Cats in the 40 degree heatwave...

TripleH

Our house is built on a hill in 3 levels. The ground floor is nice and cool.

Our eldest boy loves heat but he is pretty good at finding a cool spot to crash when he gets too hot (and he is a daft so and so).

Our Maine Coon is pretty good at finding somewhere cool to rest as well.

I'd ensure access to plenty of water in a cool place and access to shade. Ours have no common sense but manage perfectly. 

Also SIL took their cat out to Oz 10 years ago as a 2 year old and she is perfectly fine.

Mnoee

My cats enjoy playing with ice cubes in the warm weather. Just be careful if they bite them as it can damage teeth - but mine just bat them around and lick the water from their paws. I've made them from tuna water too. Just be prepared to mop the area afterwards, as they soon had them off the tray I put them in. I've also seen recommendations to leave a cool damp towel for them to sit on to cool down.

We're only due 28c ish in NI, so I'm not too worried. Leaving a cool towel or putting an ice cube in a bowl of water costs almost nothing and takes seconds, so I don't see the harm in trying to make them more comfortable. 

TBagpuss

I would not shut them if if you don't usually, as if they get stressed due to not being able to get out that won't help.Appreciate you will laready have done whatever for today, but for tomorrow, consider leaving internal doors open and curtains closed to keep the house cooler, and any rooms with tiled floors, prop the doors oepn so they can get in and lie on the tiles to cool down. 

For my kitten who is not allowed outside yet I also put a damp towel wrapped around some freezer blocks in her room, so there is somewhere cool tio lie if she wants . I imagine it will defrost completely before the day is over but hopefullly will keep things a bit cooler for a bit longer.

and have made sure that doros are open so she has access to the bathroom which tends to be cooler.

I've also made sure that there are extra water bowls both indoors and in the garden (Forthe other cat and the wildlife) 

I've also been putting the food pouches into the fridge for a few hours before opening them so the food is cold when its served to them 

pipscat

i can't keep my cats inside in this weather. They seem to like to wander and find a nice shady patch to sleep in. I always make sure there is water available for them and shady parts of the garden. We also leave a door open (when we're in) so they can wander back inside if they get too hot. 

We also wet a tea towel and give them a wipe down every now and again to cool them down  

TripleH

Our Maine Coon is currently lying in a corner on a towel with an ice pack in the middle.

comeandgo

TripleH said:

Our Maine Coon is currently lying in a corner on a towel with an ice pack in the middle.

My maine coon is outside in the garden, on her back, legs in the air, loving the warmth.  It’s only 29 degrees here but I do trust her intelligence and she will move if uncomfortable.  She has a bowl of water outside too.  

Lavendyr

I kept my cats in during the high temperatures on Tuesday. One would've been in anyway, as he is fairly sensible . The other is a bit of an explorer and doesn't always know his own limits. He came in on Sunday panting and tired, so I kept them in with fans blowing, cool packs throughout the house and wet towels wherever I could helpfully put them. They didn't love it but at least at home they also had ready access to running water (cat fountain) and humans who could keep an eye out for signs of heat exhaustion. We also put cold packs, wrapped in teatowels, near where they sleep. 

MovingForwards

MovingForwards said:

Mine is an indoor Princess and not that intelligent, so I get to see what she's up to.

If the lounge gets too hot from the sun streaming in, she takes herself off to a cooler one (bedroom). Goes back into the lounge a few hours later and if it's still too warm for her immediately turns round and goes back to bed.

I don't think you've anything to worry about, animals have a strong survival instinct.

Coming back to this my Princess slept most of the time. Unusually for her she also slept on her side with arms and legs out.

When waking up she looked longingly at her food / water bowls and decided to sleep again instead.  After a few times of her doing this, we took the water to her each time she woke and frequently changed it to cold, where she'd have more. We also took the food to her, but not as frequently.

Yesterday morning I was still taking the water to her, by the afternoon she was up and about normally again. 

Unusually for us, we didn't have sun streaming into the lounge, it was just pure heat while overcast.

SensibleSarah

I'm a bit late to this one, but my cat barely came indoors at all during the two days of crazy heat. She spent quite a lot of time in her insulated cat house, which presumably stays cooler in the summer and the shade around the garden, but a few times she was sunbathing too - never at the hottest part of the day mind. She had two fresh water bowls out there to choose from in different areas of the garden.

 The dogs, on the other hand, didn't really move from in front of the fan in the lounge for two days! 

TripleH

Ours were kept in last Tuesday and were fine

Brother's cat was out and about and got heatstroke. It wasn't nice watching him panting. He's okay now.

He is also an outdoor cat so you'd expect to be far more sensible, but that's not always the case.

We've dug out our other ice packs to go in the freezer ready for next week.