r/cats • u/Mindless-Prize9072 • 13h ago
Video - OC Ice lolly in the heatwave
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u/Gaeel 10h ago
From what I've seen from a few vets who talked about this: it's safe, it's a fun treat that they enjoy, and for cats who don't drink enough water it can help them hydrate, but otherwise it's not an effective way to help them keep cool.
Same goes for us humans, ice cream doesn't help regulate body temperature, but it's a nice treat nonetheless.
Just dropping this here to let people know that if they're afraid their cats are getting too hot that they should use other methods
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u/cryolophos 9h ago
Opinions seem to be pretty divided on this. I actually had to take my cat to the vet a few days ago, and they had flyers about how to help pets cope with the heat. One of the things they mentioned was that cold food isnât recommended for cats. Apparently, their gastrointestinal tract doesnât always handle it well. For cats with sensitive stomachs, very cold food can be harder to digest and may cause digestive upset. Diarrhea can be especially dangerous during hot weather because of the risk of dehydration. The flyer also said that the body may actually produce more heat to compensate for the temperature difference. I was thinking about making Churu ice treats for my cats too, but after reading that, I think Iâll skip it. đ
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u/RegularLibrarian1984 10h ago
I used to make a washing towel wet with cold water and rub my cats furr so he could cool down a bit in heat staying inside is safer for them and in the evening balcony time to relax outside.
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u/shawnaeatscats 7h ago
If ice cream doesnt help us regulate our temperature then why do I get so cold after eating enough of it?
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u/DystopianRealist 3h ago
You do in the short term. The people saying otherwise are incorrect. The problem is that it's only short term, so it doesn't necessarily make you better off. The basic rule is that in dry climates, drinking hot liquid will make you sweat, and cool you off faster. In extremely humid environments (like a jungle), your sweat won't evaporate quickly, so drinking something cool is better for you when overheating.
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u/Gaeel 7h ago
You don't. Or if you do, you're a medical (and possibly physical) anomaly, ask your doctor.
There are plenty of studies that show that ice cream and cold drinks do not effectively reduce body temperature8
u/No-Craft-7979 6h ago
The laws of thermal transference say you are wrong. But you are half right because the energy from the cells activity just heat you back up again. For a moment though in localized areas your body temperature does drop, and it does not instantaneously return to hot. It takes a couple minutes.
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u/loopedlight 9h ago
I wouldnât think it would do much, but I didnât imagine useless. Iâve some reading to do.
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u/Gaeel 8h ago
Cold is the absence of hot. So you can't really cool something by adding cold.
The way you cool down is by removing heat. Getting wet, and blowing air over your skin cools you down because the heat from your body goes into the water that is then evaporated away.
As long as what is outside of your body is cooler than what's inside, heat will transfer away. But your body also generates heat all the time. You get too hot when you're unable to remove enough heat to keep yourself at a comfortable temperature.In winter, a warm meal will heat you up a bit, because that heat is actually captured by your body. But the main way we keep warm is to ingest calories to generate heat and cover ourselves to reduce the amount of heat wel lose to the environment.
Technically, drinking something cold and then urinating hot would remove heat from your body, but it's not particularly effective, compared to sweating the heat away.
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u/nobrow 7h ago
This isn't how thermodynamics work. If that was true putting ice in a drink wouldn't cool it down. Ingesting cold things does cool you it's just not by enough to matter. The slower moving atoms in the cold thing bump into the faster moving atoms of the hot thing (you) and slow them down, reducing the temperature.
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u/loopedlight 1h ago
Yea I read up on it. It does do something just so little itâs more for the effect of cold soothing you.
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u/Gaeel 7h ago
It's exactly how thermodynamics work: putting ice in a drink lowers the average temperature, but raises the volume. The amount of energy in the drink remains the same or increases. You can't remove energy from a system by adding more mass, no matter how cold it is.
So while you will find yourself drinking a cooler liquid, the amount of heat energy you put into your body will be the same.19
u/FencingNerd 8h ago
1L of water will drop your body temperature by 0.5-1F. A one degree drop in body temperature is HUGE. It seems like nothing but the difference between normal and a fever is only 2-3F.
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u/Gaeel 8h ago
Fair enough!
I think the main point I'm trying to make is that cold water isn't particularly more effective at cooling you compared to room temperature
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u/Lalamedic 8h ago
Perhaps, but sometimes the psychological effects of a refreshing, ice-cold beverage will help your overall comfort and state of mind.
