Senior dogs and cats in summer

Why age makes heat worse

Regulation gets slower. Circulation responds with more delay, the blood vessels in the skin widen less, and heat reaches the surface less well. A young dog recovers from exertion in a few minutes. An older one needs far longer.

Thirst is felt less. That is true of animals as it is of people. Add kidney trouble, which is common in older cats, and the animal loses more fluid without drinking any more to make up for it.

Moving takes more effort. A stiff animal will not get up to go two feet further into the shade. It stays where it is, even once that spot has warmed up. This is the point that weighs most in daily life, and the one people think about least.

And weight usually joins in. Less movement over the years, the same portion in the bowl: fat insulates, and every extra pound has to be carried on every step.

When an animal counts as senior

The number is only a pointer. What tells you far more is whether something has changed: does he stay lying down longer after a walk than he used to? Has she started looking for new places to sleep? Shifts like that say more than a date of birth.

The signs that are not about age

The reason for that warning is ordinary, and it repeats every summer: an animal that suddenly does less in July gets written off as having aged. Sometimes that is true. Sometimes it is a heart that no longer holds up under load, and then the moment the check happens is what counts.

The classic signs of heatstroke apply to older animals too, they just arrive earlier. The sequence and the four first-aid steps are on the page about heatstroke in dogs, and for cats in signs your cat is overheating.

What actually changes, day to day

Water where they can reach it without stairs. An older dog with stiff joints will not go down a floor for a drink. Two or three bowls on the level where he already spends his time raise how much he drinks far more than one full bowl does.

Several short outings instead of one long one. Movement still matters for joints and circulation, only the way you spread it out changes. And test the asphalt: older paw pads are often more sensitive, and the five-second check with the back of your hand counts double here.

Bring the cool spot to them, not the other way round. This is the real point with older animals. Through the day, a young dog moves from the kitchen tile to the bathroom floor and back. An older one stays put. So the cool spot has to be where they already lie down.

That is exactly what a cooling mat is for: a surface that absorbs heat, in a place you choose, padded instead of hard like tile. To be clear, because these are two things worth keeping apart: what we are talking about here is comfort underfoot and temperature. If an older animal is in pain or moving worse, the answer is an appointment, and it starts there.

The detail almost nobody thinks about: height

An animal that struggles to get up avoids surfaces it has to climb onto. A raised bed with a thick bolster is something a stiff senior eventually just stops using, however soft it is, and lies down on the hard floor next to it instead.

A flat mat has a practical advantage here that has nothing to do with cooling: there is nothing to step over. You lie on it the way you lie on the floor. With an older animal that detail counts for more than it sounds like, and it is worth checking before you choose: the formats are compared on the page about cooling mat, vest or bed.

And with older cats

Older cats groom themselves less thoroughly, and saliva evaporating off the coat is one of their few ways to cool down. At the same time they jump up onto the cool windowsill or into the sink less often than they used to.

Both of those lead to the same practical conclusion as with dogs: cool spots at floor level, where they already lie down. And water on the same floor, because stairs get rarer too. Kidney disease is common in older cats, which is why fluid loss in the heat hits them harder. The rest of what helps is in how to cool down a cat.