Keeping a longhaired cat cool in an Australian summer

A 40-degree day in Melbourne is harder on a Ragdoll than on most cats. They are big, they are semi-longhaired, and they are far too trusting to take themselves somewhere sensible. This is the one part of Ragdoll ownership where Australian conditions genuinely differ from the American and European advice you'll find online.

Why cats overheat differently to us

Cats barely sweat. They lose heat through their paw pads, by grooming saliva onto their coat, and by finding somewhere cool to lie down. That third option is the one that matters, and it's the one you control.

A cat that starts panting is not doing what a dog does. Open-mouthed breathing in a cat is an urgent sign, not a normal cooling behaviour.

Know the warning signs

• Panting or open-mouthed breathing — treat as an emergency.
• Restlessness, pacing, or repeatedly moving from spot to spot.
• Drooling, or saliva that looks thicker than usual.
• Bright red or very pale gums.
• Lethargy, stumbling or vomiting — this is heatstroke and needs a vet immediately.

If you see the later signs, move your cat somewhere cool, wet their paws, ears and belly with room-temperature water — not ice, which constricts blood vessels and slows cooling — and ring your vet on the way.

Never leave a cat in a car, even for five minutes, even with the windows down. On a 30-degree day a parked car passes 50 degrees inside about fifteen minutes.

Do not clip the coat

Every summer someone asks us about a lion clip. Please don't. A Ragdoll's coat insulates against heat as well as cold, and it protects skin that has never seen the sun from burning — particularly on the ears and the bridge of the nose, and particularly on pale bicolours.

What actually helps is combing. Ten minutes twice a week removes the loose undercoat that traps warm air against the skin, and through the spring drop we comb daily. A well-combed Ragdoll copes with heat far better than a clipped one.

How we set the house up

None of this is expensive, and most of it we do out of habit by December.

• Leave a tiled or concrete floor accessible. Our two lie flat on the laundry tiles all afternoon. If your cool floors are behind closed doors, prop one open.
• Close blinds on the sunny side in the morning, before the room heats, rather than at midday once it already has.
• Water in three or four places, including one bowl that isn't near food. A pet fountain genuinely does increase how much they drink.
• Add ice to the water bowl, not to the cat.
• A fan pointed at a wall, not the cat. Moving air helps the room; a draught aimed at a cat mostly annoys them.
• A damp towel over a cool tile gives them somewhere to choose to lie. Offer it, don't wrap them in it.
• Feed wet food in the evening on hot days — more moisture, and less chance of it spoiling in the bowl.

If you're out all day and the house gets genuinely hot, leave the air conditioning on a mild setting or shut the cats into the coolest room with everything they need. It costs a few dollars and removes the whole problem.

Ticks, fleas and the rest of summer

Paralysis ticks are a serious risk on the east coast from roughly September through February, and while an indoor-only Ragdoll is far less exposed, ticks travel indoors on dogs and on people. If you live in a tick area, use a product your vet recommends for cats specifically — several dog tick treatments are fatal to cats.

Fleas breed faster in the heat too. We treat monthly through summer regardless of whether we've seen one.

The short version

Shade, cool flooring, water in several spots, a comb rather than clippers, and never a hot car. Ragdolls do very well in Australian summers when the house is set up for them — it just needs a little more thought than it does for a shorthaired cat.