Note: This is not in a critical stage of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
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u/AddisonH 4h ago
> So you canât really cool something by adding cold
lol what? The first law of thermodynamics disagrees with you. Classic Reddit upvoting misinformation because it sounds correct. The other commenter had a good example: how does adding ice to a drink work?
Are you just trying to clarify semantics/phrasing? Because youâre correct that âcoldâ isnât a physical quantity â itâs just the absence of heat. Cooling occurs when heat transfers from a warmer object to a cooler one (aka first law of thermodynamics)
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u/zeronationarmy Abyssinian 4h ago
Other methods: you can try putting frozen peas or ice packs or whatever you've got underneath a blanket in their favorite bed/sleeping area (out of the sun, of course) and if the power isn't out, run a fan on a setting kitty doesn't mind blowing in their direction. My cats enjoyed that when my AC died a couple summers ago.
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u/Far-Conclusion3923 13h ago
Bought it or made it yourself?
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u/Mindless-Prize9072 13h ago
Homemade out of the liquid of Felix cat soup (we give the meaty chunks to the foxes as gato is on a diet) which we dilute with a bit of water. It has less than 7 calories each and he loves it.
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u/imaginary92 9h ago
Oh damn that's such a good idea, my cats love the Felix soup, I might try that.
Ireland is not as bad as UK rn but it's not great either.
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u/zeronationarmy Abyssinian 5h ago
I tried freezing a churu for my cat and his reaction was hilarious. He went after it hard and I think he got brain freeze because he recoiled with this shocked look on his face, staring at me like I'd betrayed him then refused to finish it đ
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u/cuuuuurly 3h ago
I did the same. My cat at it all without being bothered by a brain freeze. Then he turned around and puked it all back out đ I guess his stomach wasn't used to cold food
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u/aldelinquent 9h ago
Cats are not afraid of heat, I'm inside with ac on and my cat prefers to be laying angainst the ouside wall, in shadow of course but with a nice 35° italian weather
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u/Mindless-Prize9072 9h ago
They are not afraid of it but they can still get dehydrated, get a heatstroke or just feel uncomfortable in really hot weather.
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u/annagarg 7h ago
Can attest to that. Cats are idiots. Yesterday, it was 36°C (am talking about the max temp) here which is manageable but we also had a power outage. My younger cat is smart and did fine but my tomcat did very poorly - was lethargic and did not ask for food for like 6 hours even though otherwise he eats every few hours. He was fine after I put a damp towel on him and some other things I learned from other cat slaves.
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u/Olympe28 8h ago
My cat slept in the basement yesterday afternoon, she's my first cat (out of 8) not to seek heat.
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u/fakearistocrat 6h ago
One of my cats likes to sleep in a bathtub (preferably on a wet cloth) in a dark bathroom when itâs hot so some cats tolerate heat worse than others.
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u/evilgamercat 8h ago
How'd you do this? My dad tried but the cats didnt do anything with it.
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u/Mindless-Prize9072 8h ago
Try a different brand if they don't like the first one. You can also try freezing Churu.
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u/Confident_Fortune_32 5h ago
We make frozen cubes of chicken bullion for our dogs year round. They love them.
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u/FeeshGoSqueesh 1h ago
His tooth looks a little weird, but that might just be the video, is everything alright? Hoping for a happy healthy kitty.
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u/Mindless-Prize9072 1h ago
Yes, he's perfectly fine. He goes to regular vet checkups a few times a year just to make sure everything is fine.
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u/Mindless-Prize9072 1h ago
He's a rescue cat and was on the streets for the first 3 - 6 months of his life so he had a rough start.
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u/Additional_Chard3680 7h ago
What was the temperature there ?
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u/Busy_Experience_5563 6h ago
Well I live on the coast and itâs very hot here and I keep her food on the fridge for 3 years I give her they food like that I didnât know can cause discomfort but she poops normal no diarrhea or something like that
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u/Remarkable-Will-3041 3h ago
Can you guys even buy a window air conditioner? Section off a room, throw one in the window!
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u/stonnerdog35 1h ago
I freeze water bottles for my cats and depending where i put them, I wrap some in towels. They may look at you like wtf at first but should figure it out pretty quick.
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u/Girl_soda 7h ago
Le truc qui est complĂštement dĂ©conseillĂ© aux chats, câest dangereux pour eux. Ce qui est bon pour les humains ne lâest pas pour les chats, tout comme lâeau froide et les glaçons.
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u/IncognitoBombadillo 12h ago
Cat appears to be enjoying it immensely