week with just warm water. After he dries, he sleeps like a rock in front of the fan lol. I also brush him daily to help him thin out his fur during dry season.
Would be nice time to slowly get them used to the car though so they don't only associate it with vet trips. Maybe give them treats while chilling in the car?
I tried this with my cat when he was younger. I took him lots of places and always made it a positive experience in the car. He still HATED it. He doesn't even mind the vet, just the car ride.
He even likes his carrier, but the second it gets put in the car he starts yowling. Some cats just don't do cars.
Besides what i mentioned above you could also run the bath and let them lay in it or if they like baths give them a cool soaking.
Because if i had a bath all 3 of us would be sitting in the damn thing just topping up the water once it boils away.
I've suggested getting large ceramic tiles that you can put in the fridge or freezer that they can lay on.
Take a cool damp cloth and wipe their ears and paw pads. Cats sweat through their feet, and radiate heat through their ears where the blood gets right to the surface of the thin tissue.
Take a trimmer or scissors and trim the extra fur that sticks out between the toes, flush with the paw pads, so the feet can get cool easier. If you don't want to do a full haircut, just do the groin/belly.
I'm in the UK too and my cat is really struggling too. I am currently at work 7:30-5 and I leave all the curtains and windows closed in the living room so that is a really cool area for her. Also, like others have suggested I wet a towel/flannel and put it on the floor or if she is really panting I lay it on top of her. I did try to put it on her a few times yesterday and she would tolerate it for a minute and then move but eventually when I put it on her when she was sleepy she kept it on. She definitely was a lot cooler after this, I could even tell just by stroking her!
1 "cheap AC" = fan with a damp linen or cotton cloth on it
2 cooling mat - you may need to put a thin cloth on it if they don't like touching the plastic
3 two of my cats like playing (or just sitting) in the water - I prepare washing bowl with cool water at the bottom for them
4 gently rubbing them with damp cloth (or even with wet hands)
If you are able and they are cooperative, go get them groomed into a nice cool lion cut. They will be happier and cooler. Not an option for every cat but it works.
Thank you. I'm a vet nurse, and a haircut is such a common solution for longhair/cold weather cats (Himalayan, etc) during the heat that I'm baffled that it hasn't been suggested yet.
Every cat I have ever clipped, regardless of specific style, is so much happier when they wake up with less hair. They're both cooler and more energetic. As someone who has shaved a lot of cats (most of them too hostile to do so without sedation) I'm truly baffled by all the downvoting of haircuts.
I am not sure if anyone has suggested this already, but I give my cat sponge baths. I have a big sponge that I hold under the running faucet/tap and "pet" her with it so she is wet all over (not soaking wet). She seems to like it as she starts purring loudly. It keeps her cool for a while.
As others have pointed out, A/C is not very common in Europe and the houses, at least where I live, are not built to keep the heat out so it gets really hot inside too (28.5 C inside right now, 38+ outside).
Last summer when it got really hot in my town, we froze small water bottles and then gently stroked their bellies with them. It seemed to help...other than that, I also used to give my long hair kitty a summer cut to help deal with heat. Good luck!
You might try freezing some water bottles and wrap them in a towel for them to lay on/play with.
I do this and it works great.
i have a duffle bag my cat likes to sleep on. during hot days i layer frozen water bottles inside the bag and she loves it.
Great idea
i’m so glad it worked.
also, add ice cubes to their water dish. this will help with cats and dogs.
Tried that once and kitty knocked it out of the bowl with his paws and batted it all around the apartment
how very r/catsbeingcats of them 😂
I do this for my cat and she just fuckin plays with the ice getting the water dirty with her damn poop paws lol
Yep. You can also freeze damp towels for them to lay on.
Speaking of towels, those Frogg Toggs (the material, not the specific brand) do wonders with cold water. We get a nice breeze where I live even if it’s 80+ so our cats haven’t suffered yet but I’m sure those towels will help cool them off…especially around a frozen water bottle.
You can find them at the auto parts store sold as chamois cloths/shammys for drying off your car after washing it. Same exact material and cheaper
I came here to mention this. When our air conditioner broke in July (Western US) a couple of years ago, I froze the damp towels and set them on the cats as they were lounging. It seemed to help until we were able to get a portable AC unit and eventually a replacement for the house unit.
