Summer is not our pet’s favorite season. They suffer from the heat just like us. Their hair and their physiological specificities prevent a good ability to lower their body temperature. Here are tips from a dog handler to help your pet in case of heat stroke.
Panting, apathy, your dog, your cat looking for a cool place: he is probably suffering from heat stroke. If you have a thermometer, that’s ideal. Above 41 degrees, it’s heat stroke.
Maxime Lullier is an animal behavior professional. It warns about the dangers of heat stroke, so common in summer. Every year dogs and cats die of heatstroke because they are locked in an unventilated place where the temperature can rise quickly. This is especially the case with the car, which very quickly turns into an oven, condemning your dog who stayed for a few minutes, the time you run for a walk, to potentially fatal dehydration. A dog’s normal body temperature is between 38.5 and 39 degrees.
Among the most common situations are:
- Staying in a car in the sun or with little ventilation
- Has been exposed to intense/long-term training
- Exposure to hot and often humid days, especially without access to shade or water.
We recognize a dog that is too hot by its droopy appearance, its 3rd eyelid may remain firm, and when we pull its skin between the two front legs, it is no longer elastic and does not come back well.
Maxime Lullier – dog handler
A dog can die from heat, even in the presence of a bowl of waterwhen, despite his hyperventilation, he is unable to lower his body temperature.
The priority will be to cool it. But to cool it gradually.
Take a wet towel and pass it over the animal’s body. At the level of the ears, on the trunk and also at the level of the groin.
Maxime Lullier – Dog handler
On the other hand, it is important not to submerge it in too cold water or put ice cubes on its body. Thermal shock can have a catastrophic effect and cause chills.
“At the same time, you must invite the dog or cat to hydrate themselves by providing temperate water (again, we avoid very cold water)“, explains the dog handler.
To help the dog lower its temperature, it can be placed in front of a fan or placed in a room with moderate air conditioning.
A heat stroke can, if it lasts, if the animal has been too dehydrated, cause sequelae.
Maxime Lullier recommends making an appointment with the vet in this case. He will assess the animal’s condition and monitor its recovery.
If you see a dog locked in a hot car, you can take action.
- first you call the police
- you bring witnesses to see that the animal is in pain
- and if you can, film the scene
Once these precautions are taken, you can break the window to release the animal.
Maxime Lullier is a columnist on the program “You are fantastic”. Find all his chronicles in replay.
