We had the hottest reading ever on Weds at our local weather station - 42.2, which is about 4 degrees less than the national hotspots. We have had a week of 40 plus and all you can do is loll about after doing essential things before about 10am, so I do feel sorry for your daughter Marigold. As far as the cats are concerned, we have 3 but they are all young. One spent most of the time inside (with us and a fan). The other 2, more feral, spent all day every day outside, in as much shade as they could find, just not moving. I expect your elderly cat will go wherever he/she feels most comfortable, and barely move or eat/drink, and fingers crossed he/she is OK. A friend sent me an indignant text earlier about the advice to wrap up a frozen water container in a towel for the cat to lie on, she asks whether the advice giver has ever owned a cat! On the plus side, for us, we have 2 cooler days now (early 30s), then a couple of high 30s, then mid 30s. We can all really feel the difference today, once you've lived through the worst of the heat, you feel you can do anything.