When it comes to your pets in the summer it is important to note that they can get very badly injured if you are not careful. Here are some tips on looking after your pet in the harsh summer sun.
Never leave it in the car
So the sun is out and your pet is not looking that happy about you going out without it, surely this means it is a good idea to take the pet with you when you go out for errands or other such things. Well although it sounds like a good idea, make sure you never leave the pet in the car, the car can reach 120 degrees in minutes even in the shade. So what is the problem with this?
Cats and Dogs do not have the ability to perspire, in fact they can only let out heat through panting and the pads on their feet. On the inside of the car there is no air they can use to inhale. Leaving a pet like this in the car for even just a couple of minutes could result in heat stroke, brain damage and even death, none of these you want. Do not think that air conditioning in a car will solve this problem because it will not.
You are better of leaving the pet at home with plenty of water to drink in the hot months than taking them with you in the car.
So many people take their pets out more in the summer, and this is why the summer months are where the most pets are lost. In case your pet does go missing you need to have them tagged so you can find them.
You need to make sure that you choose the right vets when it comes to your pet and the right Sussex vets and choosing one that can do animal medicine and animal ultrasound is very important indeed.
A few years back, I remember hearing the story of a mayor in Paris who actually had his policemen start writing tickets for people that were not cleaning up after their pets. Right there in the sidewalks of Paris, things were getting out of hand. The problem had become so horrible that people just could not walk down the sidewalk without trying to dodge ‘land mines’.
I have had a similar experience in my own neighborhood. I like to walk, particularly in the morning. I faced the same ‘land mine’ situation on a certain stretch of sidewalk. This raised my anger. If a someone is really not going to clean up after her pet, why can’t she at least have the pet go somewhere other than the middle of the sidewalk?
Aside from the fact that the owner was not being respectful to her fellow humans, it is disgusting to walk down the sidewalk and suddenly realize that you have to watch where you step. The disgusting part is that this is organic waste that I have to avoid from another living creature. These animals could very well have parasites or other nasty things in their stool. This makes stepping in it a health hazard!
Sure, you can scrape the bottom of your shoe off before going back inside, but in all honesty how likely are you to get it all off – right down to the smallest particles that you might not even see? Some parasite eggs could end up on your carpet. Do you have a child that likes to put things in his mouth after crawling around the floor? How many little particles, no matter how small end up in your bed?
All right, I think the point has been made. On another note about animals, both cats and dogs have another problem that is very common to their human friends. That problem is gum disease. So many animals have it and so many humans do too! Do not forget to get your pet checked for gingivitis. Gum disease is the number one cause of tooth loss in humans and probably is in pets too!
I’m the founder and owner of PetsitUSA.com, which was launched in 2003, and the owner of LucyGirl Pet Sitting here in Austin, Texas, which I began in 2001. I no longer take on new pet sitting clients but I still have some great clients and enjoy caring for their pets. I am also a Pet Tech first aid instructor and teach pet first aid classes here in Austin. You’ll find information about my classes on my website, Austin Pet First Aid. And, as a result of the pet food recall in early 2007, I started the website The Pet Food List.
In addition to managing PetsitUSA.com (and everything else!), I also do freelance work for PetHobbyist.com, write a monthly column for Austin Pets Directory, and serve as the Editorial Director for Wishbones for Pets.
Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA is Dolittler’s founder and a small animal veterinarian in Miami, Florida where she practices at Sunset Animal Clinic.
Dr. Khuly is an honors graduate of Wellesley College, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and, inexplicably, The Wharton School of Business.
She writes a weekly pet health column for The Miami Herald and serves as regular contributor to Veterinary Economics, The Bark and Veterinary Product News in addition to her role as reporter for the Veterinary News Network.
Dolittler, Dr. Khuly’s brainchild and passion since December of 2005, has won accolades from the veterinary community as one of the “Ten Best Blogs in Pet Health” (Fox News, 2007), while Dr. Khuly has been voted one of the “25 People to Watch in 2008″ by Pet Product News.
Dr. Khuly is an obsessive knitter, nerdy reader, nascent triathlete and indefatigable foodie. She lives in South Miami with her son, Max, her French bulldogs, Vincent and Sophie Sue, her goat, Poppy, and her corn snake, Dart.
I’m the founder and owner of PetsitUSA.com, which was launched in 2003, and the owner of LucyGirl Pet Sitting here in Austin, Texas, which I began in 2001. I no longer take on new pet sitting clients but I still have some great clients and enjoy caring for their pets. I am also a Pet Tech first aid instructor and teach pet first aid classes here in Austin. You’ll find information about my classes on my website, Austin Pet First Aid. And, as a result of the pet food recall in early 2007, I started the website The Pet Food List.
In addition to managing PetsitUSA.com (and everything else!), I also do freelance work for PetHobbyist.com, write a monthly column for Austin Pets Directory, and serve as the Editorial Director for Wishbones for Pets.
I’m a past planning team member of the former CSU Pet Sitters Conference, a conference that was managed and attended by, and for, professional pet sitters throughout the country.
As you can see, I definitely keep myself busy, but I consider myself to be extremely fortunate because I actually enjoy what I do for a living! The pet sitting, web work, and artwork are flat out fun. Of course there are times when I get frustrated, and overworked, but overall I feel I’m one of the luckiest people around to be doing what I do. I’m able to spend a lot of time with my pets, care for other people’s pets from time to time, use my creativity, and get to know some pretty wonderful people all across the country.
Our Pet Connection team, headed by Dr. Marty Becker and Gina Spadafori, provides top-quality information on pets to many different media platforms, including a weekly Pet Connection page feature is distributed to newspapers internationally by the Universal Press Syndicate as well as television, including “Good Morning America,” Web sites, radio, magazines and more. A dream team of veterinarians and pet-care journalists provide the best information to be found anywhere.