With the signs of summer heat well on the way, now is a good time to start thinking about some important health implications that frequently affect our furry friends
- Limit Exercise on hot days
Adjusting your routine to suit the cooler mornings and evenings or simply reducing the duration of exercise on a hot day can help prevent any adverse effects such as dehydration or heat stroke. During these periods of exercise it is important to have access to shade and water.
- Heatstroke
Heatstroke results from exposure to excessive temperatures. Typical signs that we see with heatstroke include weakness, drowsiness, dribbling, heavy panting and vomiting. Those animals that are predisposed to heatstroke include the very old, the very young, the overweight or the breeds with a short muzzle (Boxers, French Bulldogs, Pugs and others).
Heatstroke can go on to cause multi-organ damage including the brain, airways, muscles and liver, To prevent this from occurring, it is important to provide ample shade to protect them from the heat and sun, and plenty of fresh water.
What to do if you suspect heatstroke
Call our emergency service to indicate you are on your way. Have your air conditioning on cool and have your windows down. Once in our care, our emergency team will take it from here.
- Hot Asphalt & Sand
This one is easy to forget when you have jandals on your sandy feet. With an air temperature of 25°C the aspalt temperature has been recorded up to 52°C, a massive difference!
A simple way to test if the temperature is appropriate is by placing the back of your hand on the ground for 5 seconds. If it’s too hot for you, it will be too hot for bare paws.
- Hot Cars
With windows being rolled down and air flowing through the car in summer, we expect the cars temperature to be maintained at a comfortable level. The phrase ‘but I cracked the windows’ is no longer justified when in a parked vehicle and temperatures continue to rise to a level that can cause serious illness or worse. When it comes to pets and cars, this is a situation where love ’em and leave ’em is a good thing. Leave your pets home when you can and never leave them in the car.
If you have any summer health concerns regarding your pets, we recommend your first port of call is your local family vet clinic. If you have an out of hours emergency and need urgent care, contact our emergency team.
