With the arrival of the dog days of summer, everyone’s health bar has been exhausted, let alone furry cat owners.
So many cat owners have the whimsical idea of taking their cats to splash around in the water to cool down.
Mengzhaojun came across a netizen who claimed to teach cats to swim, but actually scared the cats into stress.
When I saw a cat being scared to urinate in the swimming pool, but the people in the video were still laughing and laughing and didn't care, Mr. Mengzhao was really going to faint from anger.
Regarding the question of whether cats can swim, Mengzhao can definitely tell you: yes.
However, there is a qualitative difference between whether it can swim and whether it wants to swim!
It is undeniable that some cats like swimming, but this love has a prerequisite.
For example, their living area must be a place with abundant water resources, which also leads to swimming being a survival skill for them, so that they can better adapt to the living environment.
Or, when they are still young kittens, they are exposed to water in a very scientific and gentle way during their golden socialization training period. This can also greatly contribute to the cat's character of liking to play in water or not being averse to swimming.
Of course, there is also the little guy whose love of swimming is engraved in his DNA.
For example, the Turkish Van Cat, which is famous for its love of swimming, has perfect natural skill points and can even swim in the lake to hunt fish. For them, swimming is almost a daily activity.
In addition to understanding these prerequisite factors, everyone can also understand why cats don’t like swimming.
In addition to being rarely exposed to water and not liking water by nature, which leads to a negative impression every time they enter the water and a vicious cycle, there is another reason:
Entering water will cause cats to lose pheromones related to marking, tracking, mating, friendliness, etc., which will make sensitive cats lose their sense of security.
So we often see cats licking themselves after taking a bath. In addition to making their hair dry faster, they are also re-marking themselves.
Furthermore, after a cat enters the water, not only will its fur get wet, but its body will feel uncomfortable, and it will also enter a state of hypothermia.
In order to reduce consumption at this time, the blood supply to the brain is reduced and the reaction speed is reduced;
At the same time, the nerves will cause the bones and muscles to quickly heat up through trembling, which will put the cat in a relatively weak state in a short period of time.
For a vigilant cat, in order to keep itself in good condition at all times, it is better to avoid getting wet.
Because they don’t often enter the water, these cats suddenly find that they have lost control of their bodies in the water. This unexpected thing makes them instantly anxious and nervous, and it is not surprising that they have a stress reaction in panic.
So, is it necessary to train a cat to swim?
In fact, swimming is not without its merits.
It can not only alleviate joint diseases and hind limb weakness in cats under the influence of reducing joint weight, but is also very helpful for obese cats to lose weight.
Of course, the premise of everything is to proceed step by step under the guidance of doctors/professionals!