HEAT AND YOUR PET
By Dr. Dorothy McLean, HEALS team member
This Summer a large part of the United States is being grilled with one heat wave after another. While this is severe weather for people to deal with, it’s probably worse for your pets who have fur and a limited ability to sweat.
Whether dog or cat, tongues and paw pads really don’t provide a lot of surface area through which to cool down by perspiration. The reality is that intense heat is not only uncomfortable for furry family members but it can quickly become dangerous and even life-threatening. Recognizing when pets are being overcome by heat is critical and knowing what to do can save their lives.
We rely upon electric power to run our air conditioners, fans and refrigerators in order to keep the spaces we live in relatively cool and our food from spoiling. It can be life threatening when power is lost through over usage or summer storms. People with the ability to install a generator
have more of a margin of safety during these electrical failures. Days with high humidity levels only make the threat of over-heating worse for people and animals since they further adversely affect the ability of an animal to try to cool down. Knowing what to do and doing it quickly may be an owners best bet to save a pet.
This blog will explore the symptoms of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, what you can do quickly to combat these things, in addition to various products to help keep pets cooler and safer while summer is here.
Don't Leave Your Pet in a Parked Car
There are some basic precautions to take in the Summer with your pets. The first is never leave them in a car in the heat. It doesn’t matter if the windows are opened or the air conditioner is on or if the car is parked in the shade.
On the average 85 degree (Fahrenheit) day the temperature inside the car with the windows open can reach 102 degrees within 10 minutes. Within a half hour the temperature can soar to 120 degrees and above. This can cause irreversible organ damage to the animal–if it even survives. It’s against the law in many states and people are empowered to break the car windows to extract the suffering animal.
Exercise and the Heat
- Limit exercise on hot days–to early morning or later in the evening when the temperature is lowest.
- Time dog walks, also using early morning or late evening and staying in the shadiest areas to walk in.
- Keep animals inside in air conditioning as much as possible or at least in front of a fan if there”s no air conditioning.
- A fan is nowhere near as good as an air conditioner.
- The ambient air temperature in the residence should not be higher than 80 degrees. When animals are outside, never leave them unsupervised for more than a few minutes, even if they’re in the shade and have a lot of available fresh water.
- When going out with the dog, bring a thermos of cold drinking water.
- The Centers for Disease Control recommends not walking them outside when it is 90 degrees or more, keeping in mind that dogs with pre existing health issues could be at risk when the temperature goes above 80 to avoid the risk of heat stroke.
It should be noted other small warm-blooded animals can also be infected, such as ferrets, foxes, and coyotes. The American Heartworm Society website, heartwormsociety.org, is a good resource.
Precautions for Animals in the Heat
When it gets hot, people sometimes think shaving their pets will help. No! Don’t shave your pet! There is an undercoat layer of hair that helps regulate body temperature during exposure toheat. Cutting the hair or shaving can impede their ability to cool down when needed.
Things you can do for your animals include:
- Spraying them with cool water and try to check their temperature.
- You don’t want the temperature to be over 103.
- Seek veterinary treatment is the temperature is too high!
- Rub a very small amount of isopropyl alcohol on the foot pads (as long as not burned).
- Remember asphalt can burn paws as it can increase to 104 to 140 degrees in the sun.
- Stay on a grassy surface, which is cooler.
The Seven Second Rule is a good rule of thumb: press your hand to the asphalt for about 7 seconds; if it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for them. Try to avoid walking on asphalt when the temperature goes to 86 or above.
If you have to take the dog across paving:
- For a small dogs, carry it to the grass
- For a larger animal, you may need to use protective booties on their feet. Booties may not be popular with the animal, but it sure beats hurting their feet.
Paw Pad Burn Symptoms
If you think your animal has burned its feet, there are things you can look out for:
- blisters
- missing skin
- redness
- limping
- refusing to walk
- discolored pads
- excessive licking of pads
Treating burns includes soaking the paws in clean, cool water, disinfecting with water with a little antibacterial soap, bandaging the paws to prevent licking and infection, and going to your veterinarian to assess the seriousness of the burns.
