Recently on our Facebook page we asked our hungarian readers how they cool their cats in the great heat, so that their tips could inspire others as well. Numerous useful and funny answers also arrived these we have now gathered.

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As the scorching summer heat arrives, we immediately turn on the air conditioning (if there is any, of course), fan ourselves, and instantly wish to be by the water. Or at least in the bathroom, or next to a bucket of cold water, for lack of a better option. But what is the situation with our purring little friends, the cats? How do they, in fact, get through the heatwave? We asked you what techniques you use to cool your pet, and in return, you shared brilliant tips and funny stories with us, which we hereby thank you for!

Cooling is important for our pets as well in the summer heat

This is how you cool your cats in the heatwave

It’s too late...

Some comments pointed out that some cats in the height of summer start to melt entirely.

• “It’s pointless… they’ve already fallen apart.”
• “Misu has melted.”
• “Thermal expansion.”

Or quite the opposite, they withstand this judgment-day weather flawlessly:

• “Unnecessary, they themselves are the ice queen.”

Behind the humorous remarks lurks the resigned love of the owners, that there’s nothing to be done, their cat has accepted their fate and lies sprawled on the floor waiting for relief.

All cats are individuals, so they can react to the heat in different ways

Cat wellness: cooling mat, gel pillow, mini dressing gown

If you thought that only we can enjoy the cooling, calming comfort that wellness provides, then you are very wrong! Some cats have it so good that in their home, they experience real wellness provided by their owner. Many reported that their little friend uses the cooling mat as a throne.

• “They got a cooling mat. They really love it.”
• “I usually wet a towel and wipe them down with it.”
• “Wet towel, I laid it on them, and they cooled under it. At first, they were wary, but then they quickly realised that it’s pleasant under it.”

With cooling using a wet towel, one must be careful, as it can quickly become a heat trap! If we choose this method, let’s wet the textile frequently so that it can always stay cool.

The cooling mat and the air conditioner have worked for many

Just like in a wellness hotel: towel, mat, bathrobe; only the mojito is missing from between their paws. Well, okay, this is of course just a joke – under no circumstance should we give alcohol to the cat!

They have a cat pool, where they can play (they won’t go in it, they are not that fond of water) with toy fish and rubber ducks. And if all this is not enough, either I gently wet their fur, or there’s a mini bathrobe (from Pepco, meant for a tiny dog, but actually I hate dressing animals and making clowns out of them), which I put on them wet and it cools super well for a while. If neither this nor that works, there’s the cool tile in the bathroom.

– said a caring owner.

Shade, tiles, adobe house: the classic solutions

Many say that there is no need to overthink it, cool places have always been the cats’ domains during the warmer months. They usually look for the coolest point in the house and settle there: on the tiles, ceramic flooring, adobe house floor, behind the wardrobe, under the curtain – anywhere where the temperature is even one degree more pleasant.

• “Mancika likes to cool in the shade of the oleander.”
• “The house is adobe, the kitchen stone is cool – approx. 10–15°C, they cool themselves.”
• “Luckily our house is very cool, so the hotter it gets, the more often the cats come inside to cool down on the stone. Everything is stone, and there are 12 trees in the garden providing shade.” True idyll.

Cats’ own cooling methods may also differ

It can be said about most cats that they don’t ask for help, since they know what’s good for them. And truly: our pets somehow always find the best way to adapt. It may happen that they dash out at dawn to play, but during the day it’s as if they vanished off the face of the Earth. We admire this in them, but we should never forget our duty, that is: provide cool water for the cat in several places, likewise calm, shady, well-ventilated areas, nooks. These all apply to outdoor, going-out and indoor animals alike.

The strange heat-lovers

No matter how hard we try, there are cats who simply don’t care about the heat. What’s more – they seek it! These are the cats who would probably happily lie on a hot stone even in the desert.

• “They lie out in the sun, crawl under the blanket.”
• “They chill in the bathtub” – of course, without water.

Some nap on the cool tile

This is how one owner described it:

One of them prefers to be out on the 35-degree terrace rather than come inside to the 26-degree flat. The other one sweats it out under the bed in the attic bedroom at 31–32 degrees; they could just as well come down to the cool living room.

The owners try to keep up

In the end, what else could they do?

• “I lock them in at noon, towards the evening they can go out.”
• “I put out a bucket of water, neither of them cares.”

Here comes the big lesson...

Our purring friends know exactly what they’re doing. We don’t always understand it, and often it seems as if they deliberately choose the weirdest solutions – but that’s exactly why we love them. It might be a wet towel, a duvet, a cooling mat, or a sunny terrace at 36 degrees, but to them, they’re all just options. And we owners can only give them the chance to choose, and if even after all this they still choose sunbathing – what can we say? Cats – they’re just like that. (Still, if you can, under no circumstance let them out in the heatwave; trouble can come very quickly!)

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