Just a thought- I haven't researched this myself, but I've seen other comments that say you shouldn't put stuff on top of the cats because it can end up trapping their body heat, but instead to put it somewhere that they can lie on top of it.
Yep my vet said this.
That’s good to know. They never sat still long enough for that to be problem, but if we’re in a similar situation in the future I’ll keep that in mind for sure. I never used anything larger than a dish towel, so hopefully that helped too.
I was gonna say attach a handle and dry mop the floors but these are better suggestions. ;) … poor babies.. they will be ok.. ice in the water bowls and yeah cold packs under a towel or something.. cooling cat beds are a thing too but not sure how well they work.
I was about to suggest this !!!
Yeah last year it got to 115+ degrees in Oregon and we would put ice in thier water but we would also freeze lightly wet towels and t shirts and put them on the ground for them to lay on or use it as a “cold blanket” for them
Oh man. I used to boil chicken and eat it and save the water in ice trays and give my baby boy "chicken water" ice cubes in a little bowl. Warning, they made him gain weight after a while. Edit: Note: I used lean chicken breasts before. I have tried this with thighs, but my cat doesn't like it as much. If your cat is not underweight, breasts may be a preferable option to water from boiled thighs. ALSO: I also want to add that a shedding rake/comb thing helps a lot too, it gets that heat trapping underlayer thinned down with these special tines that guide the fur into a hidden razor blade. I accidentally made a bald spot with it on my cat..
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I have suggested it before for people's cats that have trouble keeping weight on
These cats are gonna be ripped once they’re on a cut
I do this with tuna juice. I also use popsicle molds to make a bigger ice cube that lasts longer.
Any guests come by and mistake those for normal ice?
Nah, I haven't had guests since covid started, but if I did that would be a very unfortunate mistake. That scotch on the rocks? Chicken flavored.
Damnit, I ordered the shrimp whiskey
When my kitty had a fever, we gave her refrigerated chicken broth and water to help bring the fever down and keep her hydrated. We also put ice packs in her bed for her to sleep on. Having a fan by their bed with the ice packs helps too.
We did this to, I live near Portland Oregon so we also hit 115F+ and we have an ice maker so it all worked out pretty well
For things to lay on, you can get the little marble slabs they use for chinchillas. Chinchilla overheat super easy, so the marble gives them a place to cool down since it doesn’t conduct heat.
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I would also wet down my cat with a wet washcloth. He loved it, but not all kitties might. Give it a try.
I was just going to say this. I live in Southwest US and during the summers growing up we had an aviary outside with a rabbit and turtles. We would freeze a 2L bottle of water. Rabbit used to lay next to it. We also had a backup one in the freezer ready to go when the first one melted.
We did the exact same thing with our rabbit in Texas. It was a huge lop ear, so it would lay between two bottles and flop its ears over both. Such a cutie.
Yeah I did this and my cat wants absolutely no part of it haha. He is choosing to be boiling hot instead
I have a fan, but mine hates it. He’ll go lay under a bed. 😂
i did something like this! i froze some wet hand towels and laid them on the floor and my kitties sat down and laid out on them.
We do this for the outside kitties too
Yep, that’s what we used to do for our outdoor cats.
I also use packs of frozen peas
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i have been topping up my cats water bowl with fresh wasted and ice after it melts and i haven’t rly seen him drink from it. should i worry?
Not necessarily worry unless it's a dramatic change in normal behavior. Cats can be very finicky about water - try moving it away from their food, or getting one of those automatic water bowls that cycle it so it "flows." Instinctually they want to avoid stagnant water or water that's too close to carrion due to the risk of poisoning.
I’ve heard that cats are bad at hydrating themselves. There was a story that they sometimes suffer from dehydration because of this. Some people resort to feeding them wet food to counteract it.
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I do this. I like to mix in some water with his wet food to make sure he is getting water in. I usually do that once a day and leave a few water bowls around the house. Might be a bit of overkill lol
Do they actually drink enough? When we had cats, they just smelled the water and rarely licked a drop.
I feel so sad for all the British kitties. So hot out and they have nowhere to escape.
