Sprawling on Cold Floors

A cat that normally seeks out the warmest lap or radiator will, when the temperature climbs, do the opposite: seek out the coldest flat surface in the house and lie fully stretched out on it, often on its side or belly with the legs pushed away from the body. Tiles, enamel baths, stone, laminate and even the inside of a sink draw heat away from the cat by conduction, and spreading out maximises the area of body in contact with that cool surface.

Cats are surprisingly poorly equipped to lose heat. They cannot sweat effectively except through their paw pads, and while they will pant a little when very hot, they rely heavily on behaviour to regulate temperature — moving to shade, grooming to spread cooling saliva over the fur, slowing down, and lying on cool ground. The stretched-out, limbs-akimbo pose is the visual opposite of the tightly curled "cat loaf" they adopt to conserve warmth, and reading which one your cat chooses is a good rough guide to whether it feels too warm or too cool.

On an ordinary warm day this is entirely normal and rather sensible, and the kindest response is to make it easy: provide shade, plenty of fresh water, perhaps a tiled room left accessible, and never a hot parked car or conservatory. What matters is telling comfortable cooling apart from genuine overheating. A cat that is merely warm looks relaxed and sprawled; a cat in trouble pants heavily or open-mouths, drools, becomes restless or wobbly, and may have very red gums — heatstroke is an emergency. Older cats, flat-faced breeds and overweight cats cope least well with heat and deserve extra care in hot spells.