Should A Cat's Ears Be Warm Or Cold?

One of the tools to use to be informed if your cat has abnormally low core body temperature is a rectal thermometer. It can identify if your pet is either too cold or just plain healthy.

But don't panic if your cat's ears feel cold to your touch. It is not yet a final sign that there is something physiologically wrong with it. But be on the alert, because ears that are cold could mean something is ailing your pet like hypothermia.

In a cat, hypothermia will happen when its body dissipates heat faster than it can create. This scenario makes the cat's body temperature drop drastically to lower than 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

But don't blame cold ears all the time for hypothermia and cold weather. There could also be underlying morbidities in the cat-like hypoglycemia and hypothyroidism which could be the cause of the onset of hypothermia in your cat.

But it could be scary because hypothermia can kill your dear pet if it is ignored and your cat will go into shock.

Another reason for your cat's cold ears would be frostbite. Be observant about this because this could lead to inflammation, lots of pain, and the onset of necrotic tissue in the focus area.

Frostbite will make the cat's blood vessels constrict as its body's natural reaction so it can conserve heat for the rest of its body parts.

You will be thinking that it is frostbite that is happening when your cat, aside from cold ears, will have cold skin, swelling, and discoloration. The feline will also feel pain when touched, and dead skin tissue will emerge on its skin.

What you can do, as an emergency precaution before the vet arrives, is to raise your cat's core body temperature through warm water bottles and warm blankets.