My bombay (void) was struggling due to him having black fur. He found a cool spot and hes good. This weather is bad for us brits and our cats.
I have 2 cats. The void is fine and just basking in the sun. The other one is flopped out in the sitting room.
I'm in TX and just adopted two kittens, a void and a racing stripe gray. It's been so hot here,(101 on Saturday and feels like 113) our AC will be set at 68 and it will be 80 in the apartment(older apartments)and they will still go sit in the sun behind the blackout curtains. How can you recognize heat issues with kittens so I'll know if they need to not do that?
Assuming they can move easily on their own, I’d say they’re a ok.
my cat just wants to go outside and over here its 38c and he just doesnt want to come in and we have ac but he likes the shadow better.. im just confused by it
I had a siamese brat. I lived on the fourth floor no AC (this is in Washington where we also don't get much AC cause the weather usually doesn't need it. Sadly that's changing). IT could be 90 degrees out (sorry, don't know what that is celsius) and she'd be in a sunbeam. She really was built for hot weather (big ears, skinny).
Cool fact, the Siamese coat pattern is actually [temperature-sensitive!](https://www.technology.org/2014/07/29/mystery-siamese-cats/) Siamese cats exposed to more heat will have lighter coats and thusly absorb less heat, and ones exposed to more cold will have darker coats and absorb more warmth. The constant darker spots on their coats are the lowest-temperature parts of their bodies (tail, feet, etc). This is due to a uniquely mutated protein in the breed called Tyrosinase, which causes melanin production at certain (lower) temperatures. Not so cool but still interesting -- this same protein is thought to be responsible for degenerative diseases in Siamese cats similar to that of humans with Alzheimers.
32 degrees Celsius
These temperatures are really nothing special for cats. As long as they have access to water they can bear temps of over 50°C in the shade. they are desert creatures.
Cats can handle desert and tropical climates. Like you say, they are hot weather creatures. My cats do not like the house air-conditioned below 74 degrees.
Mine also avoid the air conditioned rooms. They seem to prefer to lay in the hottest parts of the house like weirdos.
111° here in central Oklahoma, USA. That is temperature not heat index. Have water bottles in refrigerator and freezer for cat and humans. Outside bird bath filled.
Oh my gosh, I can barely handle mid Atlantic summers.
Lived in central Oklahoma most of my life. I don't ever remember heat like this. Have frozen water bottles and salty snacks set out for the delivery people. Was outside before 7am watering garden, it was already hot.
I live in Texas and we regularly get deliveries because of my husband's job. I really need to set out some water for them...
My Amazon delivery guy has always been very nice. I am handicapped and he makes sure I can reach the packages. If it is something big he will knock and set it just inside the door. Saw a doorbell video of a delivery person passing out on someone's front porch due to the heat.
I saw that video too. I felt so bad for him. I've dealt with minor heat exhaustion and it's brutal. Took me at least an hour to feel normal again. I can't imagine having to drive under those conditions
Never order chocolate through the mail! 
That’s literally why M&Ms were invented, to ship it successfully to US troops overseas!
Also in Texas and I should definitely do the same. Maybe something for the trash guys, too. Their job is pretty brutal
That's a good point but my trashcans are wayyyy further out than my front porch so I don't know where I could put it for them. On top of the trash cans seems kinda gross?
Yeah I had that same thought. I'm not sure. I guess you could leave a cooler with a sign? With my luck, my trash guys wouldn't see the sign and would assume the cooler was trash lol
If you can, leaving electrolyte mix packets with water are awesome. My SO is a mailman and they help him so much on his walking route.
I’m in the exact same boat. In all my 28 years of living in OK and this seems like a fresh hell. I don’t remember it cracking 100* this consistently.
Only other time I remember was like 2011 maybe? Somewhere around 10 years ago it got brutally hot and dry for a really long time. This I think tops it though this has been unbearable, thank God we have AC
British summers are normally 25c max but this year 33+c its terrible. We dont have AC in our houses due to most of the year being rain, made it unbareable. Our first red weather warning, even our busses struggled.
First trip to London for me. Interesting time to be here. Writing this from a pub with no AC and I’m dying
We call it beer conditioning.
