Sunblock for cats

intheclouds

Does anyone use it?

One of ours has a very delicate pink nose and I was thinking it might be prudent to sunblock it in fine weather?

SillyMangoX

Yep I do Creams ears every summer. He hates it! I use the la Roche posay factor 50 unscented one with no problems (except for the fact he hates it, but he hates scented ones more) it's not cheap but a bottle lasts a few years!

intheclouds

Her ears are black (I'd DEFINITELY do white ears!), it's more just cos it's her nose I'm worried putting it there might be bad for her (near a mucous membrane etc...).

DBB

Am I right in thinking that the sun block mentioned by SillyMango is one of the only ones safe to use on animals? Something to do with zinc or something?

SillyMangoX

DBB wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that the sun block mentioned by SillyMango is one of the only ones safe to use on animals? Something to do with zinc or something?

I've been told by vets that any kids one is safe for cats, I'm not sure if it was something to do with zinc, I just remember coming across the one I mentioned when researching because it's the smell he found offensive! We splashed out this year and got a liquid one instead of a cream based one. SO much easier!
You can however get pet specific ones, they're in maxi zoo in limerick anyway

looksee

Would they not lick it off in a few minutes?

Posy

I used to put children's Factor 50 on my cat's white ears. He would go crazy vigorously washing his ears, then rolling around in the dirt trying to get it off.
I ended up frequently not letting him out on sunny days between 12 and 3 because he was making his ears sore just trying to get to the suncream. :rolleyes:

I never put cream on his nose though and he was fine. As looksee said, I'd imagine cats would just lick it straight off.
Compared to the crispy red sore ears, I had enough going on! :pac:

Dandelion6

One of my cats has white ears and the vet told me just to put baby sunblock on them on sunny days. He won't let me though and I've tried everything!

intheclouds

looksee wrote: »

Would they not lick it off in a few minutes?

It's our less fastidious lady, she might leave it a while, she isn't a great groomer.

It'd be licked off in seconds by our other lady but she has black nose n toes.

kathleen37

One of our white eared cats had both his ears removed due to tumours we were told were caused by the sun. We live in Donegal so sun isn't usually an issue here, but we now use factor 50 on our white eared cats.

intheclouds

kathleen37 wrote: »

One of our white eared cats had both his ears removed due to tumours we were told were caused by the sun. We live in Donegal so sun isn't usually an issue here, but we now use factor 50 on our white eared cats.

What brand do you use and do they lick it off?

kathleen37

Sorry I should have said- I use ambre solaire one for sensitive skin -spf50 - use them for myself too as it uses meroxly which is a photo stable sun filter, but only available in (some) products from umbrella firm, L'Oreal. (Garnier is Umbrella to L'oreal)

It's quite thin and easily absorbed so no licking off.

To be fair, they don't love having it on, but it is way, way better than the horror of those tumours...

Good luck!

http://www.garnier.co.uk/sun-protection/beauty/ambre-solaire/classic/protection-lotion-spf50-travel-size

intheclouds

Thanks kathleen, thats great info.

Was out the back with pink nose yesterday and she really doesnt like being in the sun at all, goes into the shade all the time and back inside even - so it may not be an issue if she is staying out of the sun like this all the time.

tk123

It might be too scenty but I was in Dunnes earlier and they had little 50ml travel size bottles of Nivea kids factor 50 reduced to €3.15!

Irish Stones

SillyMangoX wrote: »

it's not cheap but a bottle lasts a few years!

The doctor at the pharmacy told me that solar creams do not last years, they do last one year at most, even less, because the chemical filters deteriorate pretty fast.
I buy a new bottle every year.

Irish Stones

I use this one
http://www.mustela.com/en/content/Very-High-Protection-Sun-Lotion
it doesn't come off easily even if licked.
I put it on the cat's ears and nose every time she goes out, from April to September.
I chose this, following the doctor's advice, because it has a high factor, it's for babies, it's nearly unscented and doesn't come off easily.
So far it's fine, though the cat hates it and knows exactly when I'm going to put it on her

tk123

Irish Stones wrote: »

The doctor at the pharmacy told me that solar creams do not last years, they do last one year at most, even less, because the chemical filters deteriorate pretty fast.
I buy a new bottle every year.

They last 3 years.

kathleen37

I know in all the research on SPF (for myself) I've done; generally shelf life after manufacture date is 3 years - however, you then need to factor in the "once opened" life which I've only ever seen as 12 months

There are a few different website if you google, but you can check for manufacture date here.

http://checkcosmetic.net/

The "period after opening" should be displayed on the back of the product.

Irish Stones

tk123 wrote: »

They last 3 years.

kathleen37 wrote: »

you then need to factor in the "once opened" life which I've only ever seen as 12 months

As Kathleen says, nearly all products have a shelf life and an "after opening" life which is shorter and shortens the shelf life.
So there will be a "best before" date and a "use within X days after opening" life. Eyedrops are a good example of this difference.
In the case of sun creams they told me one year (or less) after opening.