Beat the Heat

This post isn't going to focus on heat stroke prevention because I'm pretty sure if you've come to my blog, you probably love your pets as much as I do and would never put your pet's life in danger.  But let's be real, your pets have no business being in the car on a hot summer day while you run inside a store for a quick errand.  Additionally, we all know if your pets are kept outside, they need a significant amount of shade, TONS of water and a surface to lay on that will be out of direct sunlight.  

Even if your pets lay around in the air conditioning all day long with short potty trips outside, the heat can still be pretty rough on them and I know it zaps our dogs of energy.  So here's a list of things to help your dogs and cats beat the heat..

*Offer your pet's frozen treats.  A simple way to do this is to use canned food and make ice cubes out of it, then give it to them frozen.  I love doing this for cats since they will generally take their time, licking it while a dog would probably chew it twice and swallow.

*Frozen toys are a great option for mouthy dogs.  The Chilly Bone comes in different sizes.

*Use a fan on the floor so it will blow directly across the floor/room. Some dogs love to sit in front of fans.  I have heard you can also freeze a gallon of water in the freezer, place it in front of a fan and it will help cool that immediate area.

*You can make a big frozen treat for your cats and dogs like the Doggie Cone.  If you want to make something like this extra tasty and want to use chicken stock, please take the time to make your own stock.  It's so easy and you will be saving your pet from a huge amount of sodium and other chemicals.  If you do want to make your own stock, you can boil extra chicken (or beef parts) like bones or the parts of the chicken carcass you wouldn't use like the back bones.  You can make a significant amount, freeze it into ice cubes and later melt and reform as you'd like.  I've done this before and loved how easy it was.

*You may have freezable toys already in your home like Kong's or other stuffable toys.  One of my favorite things to do is to fill up a Kong with some healthy goodies, freeze it, then give it to the dogs frozen.  Get some of the really small kong's for cats and try it for your felines too!  Frozen Kong's help cool your pet as well as keep them busier for longer.

*Try a cooling mat from K&H.  They come in different sizes and if your dog or cat are not sure about laying on it, you can slip it under the cover of their favorite bed or put a sheet or thin blanket over it.

*Utilize a cheap baby pool to help outdoor dogs. Dogs and cats only sweat through their foot pads and through their nose (sometimes it will look like your dog has a runny nose, it's often them sweating).  Keeping their feet cool is an easy way to help them remove heat from their bodies.  In fact, when a pet comes into an animal hospital with heat stroke and their temperature is still elevated, the first thing the medical team does is saturate their feet with rubbing alcohol.  The alcohol draws heat out from their sweat glands.

*If your dog won't dip their feet in a baby pool, if they can walk in a puddle or wet concrete/ground, it will still help cool their feet down.  I often will spray down walk ways or back patios for some of the dogs I take care of, so that they can cool their feet while walking through it.

*Pretty please don't walk your dogs during the middle of the day but save their walk for after the sun goes down or at sunrise.  One thing to know is that black asphalt holds heat much more than the pale concrete so limit walks to concrete or even better, the dirt.

Please note that 14 states have statutes that prohibit leaving an animal confined in a vehicle.  In most cases, to legally break into a person's car to relieve a pet it must be an officer.  Many people are under the assumption that anyone can break a window with no legal recourse, but just so you know it's best to keep the phone numbers of the police station and animal control in your phone.

Share some fliers with your local vet's office, dog park, groomer etc for others to hand out to help prevent heat stroke due to stupid decisions. Dare I say, put some on a few windshields??

I hope some of these ideas help a few pets out there, please share with your pet loving friends!