How do your longhairs do in the heat?

[iloveeverykindofcat]

This is my first summer with a longhair - well, I had her last summer but her coat hadn't grown in as she was too young, plus the temperatures were lower. She has very long, dense, black fur and is insanely hyperactive. She overheated and panted in a car when we had to go to the vet for her allergy shot at the end of June. This was totally my fault - I never had a longhair before and didn't have the right equipment/carrier/aircon. She recovered fine and now has a plastic carrier with a cooling pad, a personal fan and water bottle, and most importantly I have arranged to take her for her booster next week in a properly airconditioned vehicle. It won't happen again. But I've realized I can't just assume she'll be fine in the heat like other cats I've had. Her coat is totally different.I don't know what kind of mix she is but she looks like the cats that are adapted to cold weather places. If she had her way she'd be out everyday 5am till the evening, but at present I'm enforcing inside time with the fans on during the hottest part of the afternoon, she can be out morning and evening. She protests a bit when she comes in but if I play with her a bit she soon settles down and goes to sleep so I think she is more tired in the heat, she just doesn't want to slow down. We're looking at over 30 degrees on the weekend and I'm considering keeping her in the whole time, but she will be absolutely mental and there are plenty of shady trees in our garden so I guess very early morning and the evening should be okay. How do yours do?

It might have to be something I look into, at least in summer. Yesterday I thought all her scabs were looking really good but then this morning she's picked the one in front of her ear again. Its not deep or infected though. Chasing her around with Anicura gel again

Amazed that Penelope is actually using her cool mat.

@Toddlerteaplease that's good to see. Winnie has had a little sit in the carrier with the gel pad in - I'm trying to acclimatize her for Thursday. She waited until Zara, my senior had done it, and then she copied her. Which affirms my suspicions that Winnie postures and pretends but Zara is actually the dominant cat in the house. She's just quiet about it.

Mine loves the heat! She won't leave the house in winter but in summer she won't come in we have to feed her outside which attracts all the neighbours cats! She does occasionally move to the shade on our steps!

We have 2 long haired cats, but one is softer and I think has finer fur (black and white, pictured loving life on the kitchen floor), the other (pictured snoozing in the evening) has thicker coarser fur and on 2 occasions recently has come in panting so they're now kept in during the day when it's super hot and are allowed out in the evening when it's a bit coolerand they'll reliably come back in for dinner. I've also increased the number of bowls of water about the house. They have a cooling mat but have never once even laid a paw on it!

We've actually got rain today! Perhaps I won't have to worry so much about the heat on her booster day. The skin on the back of her her neck isn't healed enough to do an injection there but apparently they can do it in the leg just as well. Its frustrating because her scabs were almost healed and then she picked them. But the sore patch beneath is much shallower and less inflamed now, so the healing is happening its just a bit one step forward two steps back. At least the rain washes some of the pollen off her. I'm about to try her on a new anti itch treat which is supposed to be good if the cat will eat it (big if).

I think I accidentally selected hard mode when I picked up a cat from the shelter 😭.