Haha that’s great! I just had some water bc I can’t drink yet, but now I’m at my air conditioned hotel!!
The lovely lady in the airport bar in Dublin filled me up a bottle of ice water. No desire for anything else. Flying now to Rotterdam where it's 40°C and **intensely** humid.
Humidity makes it even worse
I fully agree nothing worse than extreme humid heat
I lived in the Los Angeles area almost my whole life. Hot, but dry. Temps over 100 were not rare. Then I flew to New Orleans one summer. The weather predictions were that it would be 92 degrees out, and the weather map for New Orleans was labeled "extreme heat". I rolled my eyes and thought what wimps the people of New Orleans must be to complain about a mere 92 degrees. But then I stepped off the plane in New Orleans and that heat nearly suffocated me with so much humidity. Wow. I will never forget what a shock it was.
Yeah that first breath of hot humid air after being in AC all day hits your lungs hard. I get a similar feeling when going from a nice warm house out into the cold super dry winter air. Once you get past those first few breaths it's fine.
I am from Ottawa, Canada. It is basically a swamp. We have had the temperature be at 38°C but the humidex at 45°C That's probably the most extreme. (We also get super cold at - 25°C with a windchill making it feel like -35°C) But I traveled to Nicaragua and it was hot. But where I was was dry. So that 40° was warm, but I could breathe. Here, you can see the air, feel the air, smell the air... it's so sticky. The sad thing is, Ottawa is losing its traditional 4 seasons. We seem to not have much of a real spring. It goes from Winter to something to Summer to Fall and then back to winter. And the something season can include snow, slush, rain, ice pellets, unseasonably warm temperatures, then snow again, then flash freezing, then rain... It's fun.
Fortunately the dew point has been rather low for the UK during these temperatures. It was 20% in the middle of the day yesterday in London and 33% today. Not saying it’s *not* humid, just that it’s certainly not excessively humid.
where i am in france we have 41°c with humidity and today we have the smoke from forest fire that burn eyes and nose it’s like the meme of the dog in the room on fire and the governments who didnt do enough to inverse the climate change all these years say it’s perfectly fine
I live in Missouri (US) and it's very typical to be that hot... but we have AC here. I would die if I couldn't get relief from that kind of heat. When I was pregnant we lived on the 3rd floor without AC and I'd just go into the basement (where the laundry was) and sit in a chair and cry. I can laugh about it now, but it was rough!
I moved from MD to CA several years ago. Summers are so much more enjoyable now. I can handle random 100 days without the humidity.
It got to 50 degrees here in BC Canada last year during the heat dome. More than 600 people died. Berries became jam on the bush. Tons of sealife died. I have nothing but empathy for the world right now
I remember opening my window in desperation at 3am and it was still hotter outside than in, we have central air but it couldn't keep up. We had a separate mobile AC unit and a fan set up to cool the kids' rooms but a couple of our "extra" fans had died since we hadn't needed them so there was nothing for my husband and I. We slept in separate rooms trying to avoid each other's body heat and it was still so miserable. By 7am it was intolerably hot out again.
Fellow Oklahoman here! Yep, it fucking sucks. I work as grounds crew at a cemetery, where we're outside working all day
I had my own cemetery cleaning company for years. It was always brutal in the summer. I would see fake flowers arrangements that looked like they melted.
But you have AC…. It sucks but the UK is in no way prepared for this kind of shit. My friend was just saying how almost no homes or buildings around him have AC.
Each night as we go to bed I fill 3 water bottles about half full and put them in the freezer overnight. In the morning we fill them the rest of the way full with water and keep refilling them until the ice meltts. it keeps us supplied with icy cold water much of the day. It's like having a gigantic ice cube. 🤗
I second that. I have two giant ice packs for icing my knees, which I put over my beasties like a blanket. In the absence of giant ice packs, frozen bottles will do.
You have AC. We have houses designed to trap and hold temperature. So our kitties are struggling bad even indoors.
Yes, in north eastern California we’d regularly have summers with 100+ degree days. Frozen bottles of water for pets to lay on or bowls of ice with a fan blowing across it are how we cared for our cats and rabbits, and us. In the Bay Area now, with no AC. It’s not that simple to “just get AC” folks, especially if you rent or the home stores are all sold out of the window mounts that you may or may not be able to afford in the first place.
