Hot Dogs
With the hot weather arriving, we need to take extra precautions to protect our dogs from overheating.
The two most common causes of overheating we see are dogs being left in cars, and dogs exercising during the heat of the day.
Unfortunately we see several dogs each year that are left in cars on hot days. This is extremely dangerous. Just like children, you should never leave your dog unattended in a car. I have seen dogs suffer from heat stroke when left in a car on a day that was only around 20 degrees. The inside of a car can heat up to over 40 degrees on a 20 degree day and over 60 degrees on a hot day. These temperatures can be reached in as little as 10 minutes, so what might seem like a quick trip into a shop can be fatal for your dog.
Dogs exercising in the heat of the day can also be dangerous. A dog’s cooling process is not as efficient as ours, and dogs are also much more likely to overdo things when they get very excited, like when chasing a tennis ball. Dogs can also burn their paws on hot bitumen or sand, so remember to check how hot the ground is when you take your dog anywhere.
For a dog to cool itself, it pants. The panting process itself uses a lot of muscles, which in turn creates more heat within the dog. Once a dog is overheating, the panting it is doing to try to cool down can sometimes make things worse. For this reason it is important to recognise overheating early to prevent a potentially fatal situation.
Dogs with short noses such as bull dogs and pugs, and overweight dogs are especially prone to overheating, so they should never be exercised on hot days, and should be kept inside or in a cool place during the heat of the day.
If your dog is overheating, these are the steps you should take:
- Bathe the dog in cool (not cold) water, ensuring you wet right down to the skin
- Place the dog in front of a fan or air conditioner
- Place cold packs in the dogs groin, armpits and on the base of the neck (wrap them in a tea towel first so the cold doesn’t damage the skin)
- Call the vet for advice