Keeping Your Pet Cool In The Summer Heat

The warm summer months are a great time to get out and about and enjoy time outside with your pet. However, when the temperature rises, it’s important to make sure that your cat or dog stays cool and comfortable in the heat.

In their seasonal advice, the RSPCA layout a few top tips for keeping your pet’s cool in the hot weather.

Tips for keeping your pet cool

When the weather is warm, it is important to make sure that your pet always has access to plenty of shade and drinking water. Whilst playing in the sunshine can be fun, your pet could easily overheat, so having the opportunity to cool down on a regular basis is vital.

If it is particularly hot, you could also put down a damp towel for your pet to lay down on, or even use an ice pack wrapped in a towel. Adding ice cubes to your dog or cat’s water bowl can also be a great way to help the, keep cool.

Heat can be lethal

Whilst most pet owners will already be aware of the ‘dogs die in hot cars’ slogan, it is still worth mentioning as one of the most important things to keep in mind during the sunny months.

Be sure to never leave animals in hot cars, caravans, or conservatories. Even if it’s only for a short while, the temperature can quickly rise to a level which could be fatal to your pet.

Dog walking in hot weather

The best time to walk your dog during the summer is either first thing in the morning or later in the evening when the weather is cooler.

If you will be walking on the pavement, it is also important to check that the paving is not too hot for your dog’s pads. You can check the temperature by placing the back of your hand on the pavement. If it feels too hot for you to keep your hand in place, then it is too hot for your dog. Your dog will always show willing that it wants to walk however you need to think about whether its actually the safe thing to do. It is not the end of the world if they miss the odd walk however taking the gamble and running the risk of getting heatstroke could prove fatal.

Many country fetes/shows are held at this time of year and it always seems a lovely option to take the whole family, even our four-legged friends. However if the mercury is rising to keep them at home, we might enjoy meandering around the stalls but our dogs will not. This is especially so for the brachycephalic short nose breeds, their airways are already compromised from their anatomy and so adding heat into the equation make them a high risk of getting heatstroke.

Small Furries

If you have small pets that are living outside please ensure that you have monitored the direction of the sun and adjust the position of their hutch/runs accordingly. Sadly many hutches may sit in direct sunlight and there is no way for them to get away and so it could be fatal.

Freezing some of our plastic water bottles and placing them in their hutch/runs can give them a cooling source, as can a large floor tile. With the heat comes the flies so ensure you are checking them at least twice a day, fly strike can affect them so quickly and can be fatal if not spotted early.