I’m spending two weeks at my mobile home in southern Delaware. I always take my cats down. Yesterday morning, my central air conditioning broke. The temperature inside my home slowly climbed to ninety degrees. I began to worry about my cats. Even though I have lots of fans, my cats are not used to the extreme heat.  They were sprawled across the living room floor trying to catch a breeze from anywhere. I became concerned. Cats can get heatstroke just as dogs can. Here’s what I did and you should do if you think that your cat may be overheated.

• keep plenty of water available and place some ice cubes in the water.
• wipe you cat down with a cool cloth. Cats only sweat through their paws so it’s a good idea to wipe the paws with a cool cloth.
• Use a bag of frozen peas and place it around a soft blanket or towel. Then put it in your cats bed.
• Repeat wiping her down and make sure that she is not panting or breathing very fast.

If there are any signs such as panting, bright red tongue, vomiting, diarrhea or bleeding from the nose, get your cat to a vet right away, she is probably suffering from heat stroke.

My air conditioning froze and will be repaired tomorrow but I did get it to work. I have the temperature set to 79 degrees to prevent it from freezing until the repair service checks it out. The cats are fine but this situation is something that you should be aware of because air conditioning units are strained in this extreme heat.

Remember, your pets count!