Our senior cat Miss Soph probably likes the summer heat even less than I do. In our household, one way to know that it’s definitely heating up in summer is when Sophie opts not to sit on a lap, and instead sits next to us, or sleeps at the end of the bed rather than in the bed or on me. With these signs and signals, it’s important to keep our senior cats cool in summer.
Sophie is also known to wander outside after much pestering for us to open the back door, stick her head out, sniff a bit and meow in a way that seems to mean, “Why is it so hot? Turn the heat off!” She then decides it’s too hot and comes back inside with a sudden and dramatic flop down on the cool tiles.
So here are the ways that we keep Miss Soph cool and healthy in the summer that you can implement with your cats, senior or any age.
If you’re in the northern hemisphere, you might want to check out 3 Essentials Every Senior Cat Needs During Winter and Colder Months.
Disclaimer: I am not a veterinary professional and this is not to be taken as veterinary advice.
1) Water
The first and most common-sensical tip is providing multiple water sources so your senior cat can keep hydrated easily. We put extra bowls of water around the house for Miss Soph in addition to her usual bowls. Being a creature of habit, she tends to drink from the same two bowls mostly, and enjoys drinking out of a glass.
I pay particular attention to her hydration during heatwaves, and like to keep the water in all the bowls fresh for her; I tip the ‘old’ water onto my house plants and out on plants in the garden as necessary.
For your own senior cat, it’s important to know how they like to drink their water to encourage them to keep themselves hydrated. In Petbarn the other day I saw a flower-lookin’ watering fountain with moving water. I’ve heard that apparently cats are more likely to seek out moving water than stagnant water. This makes sense, but Sophie doesn’t seem to have an issue with drinking out of a water bowl or glass, and like I said before, she’s a creature of habit. If we’re going to change anything, we’ll do it in small incremental changes.
Keep your senior kitty cat hydrated!
2) Cool spots
As much as cats gravitate towards heated places and their favourite hot spots, during summer it’s a good idea to create some cool spaces in your home.
Our senior country cat Sapphy likes to go outside in the hot weather and sit under the cool of a particular bush. We know where she is so we keep an eye on her every so often, and she comes in for water when she needs.
Sophie has a preference for staying inside during summer. The way we make sure to have cool spots in the house is to keep the blinds mostly closed to keep the harsh sunshine and heat out. We also put the outdoor blinds at the front of the house down to limit the intensity of the afternoon sun where she still likes to sit.
Keeping your cat cool will depend on your cat’s preferences – some cats might like:
- sitting in front of a small fan
- ice cubes in their water bowl (or just cold water)
- having a small towel-down to dampen their fur
- sitting on a towel with flat ice packs underneath
- having their fur sprayed with a very light water mist
Sophie isn’t really into these things. When we have the air-conditioner on to cool the place down she cools down very quickly and opts for a lap or gravitates to a room that doesn’t have the air-conditioner on in that space, so we accommodate this preference.
When we took her in to her usual vet clinic during summer a couple of years ago, we made sure the car was air-conditioned and cool before we put Sophie in her carrier and into the car. In the carrier I’d put an icepack underneath one side of the blankets I use to line the carrier for comfier visits. The icepack was only cooling down one side of the carrier, so if Sophie felt too cold or didn’t want to sit on an icepack, she could still shift around it. I did wonder whether it was overkill to do this being a ten minute drive there, but I err on the side of caution and it was a bloody hot day.
The important thing is to listen to (or in this case watch and observe) what your cat wants and needs in summer and what they gravitate towards in terms of cooling down.
I’d also recommend leaving cool surfaces of the house like tiled floors (usually in bathrooms and toilets) free for cats to lie on, and make sure they have access to the naturally cool spaces like cupboards or boxes etc. as your individual situations permit.
3) Exercise
As I said in an earlier blog post, it’s a myth that senior cats don’t play and sleep all the time. I mean yes, senior cats are winding down in their twilight years so they rest more than a kitten would, but if they’re lethargic and sleeping all the time with no known cause or reason and it’s unusual behaviour for them, then an investigation might be useful to make sure your senior cat is healthy.
That aside, we play most actively with Sophie in the summer during the early morning cool times or the cool evening hours (a rarity in peak summer), or inside where the air-conditioner has been running if she has the zoomies and really wants to attack something.
We don’t want to overheat her or overdo things and put stress on her elderly system and body. But we still like to encourage her to be active.
In summer, playing and exercising when and where it’s cool should help your senior cat keep active without causing issues.
