Protect Pets From The Heat

By 250 News

Dogs, Jenny and Nikita, (with their young friends) are better off at home in the heat

While there are a number of precautions to ensure your pet stays healthy through a heat wave, the SPCA's Mel Jones says keeping animals out of vehicles is the biggest one.

"Yesterday, alone, we took four calls of dogs being left in vehicles while people are in shopping," says the North Cariboo Branch Manager.  "And, we know that these people love their animals and that's why they're with them to begin with, but we really need them to leave their pets at home."

Jones says, "When we show up on a call, we do so with water, we also have a special thermometer that we can inform people of just how hot it is in their vehicle - a lot of the times, people just don't realize it."

She says in cases of severe emergency, SPCA officers are authorized to break a window and remove the animal, but, she says, they haven't had to go that route yet.  Jones says the pet owners are often just returning to their vehicle or they return quickly after being paged inside the shopping premise.  They are given an order, "Basically, a warning saying you cannot do this - it's too hot for your animal."

As for other measures to take to ensure pet safety this summer, Jones says:

• any animals that live outside need access to some kind of shelter and plenty of fresh water
• small indoor animals sometimes struggle and a small ice pack or frozen water bottle wrapped in a towel provides something cool for them to lay on
• white dogs or dogs recently shaved should have childproof sunscreen applied before going out of doors to prevent sunburn

She warns that any signs of lethargy or a change in behaviour in your pet, signals a need to contact a vet immediately.

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