Dehydration Symptoms Include
These symptoms include:
- difficulty breathing
- muscle tremors
- excessive panting
- lethargy
- vomiting or diarrhea
- dry nose
- sunken eyes (severe cases)
- collapse or shock (severe cases)
Note that animals with shorter nose bridges have the worst issues with breathing in heat. (Examples: Boston Terriers, Pugs, Boxers, Shih Tzus, French and English Bulldogs, Persian cats and Himalayan cats). Because they can’t pant as effectively it’s recommended you don’t let them out.
When Worse Comes to Worst--Heat Stroke
The most susceptible animals to heat stroke are very old, very young, or animals with heart or respiratory diseases.
Symptoms of heat stroke include
- drooling
- excessive panting
- increased heart rate
- vomiting
- weakness
- seizures
- staggering
- confused (ex: don’t know their name)
Get immediate emergency veterinary assistance! While getting there, apply ice packs or cold towels to the head, neck and chest or run cool water (NOT COLD) over them and get them into the air conditioned car as soon as possible.
The principle behind treating heat stroke is to decrease the dog’s temperature to 103 degrees within 10 to 15 minutes at which point it has to be stopped to keep it from continuing to drop. It’s very serious to go to the vet–it can take hours to days to see the results of this emergency and can include heart arrhythmias, kidney failure, neurological issues and even respiratory arrest.
Stuff You Can Buy to Help
While we don’t endorse any particular seller, there are a lot of options online of things that you can buy to help your pets out in the heat.
A small sampling includes:
- pet cooling mats
- pet cooling beds
- insulated water bowls to keep their water colder longer
- specialized dog water bottles they can drink directly from
- cooling vests which can be soaked in cool water and are dry outside but can stay cool up to 30 days
- pet cooling bandanas to go around their necks
- pet booties for their feet
Check our links below! Most things run between 20 and 50 dollars. Comparison shopping is advised!
We hope this helped educate you to the dangers of heat on your pets and make it a safer environment for them while summer keeps coming at us!
There are many organizations which have websites to refer to for safety suggestions for your pets in the heat (links below). The Centers for Disease Control (cdc.gov), the Humane Society (humane society.org) and the Red Cross (Red Cross.org) are all very good websites to review how to take care of pets under these challenging conditions.
Compassionate Recipe--Marry Me Beans
The recipe is written in a vegetarian way but if you prefer you can always add cooked chicken or shrimp to the dish:)
This serves 3 and takes about 10 minutes cooking time-
Ingredients:
-1 Tbsp oil from jar of oil packed sundried tomatoes
– 4 minced cloves of garlic
-1/4Cup chopped sundried tomatoes (drain extra oil away)
-¼ tsp red pepper flakes
-2 cans of drained and rinsed cannellini beans
-½ cup of vegetable or chicken broth
-½ tsp dried oregano
-¼ tsp kosher salt
-2Tbsp heavy cream
-⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Garnish: parsley or basil
Recommended serve with toasted fresh bread
To Cook:
-medium pot over medium heat with the oil, garlic and red pepper in it for 30 seconds to 1 minute until aromatic
-add sundried tomatoes and stir then the beans, broth, oregano and salt and stir
-bring to a simmer
-with the back of the spoon, roughly mash about a quarter of the beans
-once this is bubbling, reduce the heat to low and add the cream, about two-thirds of the Parmesan and the lemon juice
-you can now garnish with the rest of the cheese, the herbs and a little sundried tomato oil drizzled over the top.
Good Buys:
Ice Dog Vest: https://www.chewy.com/gf-pet-elastofit-ice-dog-vest/dp/277943
Green Pet Cooling Pad: https://www.chewy.com/green-pet-shop-cool-pad-dog-cat-bed/dp/855470
Coldest Dog Bowl: https://www.amazon.com/Coldest-Dog-Bowl-Stainless-Feeding/dp/B0B7KKZYZ7
Pet Cooling Pandana: https://www.amazon.com/RC-Pet-Products-Cooling-Bandana/dp/B07NVD57SR
Pet Watering Fountain: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pet-Fountain-Cat-Water-Fountain-Automatic-Dispenser-Cats-Dogs-Circulating-Filtration-System-Easy-to-See-Level-Low-Noise-80oz-2-4L-Capacity/721069110
