Many cats love the summertime! After all, with all that warm sun coming in the windows they have plenty of places for cozy cat naps! But with the summer also comes summertime dangers. To keep your feline friend healthy and happy this summer, take a look at these tips on How to Keep Your Cat Safe During the Summer!
How to Keep Your Cat Safe During the Summer
1. Preventatives and Vaccinations
Some cat owners believe that if their cat is an “indoor” cat, that means they can skip giving them flea, tick, and heartworm preventative medicine. That couldn’t be farther from the truth! A cat doesn’t have to go outside to be exposed to fleas and ticks. They could come into your home via your other pets, on you, or through an open door or window. And a mosquito carrying heartworm larvae could easily fly inside without you knowing! So make sure that your cat, indoor or outdoor, is up to date on their preventative medicines. Also make sure they’re up to date on their vaccinations, especially their rabies shot. Summer is when animals that are especially likely to be rabid, like bats and raccoons, are more likely to be found wandering near your home.
2. Turn on the AC
Just like dogs, cats only sweat through their paw pads. If they get overheated, the amount of sweat released through their little paws isn’t enough to truly cool them down. Blowing a fan on an overheated cat won’t help much, especially if the air the fan is blowing is warm. Instead, turn the AC up if your cat appears to be getting too hot. And when you’re leaving the house, don’t turn the AC off. It’d be horrible to come home and find your cat suffering from heatstroke!
3. Watch for Bugs
If you want to keep your cat safe during the summer, you’ll need to watch out for flying bugs that could sting. To your cat, wasps are just fun things to play with and try to catch. But in reality, they could lead to a dangerous stinging incident!
4. Watch the Barbecue
A backyard barbecue can be a lot of fun! But if you’re trying to keep your cat safe during the summer, you’ll realize it could be a potential source of danger. Ensure your cat doesn’t grab any human food. Also watch that they don’t decide to eat charcoal or ashes, or play with anything that could become a choking hazard (like little plastic drink umbrellas).
5. Garden Carefully
If your cat likes to wander through your garden, you may want to take some extra gardening precautions to keep your cat safe during the summer. Ensure that you’re not using any rodent poisons that your cat could ingest. And if you spray any chemicals, read the instructions. Many aren’t safe for pets until they’ve fully dried. Also double check that you’re not growing anything poisonous to cats, and that nothing poisonous has started growing on its own. This includes lilies, amaryllises, and tulip bulbs, among several others plants.
6. Plan for Fireworks
Between Memorial Day and the 4th of July, summer is the time for fireworks. Some people even enjoy setting off fireworks on random summer days “just because.” If you have a cat, you’ll want to be especially careful during those times. When a cat is scared by fireworks they can easily get themselves into trouble by knocking into things, getting stuck in a tight spot, or dashing through a door and running out into the street! In addition to being extra careful, make sure they have pet identification on or a microchip.
What precautions do you take for your cat during the summer?
Those are excellent tips. We received a flier about a lost kitty in our neighborhood from the 4th of July. I guess the kitty was scared by fireworks and got out. Unfortunately things did not turn out well for the kitty (hubby saw it on the road and called the people 🙁 ). So your tip #6 is very important!
Thanks for the helpful tips.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. My cat does go out into my yard so I am very careful of what I use in my garden. Didn’t realize that tulip bulbs could be poisonous to cats.
Like many cats in the sunny months, my two little guys love to sit in the window-sills. I’ve got an orange tabby (all-orange/blond fur), and a gray tabby. The latter has dark, brownish-black fur on his back– i.e., right where the sun hits when he’s lounging in the sunlight. I worry about him getting sunburn, and don’t quite know what to do. I’m home almost all the time, but can’t keep an eye on him. (His fur gets so hot, and so quickly!)
Thank you for this post. I’m really glad I happened to catch it– I’m going to go look up right now, and learn about sunburn and sun exposure. Thanks again!
Thank you for the good tips. I never thought abut my cat sweating. SInce it’s only through their pads that doesn’t give them much area for cooling off!
Our cats stay indoors, but they really want to go outside! So I guess the way we keep them safe is giving them a place to sit near a window so that they don’t get caught in a closing door.
i dont have cats but learned something abt them sweating thru their paws, thank you. not sure why people would let their cats out during a bbq though, seems dangerous to me.
oh this is a super helpful post. lost of things i dont think of often!
These are excellent tips, so important. My cats are all indoors but I’m glad that you pointed out how easily a mosquito could fly in and the health issues that could incur if your kittties aren’t up to date with vaccines. Thank you for posting such important info, our cats are family and their well being is a priority.
We have an outside cat and it has gotten so hot this summer. We always change out her water so it’s fresh and cool. And we make sure she has a cool area to hang out in/.
With this being such a hot summer I so appreciate these helpful tips for our cats
thank you
We have cats running all over around here. A few years ago there were traps put out to catch them. That helped a bit.
Thanks for the tips.
This is really good information, not just the common sense things, but things people might not realize or think about!
I am glad that I did all these things for my cat. These are tips that everyone should follow.
Don’t forget zinc cream for cats with white ears and pale noses. We have a white cat with very bad ears from skin cancer that we have just adopted.Poor baby.
Good tips for outdoor cats. I just prefer to keep mine indoors.
My cat is indoor and he is smart to cool off for the summer, great tips