Should I wet my cat to cool from high temperature?

Question

There is a heat wave now where I live and my cat is very hot and pants and he is lying down like dead. Should I wet him a little with a spray or a little sponge (I would never bathe him!) to cool down?

Thanks everybody, I wiped him with a little water. It sort of worked, because he's up (licking it off basically). Oh, and I don't have A/C, he would be using it if I had one. Actually I am considering buying one for him...

Thanks everyone, it's getting dark and it's cooler now and he looks fine, he's playing in the balcony, so don't worry!

Answer 1

I have three cats, and two of them absolutely love water!! One will sit under a dripping tap for hours on a hot day, the other will let me spray her down to cool down, but the third one just run away from water, so I don't force it on him. You never know if you cat will actually tolerate water or not until you try it. Just give it a little mist and see how he likes it.

Oh my mum's cat will literally sleep in a tub of water on hot day if my mum lets the cat be...

Answer 2

Cat High Temperature

Answer 3

There's 3 things that works for my cats. A fan of course...they love to be in front of the fan. But they also like ice cubes. Because cats are curious and can't resist investigating, I put a small pan (like a cake pan) on the floor with a bunch of ice cubes in it. They get curious and they investigate and they play with the ice cubes. They try licking them and touching them and that is refreshing for them. As they melt, the cats drink the cool water. One other thing I do is I use a small unused litter box, one that I have just for this purpose. I wet a towel and squeeze the water out as much as possible and fold it up in the pan. My cats then think they have a special bed and they sleep on the cool towel, which brings their body temperature down. They LOVE it.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Get a small towel and wipe him down. You don't want to get him wet because that will lower his temp to fast and he may go into shock. Make sure he has cool (not cold) water and a place to lie down out of the sun and he should be fine. Fur keeps the animal cool as well as warm, so he will probably be fine.

Answer 5

well, if he really seems hot i would first make sure that he has plenty of water to drink at all times and then i would maybe put a fan on so he could walk past it to cool off. cats do not like to be sprayed with water. that is one way you could train him. when the cat does something bad you would spray him with water to teach him a lesson, so i would not spray him.

Answer 6

Get a fan, it's hot here too and my cat loves laying in front of the fan. When cats sleep, their body temperature drops a couple of degrees, and they are desert animals originally. I think your cat will be fine, but if you're really worried, get a fan... then if he sleeps in front of it his temperature will go down quite a bit... and you'll both be happy.

Answer 7

I think a spray is good because it is natural like rain. Try wetting his feet and ears thats where they lose the most heat. Put some drops on his tongue as well. Good luck!

Answer 8

He close (if not having it already) to heat stroke. That could kill him!

Cool him down! Soak the poor baby in luke warm water (tepid, not hot but not cold to touch). It is not a bath it is helping save his life.

Dry him off, well with towels.

Answer 9

Just provide lots of cold water, and maybe a little fan. Putting water on your cat, will probably just upset him. If he is outdoors, try bringing him indoors while it is hot.

Answer 10

Try a little cool mist and see how he reacts. If that does work, leave a cool sponge near him and allow him to investigate on his own.