Hot season hassles
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It's vital to keep your pets cool and well-hydrated when the temperatures soar
My neighbour down the soi is usually a friendly man who loves talking to my poodle-pup Wan-Wan on our daily walks.
Today, though, it’s different. He’s angry, but not at the dog. “How can you make her walk on the soi?” he asks. “The weather’s hot. The road is hot. Her poor feet are hurting!”
I look at Wan, who’s smil?ing happily at her friend. She does?n’t show any pain anywhere. Besides, I’ve waited for sundown to walk her, when the shadows have already started to cool the road down.
The man’s right, though. The hot season is certainly here, bringing with it all sorts of worries for our pets. Even the turtles are reacting.
Every year when the hot season comes, Bugsy, my long-necked turtle, loses his appetite. He stops eating his chopped shrimp, nibbles at the chopped beef he nor?mally loves and doesn’t even finish all the red worms I give him.
He comes from colder areas of Australia, after all, and isn’t so happy about being so hot all the time.
In the cold season, the other turtles don’t eat very much, but now, they finish all their food, then look for more.
All the turtles, though, do need protection from direct sunlight during the hottest times of the day. Even the water turtles in my herd can get dehydrated in this heat.
The steps you take to pro?tect yourself from the heat are the same ones you should ensure for your animals. Do make sure that shade is available to any of your pets who stay outdoors during the day and that everyone has access to fresh drink?ing water.
Animals with flat faces, like pugs and Persian cats, have great dif?ficulty in the heat since they cannot breathe effectively. Also in this cat?egory are animals who are elderly, overweight, or unwell with heart or lung diseases.
Some people keep their pets in cages during the times they’re at work. If the cages are outside, the animals must be protected from the sun at all times. Yes, your pets can suffer from sunburn, just like you can.
Please don’t use human sunscreen on your pets, though. The chemicals in the sunscreen can cause health problems, if not death.
By the way, whether these cages are outside the house or inside, they must be large enough so that the dog can stand up, turn around and stretch out. There should be enough room for a water bowl and a place for the dog to do his business easily.
A number of people think that buying a big block of ice and putting it slightly below a fan is a good way for humans and animals to enjoy the benefits of cool air without using airconditioning.
To me, that’s a very bad idea. The cooled air is wonderful, of course, but because the air is cooled with ice, it’s very wet. You and your animals are breathing very, very moist air, which can cause your lungs a great number of problems, such as lung infections.
It’s much safer to use a fan without that block of ice.
If you take your dog to a swimming pool, do supervise him the way you would a small child. Not all dogs are good swimmers. Also, don’t forget to rinse your dog off after swimming to remove any chlorine or salt from his body.
As for that hot soi, I feel the ground myself, and it’s already begun to cool off. I do have some small dog?gie shoes that I bought for Varee, my three-legged cat. She hates the shoes, but perhaps I can encourage Wan to wear them.
If Wan accepts them, per?haps my neighbour will relax a bit.
