Summer heat potentially deadly for pets
Imagine wearing a fur coat you can’t take off and being forced to sit in a hot car as the mercury climbs.
To get a more accurate picture of what that would be like you’d have to instantly add 20 degrees to the air temperature and deprive yourself of water or any other way to keep cool, said Troy Animal Control Officer Kevin McDonough.
Pets in cars in the summer heat face the very real danger of dying from heat stroke. After just five minutes, the vehicle’s temperature starts to rise, even if a window is cracked open, he said.
“It’s critical that people use their heads. My best advice is just don’t bring your pets along with you in the car,” McDonough said.
McDonough routinely answers calls of this nature and often comes to the rescue of dogs tied outdoors with no way to get out of the blinding sun. Their owners can be cited for violating state Agriculture and Markets Law, requiring them to provide sustenance and drink to their pets, a misdemeanor. But the most important consequence of their neglect is the potential harm they do to their pet.
“In a hot car, a pet can become overheated within 10 minutes,” said veterinarian Roger Blankfein, medical director of the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society.
Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are very real dangers for pets that get too much sun or heat because of their limited ability to sweat.
“Dogs and cats dissipate heat by panting. They can’t cool themselves off efficiently,” he said.
Heat stroke is a very serious and often fatal condition. Animals in this condition should immediately be taken to a cool shady place, sprayed with water and have ice packs applied to their belly and chest while being transported to a veterinarian, Blankfein said.
“The normal body temperature of a dog or cat is 99.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit,” he said.
Blankfein recalled an incident when his own dogs became overheated.
“A neighbor had accidentally left my gate open and my two dogs escaped. They were running around like crazy and when we finally got to them, their body temperatures were over 105 degrees,” Blankfein said.
Fortunately, he was able to cool them down quickly with fluids.
But the incident further demonstrates how rigorous exercise during the hottest time of the day is not a good idea either, said the shelter’s Executive Director Brad Shear.
“For the most part people are well-intentioned, but they don’t stop to think about how hot it really feels to their dog when they take it along on a hike or a run. If they plan on doing this it should be done early or late in the day when the air temperature has cooled significantly and only if the dog is in good health and not too old or overweight,” he said.
Shear, who was an animal control officer in Colorado for a number of years, answered his share of calls involving overheated pets.
Hot city sidewalks and streets are not easy on pets or their feet. Pet owners don’t realize how much closer their pets are to the pavement when they take them on walks or that it contributes to raising their body temperature. The hot pavement can likewise burn the pads on the feet, Shear said.
By: Kathryn Caggianelli, The Record
