Do Cats Sweat?

Yes — cats do sweat, but only a little, and not the way we do. The main exit points are the paw pads, which can leave faint damp footprints on a hot summer day, and the tip of the nose, which often feels moist for the same reason. Because this system is so limited, it cannot flush out much salt. That matters: salt a cat eats but cannot sweat out is handled by the kidneys, adding strain that can spill into urinary-tract trouble. So the old advice to keep cat food low in salt is really about those under-developed sweat glands.