This report in the Guardian reminded me of something I became very aware of during the 2019 heatwave:
Last year, during a shorter but intense heatwave, our cat overheated so much she had to put out her tongue and panted, sort of like a puppy, just to cool down. After she threw up for the first time ever, when the heatwave started, we decided staying in our apartment was not sustainable.
My long hair cat began to really struggle with heat waves in Cambridge. Until 2018/2019 she had never been in weather above 30 degrees. There were then a number of days of 35+ degree days where she was visibly struggling. As an experiment I splashed ice water on here and due to her evident enjoyment of this ended up gently pouring cold water over her. I hadn’t realised until that point that long hair pets can’t self-regulate their temperature past a certain point and are genuinely at risk. I suspect I’m not alone in the UK population at not really having thought about how low that point is until relatively recently.
What will happen culturally and politically if we see a significant increase in pets dying during heatwaves? Will they just be seen alongside excess human deaths as individual tragedies or might this tip into a wider awareness of the deadly impact of the climate crisis? I suspect animal suffering within the home will cut through with some people in a new way, though I may be wrong.
Mark Carrigan 