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Take
pity on pets amid summer heat
May 22,
2008
Those overwhelmingly hot, humid days that have us feeling as if
we're draped in a blanket are soon upon us. For our four-legged
friends who are born with their own built-in blankets and don't have
the option to peel off the extra layers of their furry jackets, it's
up to us to make sure they stay cool.
The heat can be uncomfortable for us, but for our animal companions
it can be downright dangerous. Especially in the scenarios that
Marilyn, a reader from Uptown observed. "Last Thursday I counted
three dogs locked in cars; two had [their car] windows up and one
had the window barely cracked open," Marilyn said. "Even a window
half open means nothing when it's 85 or 90 degrees."
The reason these conditions can be so dangerous and even deadly for
our animal companions is that their primary cooling technique,
panting, doesn't work in the closed conditions created by being in a
car. In fact, their panting can saturate the air with steam making
the car even warmer inside.
What may seem like a short jaunt to pick up a few items in the
grocery store can be excruciatingly long for them. In a very short
time span, temperature inside the car can quickly escalate from 102
to 120 degrees. In fact, on a hot humid day typical of our climate,
if your car is parked in direct sunlight the temperature can rise
more than 30 degrees per minute. So, there's no trick to getting
around it, such as cracking the window open or parking in shade. The
solution is simply to not leave an animal alone in a car for any
length of time.
Of course, leaving an animal in a hot car is only one situation to
avoid during summer. Consider confining outings with pets to the
early morning hours or the late evening hours. If you enjoy jogging
with your dog, you should limit that type of exercise in humid
temperatures. Even when the sun goes down, they can become heat
stressed, and because they love the activity and are faithful to
their humans, they won't simply stop when feeling the pangs of heat.
To learn more about the types of pets that are most susceptible to
high temperatures, how to recognize the signs of heatstroke and what
to do in case of emergency, visit www.la-spca.org for tips to keep
your furred friends cool, happy and safe in this humid bowl we call
New Orleans.
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Gloria Dauphin
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