Summer is a great time to enjoy the outdoors, spend time with family, swim, and host backyard barbeques and head out of town for a fun family vacation. Enjoying the summer heat is welcoming, especially at the beginning of the summer. However, the heat can soon become excessive and finding a cool retreat is vital to surviving this season. While keeping your family cool and comfortable during the summer should be your number one priority, your pets also need some extra attention this time of year to ensure they are kept safe from the intense heat that summer brings.

Keeping your Pet Cool

Keeping your pet cool during the summer requires a conscious effort. It is important to pay attention to the temperature; especially if your pet is mainly an outdoor pet. It is essential to be vigilant of heat exhaustion in your animals. Being covered with a thick coat of hair or fuzz in the winter time makes for excellent insulation, however, during the summer, this natural warm coat can make things extra uncomfortable and difficult to keep cool. Both dogs and cats do not sweat from their skin like humans do, rather they dissipate heat by panting, and sometimes that just isn’t enough to get cool. Heat stroke can occur in your pet when they are trapped in an enclosed area like a hot car or even spending a day at the beach can initiate heat exhaustion in your pet. Pets often cause even more internal heat through their panting if they are working hard to try to cool their insides by pants; this will actually raise their heart rate and make cooling down impossible and ultimately often leave them with heat stroke.

Signs of Heat Exhaustion

Pets with heat exhaustion show obvious signs like excessive panting, labored breathing, increased heart rate, drooling and mild weakness. A fun game of fetch can turn into heat stroke quickly if it is hot outside and your pet does not have access to clean water to drink or a shaded area to rest. Save your outdoor pet activities for early hours of the day when temperatures have not yet reached their peak. If you wait to take your daily walk or run before or after the sun has risen or set, you will make it easier on your dog. The air will be much easier for them to breathe and heat exhaustion will be avoided. The pads of their feet will also be less exposed to hot surfaces that have been baking in the sun all.

Our pets are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and they know what is best for their well being. Staying in a cool, air conditioned home; especially lying on a cool tiled kitchen floor is a great way for your pet to keep cool and have a relaxing comfortable summer. Contact Ambient Heating and Air Conditioning to keep your A/C unit running cool and keep you, your family and your pets content this summer season.