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Summer Heat
threatens your pet
 Summer
in Southern California can put your pet at great risk of heat related
injury. With temperatures routinely hitting the 90s and often breaking
100, it is important to understand heat stress and heat stroke and what
you can do to help protect your pets.
In order to understand why pets get heat
stress/stroke, we should take a moment to discuss how they cool
themselves. Dogs do not really sweat to cool themselves. Instead, they
rely primarily on panting and to a much lesser degree to vasodilation
(opening of the blood vessels near the skin) to help lose heat via
radiation away from the body. When dogs pant, a large amount of heat is
removed from the body through the removal of warmed water vapor from the
lungs, and evaporation from the tongue. This process has its limits and
cannot continue to work effectively when the temperatures start to soar.
Rabbits tend to reduce their heat load by
vasodilation of the blood vessels of the ears. This is not nearly as
effective as panting. When you consider the relative inefficiency of
this system and the high insulating properties of their fur, it is easy
to understand why they are subject to heat stress.
Cats will cool them selves through a combination of
grooming themselves (to allow the saliva to evaporate from the skin
which is cooling) and panting. Cats also have more effective kidney
systems than dogs and can retain more body water in the heat. With less
dehyration they are less subject to heat stress/stroke. These issues
coupled with the fact that more cats tend to live indoors explain why we
don’t see as much of a problem with cats as dogs in the summer.
Who is at risk?
Heat stress can affect most of our pets, however,
dogs and rabbits tend to be the most common victims. Pets that are
housed out of doors are much more liable to develop heat stress,
especially if they do not have access to water and/or shade. Breeds
with darker hair coats are more prone to heat stress because their dark
coats absorb more solar radiation than do lighter coated breeds. Breeds
with impaired respiratory systems (snub nosed, or brachycephalic breeds)
such as English bulldogs, Boston Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Shi-tzus,
Lhasa Apsos, Chow Chows etc are much more prone to heat stress because
of their impaired ability to effectively pant. Heavy coated breeds such
as Chow Chows, Malamutes, Samoyeds etc have trouble dissipating heat
through their heavily insulated coats.
All Rabbits are prone to heat stress, especially if
they are enclosed in cages without any shade and/or cooling system.
Heat stress occurs when the animal is unable to
maintain its internal temperature with in the normal range for the
species. In dogs and cats this temperature should be between 100 and
102.5 degrees on average. Bunnies have slightly higher resting
temperatures and can range from 101 to 103 and still be normal. As the
body overheats, the pets become dehydrated, lethargic, sleepy and
anorectic. As the internal body temperature continues to rise above 105
degrees, the pets become at risk for heat stroke. Heat stroke is a
syndrome wherein the pets become so dehydrated that their blood becomes
concentrated and does not flow smoothly through the cardiovascular
system. Oxygen is not delivered properly to all the organs and carbon
dioxide and other waste products are not removed from the tissues
adequately. Frequently, the clotting system of the body gets out of
whack and thromboembolism (clogging of blood vessels) can occur. If
left untreated, the pet will go into shock and frequently will die.
What can you do to protect your
pet?
- Never leave your pets
outside without fresh, cool water and shade.
- Never leave your pets in
the car unattended for even a few minutes. Temperatures within a
care can soar to 140 degrees in no time on a hot summer day.
- Never take brachycephalic
breeds out during the heat of the day.
- Never chain your pet up
outside where the chain might prevent access to water or shade.
What should you do if you suspect
heat stress/stroke?
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You should have a
digital thermometer in your pet medical kit. Become familiar with
taking a rectal temperature with it. (Coat the tip with Vaseline or
KY jelly and insert it in approximately2 to 3 inches, press the
button and wait for the machine to beep)
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If the temperature
is between 103.5 and 104, cool your pets head with water, take
him inside (preferably in air conditioned space) and offer small
amounts (1/2 cup of water or preferably pedialyte or gatorade)
every 5 minutes. If you give too much water too fast, you may cause
vomiting or gastric bloat.
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If the temperature
is over 104 and under 105 and your pet is still able to walk, take a
hose and wet the entire body. If a tub is available, it may be
better to place your pet in the tub for cooling. Offer water,
pedialyte, or gatorade as above. Check the body temperature and
when it hits 103, take your pet out of the water and lightly towel
dry. The body will continue to cool down from there. If it goes
below 99, use a hair dryer on medium heat to dry the fur. Call your
veterinarian for advice on whether further treatment is indicated
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If the temperature
is over 105 and your pet is unconscious or seizuring, soak the
whole body, add ice packs to the head region. Rush your wet pet
into the vet’s office. At this point, intravenous fluids and other
aggressive measures are needed to help protect your pet.
Other heat related problems:
Every summer we see a rash of dogs coming in with
burned paws from running on the street during the heat of the day. If
you’ve ever tried to walk on concrete or asphalt on a 100 degree day,
you know that you can burn your feet in a heartbeat. Dogs that are
accustomed to walking on concrete all the time build up hard callous
which helps protect them. But pets who are on grass or in the house most
of the day are prone to blistering their foot pads on the hot roads.
This is particularly true of puppies who have not had enough time to
develop calluses.
To help protect them, take your walks/runs only in
the early AM or early evening hours. Feel the sidewalk before starting
out and see if it is dangerously hot.
Solar radiation problems:
Pets can get sunburn too! Mostly this occurs in
white coated or pale coated breeds. The areas affected often include the
eyelids and nose (in non pigmented pets) and the underbelly (where there
is less hair). Unfortunately, with continued exposure, it is common for
pets to develop skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma). This cancer may
first appear as red ulcerated spots and then develop into more raised
tumors. Squamous Cell carcinoma is an aggressive tumor which invades
deeply into the adjacent tissues. It can also spread to other parts of
the body (metastasize) via the lymph system or blood system. Early
detection and surgical excision gives the best long term prognosis for
these pets.
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