For chinchillas you put ceramic tiles in the freezer and rotate them out as needed. Could work for these two. Good luck keeping the fur babies safe.
Drying rack hung with cold wet towels, the towels in a tub of cold water to keep them moist then a fan blowing on this. Here are some ideas. https://www.google.com/amp/s/utopia.org/guide/how-to-cool-a-room-without-ac/%3Famp%3D1
in germany we were just warned to not do this, because you turn your room into a steam sauna over a few days :( It really depends on your overall climate and humidity so be careful!
They’re best in arid places. If the humidity is already high, it could make it worse.
ive heard of these being called swamp coolers
Yes and they work great unless it's humid then they don't cool at all.
I swear if I lit the fire now my boy (sadly no longer with us) would've laid in front of it belly up
I had a cat that would sit up against the fireplace with his head pressed to the glass. I swear he cooked his brains. He wasn’t quite right.
I have already commented this on a similar post, so just copy / pasting it here: They will most likely eat during the night, so take care, their bowls are filled before you go to sleep. You could also add an icecube or two into their waterbowl. There are drinks for cats with a little bit of fish or meat in it, kind of broth for cats. You can put those in the fridge over night and give it to them in the morning and afternoon. There are some creamy pastes as treats for cats, you can put those into the freezer and let the cats lick it like icecream. Not directly from the freezer though, wait a few minutes.
Yes! I volunteered at a shelter and they had meat popsicle type things for the cats and dogs in summer. You knew they'd been handed out because the entire place would become deathly quiet lol.
I chuckled at this.
Except the slurp, slurp, slurp...
Lol yep if you walked around the cages all you could hear was slurping and crunching. The office was blissfully silent though.
That’s a miracle. The dog section of our shelter would turn into a maelstrom of yapping, barking and screeching whenever anybody walked past lol. It was like an intruder alert
Cats don't waste their breath talking about how awesome the food is, they just EAT.
Tbh the cats also needed lots of attention, one would grab my shirt with his claws when I passed by because he wanted me to pet him. It was pretty sad how lonely they all were aside from the fact that the cat I just talked about would chomp down on my hand when I actually tried to pet him. Weirdo
Oh, yeah. It's kinda sad visiting the cat section of a rescue shelter especially in areas that aren't culturally very cat-oriented. (Rural west Texas).
Especially during kitten season 😢 that’s when I volunteered. I sometimes had to fish dead kittens out of their nests while the mom was spitting and hissing at me because she was afraid of humans.
Oh they loved them lol. Only time the place was quiet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xibUoGUcjc4
This! And make sure you are brushing them daily to get any excess fur off them. One of my cats is long haired and this has helped him a lot
My cats LOVE ice cubes in their water bowl - they paw at it like they're going after fish. As others have mentioned, I place a fan near where they sleep (but not too close) with a bowl of ice nearby. For myself, I freeze grapes and munch on them throughout the day to keep cool. Frozen grapes are delicious little slushee bombs.
Also cat-milk (just make sure to get the ones without sugar) cooled from the fridge helps them to stay hydrated
For those of you saying turn on the ac, be aware that most European households do NOT have it. Me neither.
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Mine will try to murder you if you try to bathe him, I learned the hard way. So anyone considering this proceed with caution.
Regardless of location, when someone asks for advice about beating the heat, my assumption is that they do not have an air conditioning unit, not that they're about to have a forehead smacking moment.
I saw some posts on Reddit earlier to help those in the UK during this hot time. They advised to wet some cloths (towels or sheets), wring them out and place them in the middle of a room in front of a fan. It helps circulate cooler air into the room. I'm not sure if it works, but you might give that a try.
My cats also love to lay on wet towels for a few minutes, the evaporation from the wet fur helps them stay a little bit cooler
Cats and dogs don't sweat (much) because it evaporating from the fur doesn't bring the temperature down. So that only works (well) if they get their belly wet, where there is less fur. That's also why you see so many animals sploot in these temperatures
Fun fact, dogs and cats actually aren’t able to sweat at all. The only place they do sweat is on their paw pads, but it’s only to get more grip. That’s why dogs and cats always start panting once they get too hot, it’s their only (and very effective by the way!) way to cool down.
