It is summer again!

And as always, our cat Odin has desperately been trying to find the coolest spot in the house. Sometimes he may occupy an empty drawer in my closet, or comfortably position himself on a set of Ben's high school text books. Every summer I ask myself the same question: how do you keep a cat cool in summer? 

I will share some tips that have worked in my household.

There are several ways to keep cats cool in the summer:

1. Provide plenty of fresh water: Make sure your cat always has access to clean, cool drinking water  is a must.
2. Keep the house cool: Use fans or air conditioning to keep the house cool and comfortable for your cat. 
3. Create a cool spot: Provide a cool spot for your cat to rest, such as a shaded area or a room with tile or linoleum flooring that stays cooler than carpet. Especially houses with lots of natural sunlight like ours, its imperitive to make sure they have a place to hide from the sun.On top of that you can also check our range of cooling mats for cats and dogs!
4. Provide a wading pool: A small wading pool filled with water can be a great way for your cat to cool down if they're comfortable with water.
5. Grooming: Regular grooming can help keep your cat cool by removing excess hair and helping to distribute oils evenly through their coat.
6. Limit outdoor time: Keep cats indoors during the hottest parts of the day, if possible - dawn and dusk are the best times to let them out should you need to. If you must let your cat outside, supervise them to make sure they don't overheat.
7. Provide frozen treats: Provide your cat with frozen treats such as iced lickeable cat treats. We use liquid treat tubes poured into small ice cube containers and freeze them overnight so our boy always has some nice cool treats to enjoy throughout the day. Sometimes we even pop his food into the fridge for a few minutes before we serve it!
8. A lightly damp towel: While our cat isn't the most fond of water so a wading pool isn't an option, when it gets into the high 30's some water treatment becomes necessary. What we have found to work is lightly wetting a small towel with cold water and running it along his face and paws to help cool down his extremities (just make sure it's not too wet or you might have a grumpy cat on your hands!).

I am aware that a white cat like him may be prone to develop skin cancers and sun spots from the blazing Australian sun. I apply pet-approved sunscreen on his ears if he loudly pleeds to be with us to go outside while we are having a BBQ or an outdoor get-together; he hates being left out! So if you do let your cat outside even if they are not a fair furred cat sunscreen is always a plus! 

As always, if you think your cat is over heating or is showing symptoms of struggling, the vet is always the best bet - even just a phone call for some advice can do wonders.

Please feel free to share tips that work for you and your cat!

- LoveMyCat