Cats do pant, but they’re also just better adapted to heat than dogs are.
Smaller frame means less body heat to disperse; As size increases, the volume:surface area ratio heavily skews towards volume. More volume means more trapped heat. By minimizing volume and maximizing surface area (skin) cats are able to effectively stay cool passively.
Cats also have a higher basal metabolism, which means their body temperature is naturally higher. And creatures don’t feel heat in an absolute sense. Temperature is felt relative to your own body temperature. That’s why a warm shower after swimming feels downright scalding, (because you’re cooled down from swimming, then hopped into a warm shower,) or why the regular room temperature bedroom feels chilly when you have a fever (because you’re warmed up from the fever, so the room feels colder than it normally would.) You’re feeling those things relative to your own body temperature. Since cats have a higher base body temperature, they feel warm environments less than we do. This is also why they spend so much time lazing around in patches of sunlight, or snuggled up next to the radiator; Room temperature is comfortable for us, but slightly chilly to them.
Third, they are originally adapted from the desert. This means they also have some quirks, like tolerating high temperatures better, and having a high tolerance for thirst, (the latter often leads to kidney issues later in life, since cats don’t tend to drink enough water even when it’s readily available.)
Through their paws for one, and when they lick their coats, the saliva acts like sweat and cools them down as it evaporates. And if it’s really bad, they pant.
Growing up, my family had an old cat. In the years before he died, I remember him panting more and more. I guess he got too tired to clean himself?
Cats can pant, I have seen it happen in times of extreme stress, and is often a bad sign. Like dogs, cats may pant if they are anxious or overheated. Strenuous exercise may be another reason, especially after a huge fight. Once your cat has had a chance to rest, calm down and cool down, this sort of painting should subside. However, even this type of panting is much more rarely seen in cats than in dogs. So, if you’re not 100% positive about why your cat is panting, it’s best to bring her to the vet.
A side note, however, I misread this as “since cat’s don’t like pants like dogs,” and wanted to point out that dogs also do not like to wear pants, before my anti-dyslexia medicine kicked in.
Okay but which way would the dog (or cat) wear pants if they did?
The correct answer to this question is pants never cover nipples unless it’s an overall. B is the only real answer
But pants also always cover all the legs.
Easy.
The dog on the right is wearing pants. Two covered legs = Pa(ir) + nts = ‘Pants’.
The dog on the left is wearing quants. Four covered legs = Qua(d) + nts = ‘Quants”.
Two different clothing items.
Asking the important questions right here.
Do you wear pants over your chest?
Nah of course not, pants don’t go over the chest. Quants on the other hand…
I don’t walk on all fours usually.
Is the purpose of pants to point at the ground, or cover one’s nethers?
Do you want pants that hang down past your asshole?
It’s more of a need than a want
Thanks for the laugh.
I needed that.
Eat more fiber
I too have seen cats pant on hot days.
If I remember right though, they’re originally descended from desert animals, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a higher tolerance for temperature extremes than dogs do.
They release heat however they want and whenever they bloody-well feel like it.
Basically, they breathe with their mouths open, which becomes panting when necessary…
A common cooling mechanism, cats will breathe with their mouth open and tongue out, accompanied by heavy breathing noises, when they’re too hot. As the heatstroke worsens, the panting will increase. Panting is a perfectly normal response to overheating and should begin to subside as your cat cools down.
I didn’t mean specifically when they are in a crisis state of overheating. Dogs have their tongue out whenever they’re doing anything, which I assume keeps them from overheating in th efirst place. Cat’s don’t.
House cats descend from African wild cats. Desert creatures well acclimated to high heat environments. In cooler climates the cat’s main priority is staying warm enough rather than cooling down. Which is why my cat is presently curled up with her nose in her tail trying to stay warm with my air conditioner maintaining the house at 75 degrees.
Dogs are descended from wolves. Arctic creatures well acclimated to cold environments. So they spend most of their lives with their mouths wide open and their tongues hanging out.
You just see more dogs running around excited than you do cats…
A cat is a solitary predator that uses stealth than pounces.
Dogs are pack predators, they get food by running around making a shit ton of noise and hoping something runs so the pack can chase it down.
That translates to modern pets day to day activity.
If you ever saw a cat run around like a dog, it would pant. If you saw a dog that acts like a cat. You’d never see it pant.
I see dogs just laying in their dog bed in the shade panting. I see cats playing in the sun on a hot day not panting.
If a dog is lying in the shade panting, and it wasn’t just doing zoomies, that might honestly be a cause for concern.
Cats play by ambushing something over and over and rolling around with it…
Dogs play by running sprints as long as someone keep throwing a ball…
I’m not sure what your confusion still is
Actually not all dogs just have their tongue out all the time. Mostly they pant when they get hot.
Cats also have a higher body temperature
Cats DO pant like dogs when they get overheated.
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blep
You’re not wrong. I dread to think how many cat panting videos I’m about to consume.
They are cold blooded, so cold blooded…
Cats do pant, but also run hotter and enjoy higher temperatures than humans (24-26 °C depending on race).
Also, cats have lots of ways to release heat, cats can arrange their fur to release more heat (or burr it to trap more), they lay on cool ground, they can lick themselves for evaporative cooling, and of course seek shade when it gets hot.
We had a hot summer with temperatures of over 30 °C indoors and I got worried my European shorthair would overheat, got them a gel pad that wicks away heat when laid upon, but they thought it was ridiculous and just laid on the concrete floor in the shade whenever too hot and was super comfy and lazy.
They inject excess heat into others via claws and teeth
