30/03/2017
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Hot Dogs, Panting Cats & Thirsty Birds: Ten degrees of relief for animals in the heat
India's high temperatures are currently a danger to pets and wildlife. The two main risks are hyperthermia (body temperature gets too high) and dehydration (not enough water). Simple things will help your animal stay cool and hydrated:
PROTECTION:
Cats and dogs cannot sweat like humans to cool down. Their response to elevated body temperature is to pant, and to sweat through their paws. This physical response is not always enough to cool them down. This is how you can assist them:
1. WATER: Change their drinking water regularly, especially at midday, to keep it cool. Metal bowls and the water they contain can become burning hot in the sun. Keep water bowls in the shade and change to a ceramic or earthenware bowl rather than metal. Make ice and let it melt into the water to cool and refill it. Or keep bottles of water in the fridge as refills.
2. FOOD: Feed your pet in the coolest part of day, early morning or late evening. Soak any dry food in water or chicken/fish stock. Dry food draws moisture from the intestines; in hot conditions, it can contribute to diarrhea, indigestion and other gastro-intestinal problems if your pet is already dehydrated. The symptoms of dehydration and heat stroke can look like the symptoms for food poisoning - nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, drooling. Keep the soaked food in the fridge and serve it cool and soupy. Or, make stews of minced chicken or minced fish with watery rice and veg, cool it, and serve as a soup. This will help keep your pet hydrated.
3. ICE: Freeze portions of chicken stock or fish stock and give it to your pet as ice. Ideally as portions of 100ml or more - you can cut the bottom off water bottles or drink cans and freeze the stock in these. Once frozen, turn the container upside down, run a tap over it and the ice will slip out, ready to serve. Be creative, add egg white or diluted pouch/tinned food and freeze that into the cubes also.
4. BED: Water your pet's favorite spot in the garden, at the same time as you water your plants. Your dog or cat will appreciate having access to cool earth to dig their bed in.
5. GROOMING: DO NOT shave/clip your dog, it can increase body temperature as it leaves their skin more exposed. DO brush your dog or cat, to remove loose hairs and keep their coat light. Many animals are shedding hairs at the moment, and will appreciate your help with removing it.
6. COOLING: Rub your pet with wet/fridge-cooled towels to help lower their temperature, or lie a damp towel over them while they are sleeping. Evaporation will act as a coolant. But don't rely on cool towels alone - they tend to reduce surface temperature by about 2 degrees only. A cool room may work better or in addition.
7. EXERCISE: Don't take your dog for walks when it is hot. Only walk them in the early morning or in the evening. Aside from getting exhausted from the heat, dogs and cats can burn their feet on hot sand and road surfaces.
8. IMMUNITY: Heat is a stress, therefore may reduce the body's resistance to illness. To boost your pet's immune system try ayurvedic supplements such as Immunol - or call your vet for advice, particularly if your animal is already sick, recovering from illness, or very young or old. Young animals have a large surface area compared to their weight so can be hyper vulnerable to cold and heat and have difficulty controlling body temperature. "Special needs" animals may also need extra help.
9. PARASITES: Ticks, fleas and lice flourish in the heat and their bites irritate the skin and can make it even hotter. Make sure your pet is up to date with treatment.
10. RETREAT: Keep your pet indoors if necessary. Turn on the fans or the aircon. Find the coolest room in your house and let your pet have access to it. If you wet your bathroom floor the evaporation will lower the temperature further. Put your pet's favorite bed in there if necessary. As an example, we took a house with a 40 degree porch today. The bathroom was 36 degrees. After pouring a bucket of water on the floor, the floor temperature was a much more bearable 29 degrees. Floor-level is normally where your pets are. From 40 degrees to less than 30... that's a full 10 degrees of relief - and 100% less stress for you and your pet.
SYMPTOMS OF HEAT STRESS:
Hot temperatures lead to high body temperature. If the body is not cooled, organ and brain damage can result. The initial symptoms of heat stress in animals are restlessness, sweaty paw prints, breathing too fast, excessive panting, drooling, being unsteady (acting drunk), seeming confused. Symptoms may quickly turn to vomiting, lethargy, unresponsiveness, or seizures or collapse.
TREATMENT:
Cool the animal down. Put water on them. Get them into shade. Put bags of ice or frozen peas - whatever is in the freezer - near them. Give them water to drink. Call a vet. If you are in Goa you can call us on 08322464646, 08322464648, 08322703535 or mobile 9822159090 for advice.
A vet can give intravenous fluids and other treatments to safely stabilise and cool the animal. Without treatment the over-heating can damage the animal's organs and brain. With treatment, they may recover quickly and fully.
If you are unable to move the animal - for instance if they are chained in a hot area with no owner about, pour buckets of water on the surfaces to cool the area down, and make sure the animal has access to drinking water.
Pets with short noses or flat faces - like Persian cats and Pug dogs - do not tolerate heat well and need to be watched carefully. Needless to say, do not leave your animal in a car, it may act like an oven.
THE WIDER COMMUNITY:
As tourists depart there are fewer footbaths of water outside beach huts. For many months of tourist season these have been the go-to places for water for dogs, cats and birds. If you are still here, put extra water out. Cut the bottoms off water bottles or stockpile ceramic curd pots and leave them full of water under trees and in shady areas. If you can, refill them often. Dogs, cats, birds, insects, lizards, amphibians and all these creatures will thank you for it.