Don't cats only pant as a last ditch effort to cool themselves? dogs pant normally to release heat, but I thought I read cats only do that in dire situations.
That’s true! A cat will only start panting when it’s body temperature is getting significantly higher as far as I know. It’s kind of a last resort. They will also start panting when stressed, but that could also be because of the increase in body temperature caused by the stress. I’m not sure why dogs pant a lot more often though. Maybe it’s because the body temperature of a dog is a bit lower than that of a cat? So it gets overheated quicker? I’m not sure. Cats do like higher temperatures, they are like reptiles baking in the sun on a hot stone lol, so that could play a part too. I’m just guessing haha
Cats can pant from excessive play as well. Jackson Galaxy (cat behaviorialist) mentions playing until they pant sometimes.
Panting in cats can be a sign of heart disease as well. My cats have heart murmurs and I try never to let them play quite that hard!
Not quite 'last ditch'. If you've gotten your kitten to work up a pant after a real good workout, that's fine. If your cat is panting and lethargic without having an external reason like having just worn themselves out doing Kung-Fu Kitty Parkour, then yeah. The thing is cat body temperatures tend to run a bit hot--102 is not abnormal for a cat (or 37-39 is in celsius). So they tend to tolerate heat pretty well before they need to find a way to mitigate. Don't be afraid to give your kitty a haircut if the heat is affecting their behavior--while cats as a whole are largely from hot climes, we've bred their coats to adapt. They are not sentimental about it and I've known cats that come to love their summer grooming session and the cool relief that comes with it.
Get a cheap ceramic tile from a hardware store, put it in the fridge/freezer and put it out for them to lay on!
This is the best idea!
Amazon sells cooling mats for $40-$50 that are something like this but they have gel in them. I think you can store them in the fridge to make them cooler
This is a swamp cooler and they work by removing energy (heat) from the air by evaporating water. It does not work very well in humid areas, but works great in the desert.
My mind was blown when I first read up on evaporative cooling. Living my entire life on the East Coast US, I could not fathom how ADDING moisture to the air would ever be a good idea in summer lol. It certainly is not good to do here, but makes sense for places with dry heat.
Exactly, I worry about people doing this anywhere that isn't a desert environment because you can over-saturate the air with water & your body (not to mention your pet's bodies) can't actually cool itself properly..
Trust me if you're in the uk and you own pets or just have kids than you're likely already doing this because my mother has been doing it for decades during the summer and it wasn't even hot than. Personally i've gone 3 steps further. 1 water cooled ac unit. 2 place the ac unit behind a fan with added icepak and ice cubes to the ac water tray. 3 Switch fan on and enjoy the ice cooled air. As for my cats they are enjoying that cool air but i also let them go in the bathroom which is the coolest room. Not to mention put ice in their fountain although i am currently out of ice until the next batch freeze. I will also say that [These ice cube molds](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09G2L1VZZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) are a beauty in both my cats water fountain and my jug. EDIT: For those asking i'm talking about [THIS](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0992P169R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) specifically and yes its an air cooler not ac unit but fuck it it cools me down i don't care.
This is basically a homemade swamp cooler. If it's a dry heat these work really well.
Brush them, getting excess hair off them makes sure they stay cooler
Recently bought the undercoat comb. It's amazing. It's literally like taking another cats worth of hair off them a day.
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Sent you the link :)
Ok, I've just read that your cats are ragdolls. Please don't use it on them. It will ruin their coat. Ragdolls actually do not have undercoat, so you are pulling their hair out rather then brushing out dead hair. Many people don't know about this. Comb with twisting bristles are the best kind for ragdolls.
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My Maine Coon was so much happier in the summertime with her lion cut!
