COOL for cats!…
The Cat’s Whiskers and hot weather…
Those of you who have cats currently boarding with us might be wondering how your feline friends are coping with this hot weather. We’d like to reassure you that the comfort, health and welfare of your cats is our absolute top priority. In addition to our usual cleaning, feeding and monitoring regimes, we go the extra mile to ensure that no cat in our care has problems when the weather is hot.
Cats are pretty good at regulating their own body temperature by:
– sleeping more
– grooming more – washing actually helps them cool down, as when the saliva on their fur evaporates, it has a cooling action
– grooming to remove loose hair, as this helps prevent overheating
But sometimes they need a bit of help , so to keep your cat cool in hot weather:
– Regularly top up their water bowls with cold water, maybe even adding ice cubes to keep drinks cooler for longer
– Put ice cubes on a shiny floor – many cats will play with them, cooling down their paws, or lick the cold water
– Keep curtains or blinds closed to create shady areas
– Using pet cooling mats – or making your own by wrapping an ice pack or frozen hot water bottle in an old towel
– Grooming and brushing them – if they’ll let you!
At The Cat’s Whiskers, we do, or will be doing, all the above and more. We check who our guests are and if they’re elderly, very young or have medical issues, we make sure that they’re accommodated in the shadiest pens. We increase the number of monitoring visits to ensure that we’re checking on everyone at least hourly and looking for signs of distress – touch wood, all well so far.
The cats are actually coping better than the humans! We’ve installed oscillating fans for the right side of the cattery, to generate cool air for those pens that get the strongest afternoon sunshine. We take the hose pipe and spray down all the corridors and passages to get some moisture in the air. Treat time – we offer treats with liquid – eg tinned tuna – as a means to get fluid into the cats.
We thought we’d add a link to what Cat’s Protection suggest for general care for your cats in the heat – It’s basically common sense but there might be a few points in here of use…
https://www.cats.org.uk/…/home…/cats-and-warm-weather
Hopefully this will reassure you that your fabulous friends are getting the very best care during their stay with us, but if you are at all concerned, please get in touch.
Cheryl & Pete xx
#catsprotection #catcaretips #catlovers
