PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — This week’s excessive heat has been tough on most people. Incidents of heat illness have been on the rise. If it’s been tough on you, imagine what it’s been like for your pets. We spent some time with the Emerald Coast Mobile Vet’s local veterinarian Abbi Dacosta and got some […]
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — This week’s excessive heat has been tough on most people. Incidents of heat illness have been on the rise.
If it’s been tough on you, imagine what it’s been like for your pets.
We spent some time with the Emerald Coast Mobile Vet’s local veterinarian Abbi Dacosta and got some tips on keeping the family pets safe and cool this summer.
“So right now, with it being the summer, the hottest times are going to be usually that 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. time frames. We highly recommend you keep your pets out of the heat during that time. That would be the best,” Dacosta explained. “But if you’re not able to do that, we usually recommend having a nice shaded area for your pets and a relaxing frozen water bowl so that as it melts throughout the day, they can have a nice cold source of water or even using like wet towels that you can freeze. To help them have something to lay on during times of the day.”
“If you’re going to take your dog out for a walk during the day, I would recommend either being able to walk them in a nice straight area or in the grass if that’s not possible. I always recommend the hand test,” Dacosta told us. “Which is where you go out to the concrete. If you put your hand on the concrete and leave it there for about five to 10 seconds, if it’s too hot for your hands if it’s too hot for your pets”
“The big signs of heat from heat exhaustion would be excessive panting and drooling is the starting signs. Obviously, most of our pets will pant and drool normally, but this is going to be excessive,” Dacosta said. “And it’s going to progress to usually lethargy, weakness, and really serious signs vomiting, diarrhea, and even seizures.”
“If you are worried that your pet does have heat exhaustion, we will certainly recommend getting them to a veterinarian as soon as possible. In the meantime, though, finding ways to get them cooled off, which would be cooling the paw pads” Dacosta added. Whether it be kind of putting some water or some wet wraps around their paws.”
If you’d like more information on the Emerald Coast Mobile Vet click here.
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