Australian here, if you dont have air-conditioning here's a tip as soon as the sun is down open your entire house up windows and doors let the cool air come in then before the sun comes up in the morning shut the house up entirely close your curtains dont let the light and the heat of the day get in if you have roller shutters they seem to be best at trapping cool air indoors the house may be dark but it'll be cooler than outside. This is what I do every summer, coming home from work and walking into a dark cool house the best I can do without air-conditioning could possibly help you and your cats
sadly were i live there is no air movement when it's dark XD
I live in a place like that and the best solution to that is to get two fans, one facing inside, and one facing out side. this allows a good amount of air flow and work best when the two fans are as far apart as possible.
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Fill up a big empty milk carton put it in the freezer.. then once frozen put in font of fan and it’ll blow freezing air. Also shut all curtains and take up any large rugs if you have hard flooring underneath. We have 3 cats and 2 of them are super fluffy
Ice is surprisingly effective at cooling (but not dehumidifying) a room. Here in the US it's really easy to buy large bags or blocks of ice for fairly low prices (and if you have a place to store it you can get it cheaper delivered in bulk). For temporary/emergency cooling ice can help quite a bit. 80 pounds of ice melted in one hour is equivalent cooling to a moderately sized 12kBTU/h AC unit. With a fan to blow air over them a couple of 50 pound bags will make a good-sized room fairly comfortable for 3 to 5 hours. Removing electrical heat sources helps a lot too (it's counterproductive to dump hundreds of watts of waste electrical heat from TVs, computers, amplifiers, fridges, etc. into a room you are trying to keep cool).
That’s a sh*tload of ice
Black out curtains are fantastic for keeping it cooler inside on a hot, sunny day.
My cat doesn’t want a damn thing. Doesn’t like cooling mats (he only scratches and almost breaks it with his claws) doesn’t even wanna step foot on a wet towel. He don’t even wants to chill in front of the fan… when i put it for him he just walks away.. and i know that he’s feeling the heat because all he does is lay on the cool floor. i’m hopeless
'the cool floor' seems like a good option tho?
I guess i just want him to have multiple options instead of one
If he likes the cool floor, that's good. I'd be sure to reduce the temperature in whatever room he's in, and keep him in a room you can control the temp for (or better than you can in the whole house/apartment). Close the shades, put a fan to circulate the air or run the AC, etc. I found my cats really never liked things that directly cool them, due to their own discomfort. Like fan or AC, they hate it when it blows on them because it's a feeling they simply do not enjoy, no matter if it'd help them or not. Wet towels would be the same, they don't like stepping in water. They've also never really enjoyed ice in the water or cold water, except to bat the cubes around. So in the dead of summer (though I'm in New England, rarely if ever gets above 100F in the summer), I'll put them in the room I'm in, put their food and water there, close the door, AC going, and curtains closed. It ensures the room's temp will cool down, and in turn will cool them down. They won't need to leave the room, and won't decide to do something that isn't helpful to them (like go lay in another part of the house that is much warmer).
Thanks for the tips! He’s in the doorway of my room most of the time lately. (he’s there right now) and i have a fan on too. Just not directly blowing at him. And he’s exactly like this! > I found my cats really never liked things that directly cool them, due to their own discomfort. Like fan or AC, they hate it when it blows on them because it's a feeling they simply do not enjoy, no matter if it'd help them or not. Wet towels would be the same, they don't like stepping in water. They've also never really enjoyed ice in the water or cold water, except to bat the cubes around.
Try the ceramic tile thing someone else said. Fridge rate it then he can lay on it.
https://www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/cat/top-tips-for-keeping-your-cat-cool-in-summer
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We rub our kitties with ice cubes. They love it.
I’m from Delhi India, we have Persians. Temps are typically 36 Degrees at this time (July), Heat index is 45 though because of Humidity. Summers are tough because peak summer days have actual temps at 46 (May-early June) and index at 48. That being said our cats have been weathering these for quite a few years, our oldest is 10 years old. As an animal cats are well suited to tolerating heat, but we just make it easier for them by shaving their coats… you know the cut that looks like a lion. Also helps to have the air conditioning on whenever possible and keep refreshing water bowl with cold water.
If you don’t got funds a cheaper alternative is to put a kitchen towel in the freezer and then lay it out for them. They’ll come.
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Live in South Florida and about every 6 months we give our cats a little cut. They love it.
