Keeping Your Dog Cool in Hot/Muggy Weather

Please pay attention as dogs die needlessly each year due to incompetence of owners or those in charge of caring for your animals.

Dogs and humans do not have the same ability to cool themselves. Dogs sweat through their tongues by panting and the pads of their feet – period!

In humans, sweat glands help regulate body temperature by bringing warm moisture/sweat to the surface of the skin, which causes cooling as the sweat/water evaporates. Because sweat glands are located all over the human body, cooling takes place over a greater surface area of the skin.

Dogs don’t have the ability or advantage of overall cooling because their bodies have very few sweat glands and those are in the feet.

Dogs cool themselves primarily by the process of panting and breathing, with the moist lining of their lungs serving as the evaporative surface.

A dog’s tongue does not contain sweat glands. A dog’s tongue has many salivary glands that produce different forms of saliva. Some cooling takes place as the panting moves air across the salivary surfaces of the mouth cavity.

Dogs dissipate heat by dilating or expanding blood vessels in the face and ears. Dilating blood vessels helps cool the dog causing the blood to flow closer to the skin.

A dog’s normal body temperature is from 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit. If its temperature rises to 105 or 106 degrees, it may suffer heat exhaustion. At 107 degrees, heat stroke can occur with potentially catastrophic consequences. Heat stroke can cause brain damage and eventually death. Literally what happens when a dog gets overheated is that its blood begins to boil, virtually cooking the dog from the inside, out.

A dog that is overheated will act sluggishly, or perhaps confused. Its gums and tongue may appear bright red. The dog may vomit, collapse, have a seizure or may go into a coma and die.

If you put ice cubes in a dog’s drinking water, you can cause the dog to bloat and this becomes another medical emergency.

Do not run ice cold water over the dog when it is over heated as you cause the blood vessels to contract (shrink), causing the animal’s temperature to rise even more. If you are going to use water to lower a dogs temperature, then use room temperature water and place the dog somewhere with a fan blowing directly on the dog to enable it to cool down.

Keeping Your Dog Cool in Hot/Muggy Weather (cont’d)

Do not allow a dog to drink a lot of water when it is over heated – this will only add to problems. Keeping the mouth moist is best. Use a sprayer to moisten the mouth only.

Prevention is the best method to preventing your dog from becoming over heated in hot weather. Bring the dog indoors into an air conditioned environment and allow the dog to pant. Take the dog’s temperature and record it – take it again in a few minutes to make sure it is coming down. As soon as the dog’s temperature is coming down, stop any and all cooling methods so that its temperature doesn’t drop too far or too quickly.

If the dog has to be outside in the heat, ensure it has shade and lots of it – preferably with a breeze blowing. Get a large fan to blow directly on the dogs crate or x-pen to help keep the air flowing around the dog, thereby keeping the dog from getting overheated in the first place.

If you are not traveling, and have to go into town for shopping, leave the dog at home in an air conditioned environment. Do NOT ever leave a dog in a vehicle for any reason in the heat. The dog can and will become over heated in a matter of a few minutes and could die.

If you are traveling, do not leave the dog in the vehicle overnight. Don’t be so cheap – get a hotel or motel that accepts dogs and take the dog inside with you so you can keep an eye on it and keep it safe at all times. The same applies in the winter – don’t leave the dog in your vehicle overnight with just a blanket – thinking that will keep it warm enough or from possibly freezing to death. How would like it if someone did this to you or your children? Leaving an animal in a vehicle with window shades in place and the windows open is not enough to prevent your dog from dying because the shades prevent any and all air flow. Air flow in addition to air conditioning is needed to prevent the dog from becoming over heated.

When a dog is panting with its tongue hanging out, it is HOT. Get the dog inside into cooler temperatures.