Any thoughts on cooling mats for cats ?

[allamberedover]

Are they a good idea ? Or just another way to spend money?
And if they are a nice thing for a cat to have, recommendations please ?

Love them. One upstairs, one downstairs. The cats won't go anywhere near them, but post menopausal me is a huge fan.

It was ridiculously hot in my house yesterday but the cats still insisted on sprawling on the carpet in the sunny spots like they do every sunny afternoon. I don't think they would go near a cooling mat.

Same!

I would imagine no use for cats. They're pretty adept at controlling their own body temperature and most won't use anything you buy them 😂
I am however considering one for myself!

I bought them for my previous girls. They didn’t touch them. Thought Penelope might like the texture. Wrong. She’s not touched the new one I brought for her. She’s very contrary though. So it was worth a try!

There was a big fuss over a new thing but that was quickly over.

We bought one. She sat on it once and hasn’t bothered again.

We’ve got one. No cat interest apart from a brief sniff so I’m using it.

Mine uses his. Or rather, for years he used it, this year he prefers to sleep on the floor beside it. My previous cats would have deliberately walked around it. This one is a bit daft and has actually used cat furniture and scratching posts.

Got one for my cats, they literally sat next to it but never went on it. Waste of money😂

Same as everyone else. My cats sat on theirs once and have ignored them ever since, preferring to sleep on the sofa, the dining chairs, the windowsill or wrapped around my head like furry hats.

I think it would need to be cleverly disguised as a cardboard box for Dcat to show any interest😜

I bought a heat mat for the winter, that resides in the loft having never been sat on!

Dcat won’t even tolerate a fan. I very occasionally use it in bed and she comes to poke me until I turn it off! It’s never pointed anywhere near her😂

We have a few dotted around the house but our cat is not interested at all.

We have one , cat refuses to lay on it in the summer , but may occasionally sleep on it in the midst of winter . I mean he’s a cat , so I guess that’s par for the course .

Mine seek out warm places. Or just sit in the shade. But they never sit near fans and never sem to be hot and bothered. I'd imagine they'd go ignored. I bought them a bed and that ended up in the bin!?

My old girl loves it. She wouldn't touch it for a good two years first though. I got a big dog one which DS is using, and she's using his pillow sized one.

She's spent all winter on her heat mat set at 50, which she also refused to go near, but it was more easily disguised by a fleece, and once she'd got used to being fried, when the timer went off she'd emerge out of her box with a "oy you, I'm down to 30 degrees now, turn it back on."

Very little interest, but I’m sure if decided it needed to be throw out they would be on it like a shot!

However, what they do have also are beds which are furry on one side, and polyester (??) on the other. They like sleeping on the polyester side when it’s hot. I’m not sure if they are sometimes marketed as being summer/winter beds.

The problem with these cooling mats is that you have to move on it to activate the cooling gel - and cats won't move.

Mine sat on it once then never again but I'll fight anyone who tries to takes it away from me now, it's bliss having my feet on it at night during heatwaves. I've managed to sleep through every hot night since using it, even if the air is hot and stifling. It's mine! 😠

Like everyone else we bought one and the cat will walk around it rather than let it even touch his paw. When we are worried they are overheating we throw ice cubes on the floor and they paw them around and lick them.

My Miriel likes lying under a bush in the front garden.

That’s actually a really good idea! Put the cooling mat at the bottom of a box!

I cant imagine any self respecting cat will go on these.

Firstly cats are heat seeking missiles, even in the hottest weather

Secondly, if you buy for them, they dont want it. First rule of being a cat, if its for me, I dont want it. If its not for me, I do want it.

I have a cat nearly on me now, having to keep pushing him off, wanting to snuggle, he is unbearably hot. Awful

My cats have a doughnut bed like this: https://amzn.eu/d/596cUQo

I put freezer blocks in the hole, cover it with a blanket and voilà, a nice cool igloo. DCat2 spent yesterday afternoon napping in it and attacking any hands which tried to adjust the blanket.

My cat spent the morning tucked up in a furry igloo and the afternoon by the hottest french door in full sun 🤷🏽‍♀️

Won’t touch it, would rather sleep UNDER the duvet and boil himself
its nice for me to sleep on though