Should I keep my cat inside in this heatwave?

[Sparkles29]

Or do I let him wander around outside and sleep under the trees as he normally would?

I'm amazed by how sensible my thick black long haired Persian has been. I never used to let her out on very hot days. But it seems she self regulates, sits in the shade and comes back in when she's had enough. Didn't let her out yesterday or today though.

Have just carried Dubai cat inside. He's moped about all morning in the garden instead of haring about the village and wouldn't normally allow himself to be caught at this time.

If a cat with no undercoat, adapted for the desert thinks it's too hot, then it is too hot.

I draped my wet bedding over the garden furniture to dry. DCat is delighted at the cool cave I made for him 😸

Even my sun worshipping orientals have brought themselves inside today. It's just too hot outside!

Hotter here today than yesterday and 4 are out and 1 in.
I've seen 3 nipping in and out for food but one has gone awol. He's probably under a bush somewhere. Last saw him at 8am.

Cat now feels better for being inside and is cross with us. He's tearing about and shouting to be let out!

It's going to be a long day.

Meanwhile the black silky cat has sensibly holed herself up under the bed and is refusing to move.

My younger fluffy cat lives to be outside, and he's sprawled comfortably in a lovely shady spot where there's a bit of breeze in the garden, so ive left him alone.

Ancient cat has finally given up shouting at me over the cold heated bed (not happy that i turned it off) and she's now stretched out on the carpet. She has heart problems and I'm keeping a very close eye on her, and she's too daft to be let outside as she'd sunbathe!

My cat has been in and out. The most amazing thing is he drank fresh water! Normally he turns his nose up at it and will only drink from puddles or manky dirty water in old bowls or other receptacles. Obviously these have dried up so he's had to downgrade to fresh stuff.

Mine, one has chosen to lie flat out on living room floor in the breeze between the two open doors.

Other has chosen to lie at bottom of the garden in shade.

I'm letting them do whatever they want.

Karl, Sybil and Lenny have only just decided to come back in 🙀. We are only a few miles from Heathrow so it's fecking hot.

Only Basil has had the common sense to stay inside under a chair most of today.
Windows are now shut and curtains closed so escape routes now cut off for their own good.

My cat keeps rotating round all his shady spots and then coming out wondering why he's still hot 😂. We leave him to come and go as he pleases as I am pretty sure he knows when he is too hot. He's given up on outside now and is in one of our cooler bedrooms.

@squashyhat mine are going on Thursday. I've had a message from them saying that they are laying in ice packs and extra cooling mats for their majesty's to ignore! They love it there.

Our 4 are mostly choosing to stay in during the day and a couple are wanting to stay out all night.

One of them spent all yesterday afternoon indoors - lying right by the patio doors. In the heat. He is a twit though.

My cat was trying to chill under a bush, but it is much cooler indoors, so I brought him in, settled him by the fan and cooled him down by rubbing him gently with a melting ice-cube wrapped in kitchen roll. He absolutely loved it - he went all soppy, head bumping me and flopping over. Such loud purrs too!

I gave my cat an ice cube to play with to cool down.
She licked it and batted it politely, then had to keep shaking and licking the wetness off her paws. The horror!
She gave me a disgusted look and has withdrawn in majestic disdain to her favourite spot on top of the chest of drawers.

@AnnaMagnani waves at the other Arabian Mau slave on the thread! My two are definitely choosing to spend more time inside, despite the cat flap being open for them. This time last year, they were being rescued from the streets of Dubai, but seem to have acclimatised to the UK weather very well indeed! Even though it's their choice to stay in, they don't seem very happy about it, and despite normally adoring each other, they've spent much of the day so far beating each other up!

@QuantumWeatherButterfly waving madly back!

Mine was also rescued last year and is now living a life of luxury. He shares with my moggie, and despite being the neighbourhood bully he is definitely number 2 cat at home. One tiny little girl tells him what to do! It's quite funny.

The neighbours are also not used to an Arabian street cat domesticating itself in rural England. He was the talk of the village fete at the weekend - apparently he lets himself in at various houses, has favourite trees to climb, and stops off for treats.

Did you realise how loud they were going to be?

All our black cats are now flaked out in a darkened room 😁

I didn’t see mine from dawn till dusk yesterday. Our neighbours garden is very overgrown and I imagine they have a cool and shady spot at the bottom of some bushes. I trust them to choose what is best for them although I did put some ice cubes in their bowl!

I've felt the cat flap open but both of mine have been kicking up a real fuss as I wouldn't let them out of the front door. I gave in this morning and let them out. As predicted, Boris stayed out, no doubt under neighbours bushes, Ollie was back within one minute.

Ollie seems to have just accepted the fan. I've been giving them a cat soup each day, a small amount of milk and they readily want wet over dry, so hope I'm keeping them hydrated.

I haven't locked mine in. He's free to come and go. He's been inside all day though in the cool.

Last night he went for a wander for a few hours so I suspect he might do that again tonight when it's cooler.

My cat is outside under a bush in the garden. I’ve been down to check on her several times. It’s cooler in her spot than it is in the house with fans going.

They are pretty sensible. Sun worshippers to boot so can handle the heat. I'm much less concerned about cats in this heat, dogs, however, are another story.

I've let mine do what she wants. She is being very sensible and finding the coolest bits of the house to sleep in during that day and only going out early or evening.

Not drinking any bloody water though!

My Maine Coon asked to go today and I was like noooooo way but he kept howling so I was whatever haha, so out he went for a few hours in the shade . He came back in around 1pm and has been inside since .