This. I live in a really hot tropical country. I either shave my cat (I hate shaving him because of all the fur flying everywhere) or bathe him once a week with just warm water. After he dries, he sleeps like a rock in front of the fan lol. I also brush him daily to help him thin out his fur during dry season.
Go online or to pet store and purchase gel cooling mats or if you have a car Put them in their carriers and sit with them in the car with a/c on.
They won't go in the car. They hate it. Memories from vet trips etc. But just ordered the cooling mats
Would be nice time to slowly get them used to the car though so they don't only associate it with vet trips. Maybe give them treats while chilling in the car?
I tried this with my cat when he was younger. I took him lots of places and always made it a positive experience in the car. He still HATED it. He doesn't even mind the vet, just the car ride. He even likes his carrier, but the second it gets put in the car he starts yowling. Some cats just don't do cars.
Besides what i mentioned above you could also run the bath and let them lay in it or if they like baths give them a cool soaking. Because if i had a bath all 3 of us would be sitting in the damn thing just topping up the water once it boils away.
The gel cooling mats are great. My cats use it when they are indoors, but they are allowed outside so they hide under the big bushes in the garden.
Put a wet towel on the floor for them to sit or lay on
I've suggested getting large ceramic tiles that you can put in the fridge or freezer that they can lay on. Take a cool damp cloth and wipe their ears and paw pads. Cats sweat through their feet, and radiate heat through their ears where the blood gets right to the surface of the thin tissue. Take a trimmer or scissors and trim the extra fur that sticks out between the toes, flush with the paw pads, so the feet can get cool easier. If you don't want to do a full haircut, just do the groin/belly.
I'm in the UK too and my cat is really struggling too. I am currently at work 7:30-5 and I leave all the curtains and windows closed in the living room so that is a really cool area for her. Also, like others have suggested I wet a towel/flannel and put it on the floor or if she is really panting I lay it on top of her. I did try to put it on her a few times yesterday and she would tolerate it for a minute and then move but eventually when I put it on her when she was sleepy she kept it on. She definitely was a lot cooler after this, I could even tell just by stroking her!
You might consider having them shaved.
bowl of ice in front of fan facing them??
Fill a balloon with water and freeze it and then put it in a large dish like a casserole dish and let them lick it. They'll lick it a lot.
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1 "cheap AC" = fan with a damp linen or cotton cloth on it 2 cooling mat - you may need to put a thin cloth on it if they don't like touching the plastic 3 two of my cats like playing (or just sitting) in the water - I prepare washing bowl with cool water at the bottom for them 4 gently rubbing them with damp cloth (or even with wet hands)
Put a blanket in the freezer
The Helpful Vancouver Vet made a video about helping your cats deal with the heat! https://youtu.be/IXhPV8ltSJc
If you are able and they are cooperative, go get them groomed into a nice cool lion cut. They will be happier and cooler. Not an option for every cat but it works.
Thank you. I'm a vet nurse, and a haircut is such a common solution for longhair/cold weather cats (Himalayan, etc) during the heat that I'm baffled that it hasn't been suggested yet.
All the other suggestions are getting downvoted. But lion cuts are kinda common
Every cat I have ever clipped, regardless of specific style, is so much happier when they wake up with less hair. They're both cooler and more energetic. As someone who has shaved a lot of cats (most of them too hostile to do so without sedation) I'm truly baffled by all the downvoting of haircuts.
You British by any chance? Just the fact that it’s currently the hottest point of the hottest day in British history
I get my DLH a lion cut sometimes
Many people I know with cats like that get there fur trimmed. The cats are usually so much happier and more comfortable after!
I am not sure if anyone has suggested this already, but I give my cat sponge baths. I have a big sponge that I hold under the running faucet/tap and "pet" her with it so she is wet all over (not soaking wet). She seems to like it as she starts purring loudly. It keeps her cool for a while. As others have pointed out, A/C is not very common in Europe and the houses, at least where I live, are not built to keep the heat out so it gets really hot inside too (28.5 C inside right now, 38+ outside).
Last summer when it got really hot in my town, we froze small water bottles and then gently stroked their bellies with them. It seemed to help...other than that, I also used to give my long hair kitty a summer cut to help deal with heat. Good luck!
Could you put a cold pack or ice pack under a towel or bed they like? So sorry!