The reply was for persons wondering why the cats don’t like to be in air conditioning.
Putting rock sulphur into your dog’s drinking water is supposed to help them in hot weather.
I do this too. When I had goldfish, I would put one in their tank to cool it down on hot days. Goldfish don’t do so well in warm water but I imagine even tropical fish have their limits. Cooling down the water also means that there will be more oxygen in it for the fish to breathe. My buds, at least, seemed to appreciate it.
I think humans tend to project onto their pets a little too much. I used to worry about my cat in hot weather (especially since I haaaaate the heat), but when I noticed in the winter that she regularly chooses to sleep *under the radiator *in my overheated apartment (while I’m sweltering in a tank top and shorts with the window open), I decided not to worry about it too much.
I keep the A/C on when I’m home, but I don’t turn it on when I leave, and so far the kitty hasn’t complained. Though I’m not entirely sure I would know if she hated it or not…
[rant]
Here in NYC we are on the brink of a blackout due to energy consumption in the record heat, and there was an interview on the radio with some woman who leaves her A/C on for her cats! I’m sitting at home with the thermostat on 80 deg. (above the mayor’s recommended 78), all my lights off, all unnecessary applicances powered down. I still risk my power going out and all my food going bad because of asshats like this :mad: :mad: :mad:
[/rant]
You make a point. Cats are much better able to deal with hiogh heat that we are, in fact they enjoy warm weather. However, on days when the temp goes well over 100, they still need some extra care.
I did leave my AC on *one day * “for the cats”. Hottest day in San Jose so far, something like 106. However, the thermostat was turned to it’s warmest setting, which is around 90. And, I only did that as one of the cats is a huge extra furry maine coon, who was lying in the tub trying to escape the heat, and crying. Poor guy. I am not sorry, and would do it again- he was suffering. I don’t usually do that, however, this was a special case.
But fresh cool water, shade, and an ice bottle isn’t much to give for all that love, is it?
Exactly right. Cats do not have the same sensitivity to heat that humans do. From wikipedia’s page on cats:
(Yes, i realize Wikipedia isn’t a definitive source, but it’s pretty good for stuff like this.)
No, of course not. Obviously if your cat is clearly suffering, you gotta do what you gotta do. What annoys me is people who go “look, poor fluffy is so hot” when fluffy isn’t acting any differently than usual. My neighbor insists on keeping her AC on when she goes on vacations in the summer, and it drives me up the wall. The cats don’t care. Really!
The real issue here is that NYC’s power situation is so f-ed up (it feels so third-world here sometimes) that electricity has been blowing out all over the city for the past week. I do what I can to minimize my impact while keeping reasonably comfortable (putting dark curtains up, leaving AC on low, turning up the thermostat, being willing to sweat, not doing laundry, etc.) but I know that as much as I conserve, someone else out there doesn’t give a crap. And my power will go out just as quickly as theirs.
A bit of a hijack, sorry. :o
A couple of things I’ve done.
Open the door to the basement. We have a below-grade unfinished basement, and it’s much cooler down there.
Turn on a fan at floor level.
Make sure there is plenty of fresh water around for the pets.
A good brushing. My last couple of cats have been long-haired, and a good brushing to remove some of the undercoat seems to help.
A gold fish could handle being in the refrigerator for the day.
If you want some real fun, mix catnip with water, freeze.
How about a catnip smoothy?
I have no idea if 52 °C is where a cat starts to get uncomfortable.
However, this human being starts to feel uncomfortable at a much lower temperature than 44.5 °C.
The cite was talking about skin temp, not *air * temp. It’s rather confusing. I am VERY hot at air temps far under 112. In fact, air temps of 98 degrees are too hot for me, despite that being what my body temp is.
Let’s just say that a cat is OK with temps about 10 degrees F hotter than humans are. My experience is that with shorthaired cats, they don’t start to show signs of discomfort until the air gets to around 100F, as long as they have shade and fresh water- in fact when I am thinking “it’s a bit too warm” my shorthaired guy is loving it. Longhaired cats have a lower tolerance to heat, and a higher tolerance for cold (no duh).