Sooo Hot

[Harpydragon]

We have a black cat who is an outdoor solar powered mog. The stupid thing keeps lying in the sun in this heat. We keep moving him into the shade he has plenty of water and I keep wiping him down with a damp cloth to keep him cool.
Is there anything else we can do? How does everyone else keep their mog happy in these temperatures?

Well, it sounds as if he is happy! Mine (also black) spent all of yesterday asleep in my boiling hot conservatory... I just made sure she had enough water and left her to it.

I think cats kind of know their personal tolerance levels for heat as you get some who love it and others, like mine, who always sit in the shade. Maybe some ice cubes for the water. You can get cooling mats but you have to get the little tyrants to sit on them.

He's a cat if he's not happy he'll find shade. One of mine (tabby but dark) was in the rhubarb patch the black one was under our bed. If they are happy outside I would leave them

Unfortunately we can't tell cats anything!! On Friday (the first hot day here) my wanderer came home about 7pm clearly out of sorts and a bit shaken. I imagine he had woken up far from home after a day of cooking in the sun and under estimated how bad his journey home would be. Luckily yesterday he stayed home until 12ish and drank ALOT of water before he wandered off until 7ish. This morning he seems to be pruning himself in the shade of the patio getting ready for no doubt another big adventure. I've thought about locking him in, but that would mean all windows and doors shut and the house would be awful for him and us! So I'm just trusting that he learned his lesson on Friday and won't be so silly today! My other one is much less heat tolerable and has spent the whole weekend asleep under the spare bed, only surfacing into the garden in the evening shade. Cats are such odd creatures

I don't let my black longhaired Persian out when it's very hot. But both of mine are surprisingly sensible and sit in the shade. Both are not happy about the heat!

Cats will tolerate quite a lot of heat - as long as you have water available and a shady area, just leave them to it.
My moggy has taken up residence on my lap this morning...it's a bit too warm and sweaty for me but moggy is having a lovely time! Strange creatures, aren't they!

My longhairs lying on a fleece. 25sqm porcelain tiles downstairs but she’s chosen the fleece.

Asbo the Bengal tried to lay down on a faux fur throw in the 2018 summer.

Complete barn pots the lot of them.

My king hair is also lying on a fluffy rug instead of laminate.

My black mog spent the day sitting in the cool dirt under the olive tree. I check on her every hour but she’s fine. She also napped under a shirt I’d draped across a chair to dry.

We have Baked Dogs here. The cats are sensibly inside in the shade.

That's made me feel a bit better, it's the first time we've had it quite this hot and I was a bit concerned I was missing a trick!

Well, they are originally desert creatures, aren't they. I'm not sure to what extent they have evolved over the past however many centuries in our more temperate land.

Cats tend to just get on with things unless poorly.

My cat is going nowhere today, she's lying on the sofa looking cross. She's normally a cat who is out all day.

Mine loves the heat, but hates having sun cream put on her ears (she’s white). Yesterday she just shifted I and out of the shade all day. Today she is lying in our bed although it is much cooler here.

She tends not to drink much from her actual dish so we are keeping the bird bath topped up for her, and also mashing water into her wet food.

Yesterday I found myself quite seriously considering my life choices while feeding the Ballet Cats frozen peach cream treats after the fashion of Responsible Adult feeding Very Small Child a jubbly lolly. In fairness, it’s actually much less messy than when the wee dotes try to chase the things (even chopped up) around their bowls, but I still felt an absolute eejit. Especially when my brother came home & found me, though he’s now absolutely converted to that way of doing things.

Mine like their cooling mat, but were having a wee bit of a sunbathe earlier too - my black cat blissfully sprawled all over the clean laundry I’ve not been able to put away, naturally. (He looked so delighted - such a comfy spot in the sunlight - & pink! His favourite colour!) Of course, on the plus side, we’ll only have to put up with this heat until my cats’ mysteriously missing new cooling mats appear…

I bought a cooling mat, have they ever used it? Not a chance. Though they do like their heat mat.

New!mats are actually a replacement!mat for the one plumber (who turned up unannounced so it wasn’t tidied away, but to be fair, he’d to go out of his way to tread on it) stomped on; & then one to go downstairs, to increase Feline Lolling Options.

My fluffy overlords decided as kittens that outside is a horrifying hellscape never to be ventured into (to be fair, there are humans who say far worse things about this bit of Inner London) & as we reside in a wee Edwardian terraced house that is ALL about the insulation (my south-facing bedroom also contains the boiler [& hot press, yes]) so I absolutely understand HarpyDragon worrying about cat-care when it seems they just must be far too hot & they’re diabolical for drinking enough water.

Mine is an indoor cat. She is lucky Thai half my house is in the basement and is cool. However she has favoured her fleece bed over cool tiles.

But with the amount of hair I am finding she must be sleeping in floors. Or is just moulting away her hair to get cool.

She has just flopped down on the wooden floor looking very unhappy with the heat

My two were out stretched on the concrete part at the back it's a sun catching area.

Cookie came to me absolutely panting and looking completely worn out, I suspect that the various bowls of water wasn't to his liking so I did what I felt I had to and got a syringe (no needle involved) and a mug of water and dripped it slowly in the side of his mouth and some d down his fur, he accepted 5 syringes full so 50ml before he made to get away but before he went I sprayed his back with water in a spray bottle and he took the hint and spent the next few hours just lying in the shade with occasional trips to the water bowls. He really perked up after the water.

Millie was running around but looking tired and grouchy but she perked up too after 30ml water dripped in.

I wasn't worried about flooding their wee bellies with water as it would be soaked up when they made trips to the dry food bowl. I had cooling mats before for a previous cat who used it precisely 0 times and just looked at me as if I was daft

Don't domestic cats originate from some kind of desert cat? I'm sure that their ancestors came from a hot climate so they should be fine! Most cats love the sun. Although I have a ginger cat at the moment and he's not a fan - bit like ginger people I guess!

I can only think my cats have been reading this thread because Mr B looked positively embarrassed to be seen using the cooling mat when I got up this morning; & by the time I came out of the bathroom & grabbed my phone, he’d squoogled himself into this casual “mat? what mat? totally hadn’t realised I was leaning on it…” position.

Have those of you with water fountains found them a worthwhile investment? I’d have a bit of an awkward time finding a home for one; & while I [happily] spend more on the cats than I do myself, I’ve not money to waste (& their annual check-up just cost a fortune).

Bernard is staying out of the sun, but insists on lying on a warm rug. Haven’t been able to shift him…

Ash cat made himself sick Saturday spent Sunday very wonky he has recovered now hopefully im currently on the cool mat ash is on me the other two are fine apollo especially is loving the heat but he does spend most his day drinking water and floating around because he is so much lighter than his greedy brothers