Think about your own exercise routines during summer; you probably wouldn’t want to do a whole lot of activity on a hot day. There’s no way you’ll see me out for a walk or working out when it’s hot as hell. I walk and exercise in the cooler parts of the day, but when it’s hot I’ll be inside lounging around in my underwear in front of the fan eating vegan ice-cream most probably, you know, working on my summer body…
4) Brushings
In spring, Sophie sheds like mad. There’s cat fur everywhere and when the wind picks up it goes flying around like snow. She’s got the Birman/Ragdoll shedding going on.
We figure all that excess fur would make her feel the heat even more, so we increase brushings around springtime when she’s shedding ready for summer, and then during summer we keep up our many brushings a week (at least once a day).
If your senior cat is a longhair or has thick fur and they don’t mind a brush, indulge them in as many brushings as they want to get rid of that excess fur.
I leave the fur outside for the birds to collect, and sometimes I see them coming down and collecting the fur, especially in the springtime to line their nests.
Obviously your situation will be different, so get creative (I have a great book called ‘Crafting with Cat Hair’) and do what works for you and your senior cat to keep the fur situation under control and reduce the risk of overheating.
5) Food Safety
With Sophie on a combination of meat-based wet food (in the morning) and dry food throughout the day, in summer when temperatures rise and flies tend to come in uninvited, it’s important for us to keep an eye on her food situation.
We feed her wet food in the morning, and she doesn’t need any encouragement to finish the plate. Making sure that all the food is gone or at least most of it within a reasonable time (opinions differ here as to what the maximum time that wet cat food can be left out for from half an hour to four hours, with most people saying 1-2 hours), is our way of keeping good food hygiene habits for our senior cat. One, because who wants to eat spoiled food, and two, gut issues are a recurring problem in our senior cat and we don’t want any more of those that could easily be avoided.
We give her half a pouch each day. With the remaining half of the pouch that isn’t being eaten that day, we put it in the fridge sealed, then the next day at Miss Soph’s breakfast time we add some boiling water and mix it a bit to get it warmed up (microwave is another option for reheating, but we prefer the boiled water method and so does Soph – she likes licking the ‘juice’ and it serves a dual purpose of hydration with the extra liquid).
Also keeping the food we leave out in a cool location where the sun isn’t going to spoil it and the heat won’t get to it (in our case the laundry where Soph typically gets fed) keeps the food fine for the amount of time it’s safe out for.
6) Be aware of hot spots & heatstroke
We’re probably aware of the dangers of walking a dog on hot pavers in the summer, and any dog guardians are advised to walk them during certain hours so as not to burn their delicate feet pads or cause heatstroke.
In a similar way, even though it may be a hot day, Sophie still likes to go outside in the backyard just for a bit. Even though the pergola shades the pavers from most of the sun, the pavers can get extremely hot (yesterday I wasn’t thinking and walked on the pavers that were in direct sunlight and felt like my feet were sizzling – and I have many protective callouses on my feet from being barefeeted most of the time, so I don’t know how a dog or cat must feel walking on scorching pavers).
What I sometimes do is lay down a towel on the pavers so Sophie can still go outside even though it’s bloody hot, and not burn her toe beans or peets. She’s nicknamed ‘Princess Sophie’ for a reason, people.
You probably have a different property structure to mine, so my advice here is to be aware of hot spots like these that may potentially be harmful to your senior cat. It’s also a good idea to be aware of the signs of heatstroke.
Final Thoughts
In addition to all those tips, my last word of advice would be to be attentive to any changes in your senior cat (aside from those changes that you’ve come to expect over summer, like for Sophie, drinking more water when it’s hot is not a sign of kidney or liver problems, it’s normal, or for her to be a bit more vocal, that doesn’t indicate pain, more annoyance that it’s so hot). If there’s something that you feel is amiss in their behaviour or personality, make an appointment with your vet.
Also I’d advise you to be aware if you live in Australia or the southern hemisphere where Christmas and New Year occur during hot summers, to be aware of the opening hours of your clinic. Sometimes in a large clinic or otherwise they’ll have a 24 hour emergency service, but if they’re a smaller clinic and don’t, they’ll usually make clients aware of where to take animals during the period that they’re closed.
Miss Soph and I hope that you and your senior cats keep well and have a wonderful summer season!
Leave your comments below to let me know how you look after your senior cat or other animals, or send me an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear your quiet thoughts.
Much love from us,
Melissa and Miss Soph x
P.S. For extra content, updates and other good stuff, you’re warmly invited to join The Quiet and Curious folk community by signing up to the email newsletter below:
