Just keep the cat out of the sun,  That being said, I've never noticed
my cats ever getting sunburned ears.  Or even a tan.  I can't imagine
any cat allowing sunscreen on its ears.  They would wash it off right
away.

The only animals I've been around that got sunburned were pigs.

There is supposedly a special type of sunscreen for pets or maybe baby
sunscreen. As cats can lick their nose and it has to be safe. I have an almost
white cat. She gets tan ears. Her nose is fortunately mainly black. They can
get badly burned on their noses and get cancer also. Some have had to have the
tips of the ears and part of the nose removed. You could keep her inside or
just let her out in a covered and enclosed patio to be safe.

Housecats don't get sunburn.

Best defence is to keep him out of sun. I've never heard results of
effectiveness of human sunscreen. I'd be worried about ingesting, but you
could contact a company that makes it and see if they know. Noses are also
prone to burn and cancer from the sun in white cats. Does kitty go out and
about much or just hang around the garden? If its a homebody, you could put
up a little marquis or something to shade the area.

circa Sun, 13 Jun 2004 09:48:43 +0100, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Dave Croft (me@privacy.net) said,

I've read that this is particularly effective, especially for pets'
noses:

http://www.dermatone.com/stick.htm (the one at the very bottom)

Laura

The best preventative against sunburn is to keep your cats
indoors. -- M9

There is an enormous difference between a cat with some white fur and a cat
that shows albino tendencies.  If your cat's skin is pink, then you should
definitely protect it from sunburn either by keeping the cat indoors or
using a sunblock lotion on (at least) its ears and nose.  Any sunburn lotion
approved by the FDA for use on children is likely to be safe for a pet,
too - even a cat that will eventually lick it off.

An SPF-30 lotion with UVA and UVB blockers should be sufficient even for
pink skin.  Sunblock lotions should be applied 10 to 20 minutes before going
out in the sun and should be reapplied periodically (every 1 to 2 hours).
Your cat (and you) should not be out in the sun during the most intense
exposure hours of the day (the hours midway between sunrise and sunset, when
the sun is highest and the least amount of atmosphere is filtering the
sunlight).  If you're willing to go through that so your cat can go outside,
then best of luck.

An SPF-15 rating simply means that a person's exposure to ultraviolet A
(UVA) after 15 hours in the sun wearing the sunblock would be the same as 1
hour in the sun for a person wearing no sunblock.  An SPF-30 rating would be
30 hours, and so on.

I hope you receive many helpful suggestions. Tuffy died 15 years ago
from skin cancer. He was all white and loved to lay in the sun. The
vulnerable areas are the tips of the ears and above the eyes where
their fur is thinnest.  And that is where his cancer appeared. He
lived close to 5 years after the diagonosis and first surgery. but,
alas, it did him in. I wish I had known about it then so I could have
done something about it.

They can get worse than sunburn.  They are also prone to skin cancer, esp
around the face and ears.  Consult your vet about preventive care, but the
best is keep them inside.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats