Your South Florida
Pet Summer Safety 101
Clip: Season 8 | 3m 40sVideo has Closed Captions
As temperatures rise, it’s important to protect your pets too.
As temperatures rise, it’s important to protect your pets too. Dogs in particular are susceptible to extreme heat but will often risk their health to please their owner. Miami-Dade County Animal Services’ Chief Veterinarian Maria Serrano shares ways to keep your pets hydrated and healthy this summer.
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Your South Florida is a local public television program presented by WPBT
Your South Florida
Pet Summer Safety 101
Clip: Season 8 | 3m 40sVideo has Closed Captions
As temperatures rise, it’s important to protect your pets too. Dogs in particular are susceptible to extreme heat but will often risk their health to please their owner. Miami-Dade County Animal Services’ Chief Veterinarian Maria Serrano shares ways to keep your pets hydrated and healthy this summer.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSuper important to consider the heat schedule in the city, we don't recommend having your dog in the middle of the day when the sun is up.
So try to walk them really early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the sun is setting.
The dogs do have pads in their in their feet that protect them, but it's not, you know, all weather.
And if you touch the pavement and it's really hot, especially puppies, because their feet are not yet very, um, hardened.
And you'll sometimes see that they're like trying to just like, not put, you know, their feet on the, on the pavement.
So those are important things to consider.
And then absolutely never, ever, ever leave your dog in the car, even if you're running for a short like to buy a bottle of water.
Don't do it because this heat is just extreme.
Um, and it will trigger something really, really dangerous in your dog.
Also have water available, shade available.
Some people will leave their dogs in their yard, but they don't consider that when the sun is up, there's areas or the majority of the yard may not get a good cool area.
And so sometimes dogs will be in just a scorching heat with no shade.
And those are dogs that will be at risk of having a heat stroke.
Mostly you start seeing like panting, a heavy panting, and the dogs get very injected, so their eyes get very red, their gums get very red.
They start salivating a lot.
They drool a lot.
So dogs exchange temperature by their breath.
And so, for example, dogs with flat faces that don't have a lot of surface, or when they get stressed, they just are snoring.
So frenchie's Bulldogs, those dogs that don't have a big open airway, they just have difficulty exchanging air.
So you have to be more careful with those dogs, and then it goes into a dog that just does not want to move.
They try to seek shade or cool spaces, and people will make the mistake of, you know, trying to force them.
Either they take them out plain in a really hot day and then they have to walk home, for example.
And so that is when it reaches A very dangerous point.
In the case of cats, it's mostly the stress related.
Um, when they just are not able to, uh, compensate.
Well, so then they'll stop panting as well.
Um, cats are a little bit they're a little bit wiser in the sense that they don't really want to please us as much.
And they know, like, I'm hot, I'm just going to stay here.
Um, so cats are a little smarter in that sense.
Dogs will try to please their owner.
And if even if they're hot, they're like, I'm going to go play basketball with you.
And they will, you know, run after your bicycle and just do anything that the owner asks, even at their own health, um, risk.
So when we have those issues, we need to absolutely let the dog not, you know, not force them to exercise, put him in a cool place.
Ideally you can wet them.
Um, ice is not recommended because sometimes people will ice them and then the ice will actually bring them to another extreme.
So it just makes sure you cool them down.
Sometimes fans are a good idea.
And then absolutely, if you're concerned about your dog getting a heatstroke, go immediately to your veterinarian because these are early signs.
But what's going on inside the body is a lot more alarming.
So things like cardiovascular compromise, lung compromise, and even something as severe as bleeding internally can be triggered by the heat.
So super important if you are in doubt that your dog is having a hard time with the heat, visit your veterinarian.
It's better to be safe than sorry.
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