Last Updated on April 4, 2023 by Pets Feed
Cats tolerate hot weather slightly better than humans, but they are also susceptible to overheating and can get heatstroke if they are in the sun for a long time or in a hot and stuffy room. How can you help a cat in the heat?
Let’s start with an obvious fact: healthy animals can handle hot weather more easily. Therefore, it is better to visit a veterinary clinic in the spring for an annual examination and conduct all the necessary preventive procedures (vaccination, treatment for helminths) and make sure that the pet is healthy. If your pet suffers from any chronic illness (for example, asthma, obesity, diabetes, chronic renal failure), then it is important to follow all the doctor’s prescriptions and preventive measures. This will keep the disease under control and help your pet to cope with the high air temperature more easily.
Cats with short and flattened faces, such as Persian, Burmese, British, do not tolerate heat well and are at risk.
For cats living in a house or apartment and not going outside
- Provide your pet with fresh and clean drinking water, change the water several times a day, add extra bowls of water. You can put an ice cube in the water. Do not leave food in bowls all day, especially when wet. Remember that in the heat, any food deteriorates faster;
- Close the curtains so that the air in the apartment heats up less from the sun’s rays;
- The presence of an air conditioner will make it much easier to endure hot summer weather;
- Ventilate rooms regularly, but keep in mind that in summer cats fall out of windows and balconies more often. Safety nets and restraints for vertical windows save many cats’ lives;
- A fan can be used. Install it so that air circulation is created in the room, but at the same time the wires and fan blades are out of the reach of the cat;
- Some cats prefer to lie on the tile floor in hot weather. Give your pet this opportunity, for example, leave the bathroom open;
- Unless absolutely necessary, do not plan car trips with the cat or preventive procedures such as clipping nails, vaccinations, de-tangling, and parasite treatments. Severe excitement or stress can lead to overheating or even heatstroke faster in hot weather;
- Should you cut your cat in hot weather? No, if you do not do this regularly, then in the hottest weather you should not do this even more: the coat not only warms up in the cold season, but also protects against overheating at high temperatures. Also, a haircut can be stressful, just like the other procedures listed in the previous paragraph.
For cats that can walk outside
- Follow all the tips for staying cats;
- If possible, try to limit your cat’s or cat’s walks during the hottest part of the day;
- Make sure there is a shaded cool place in the garden or summer cottage and there are bowls of fresh water;
- If there are hotbeds, greenhouses and sheds on the area where the cat walks, then always, before closing the door, check if the cat is left inside;
- Pets can also get sunburn, especially cats with white hair. Most often, sunburns occur on the bridge of the nose, ears and eyelids. Due to the risk of overheating and getting sunburn, cats that have the opportunity to walk outside are not recommended to cut or shave with a typewriter;
- Never leave children or animals in a parked car, even with open windows or even in the shade. In a very short time, the temperature in the car rises to very high levels, which often ends in tragedy.
Heatstroke symptoms: lethargy, impaired coordination of movements, heavy breathing, discoloration of the mucous membranes of the oral cavity, salivation, fever, loss of consciousness, convulsions.
What should I do?
Move the cat to a cool room as soon as possible, wipe the paws, ears and nose with a cool wet towel (not ice), you can wet the paws with cold, but not ice water, give the animal water and immediately contact your veterinarian.
