Friday, June 22, 2012

Tips For Keeping Pets Cool in Hot Weather

I already did a Weekly Tips post, but the weather around here has been pretty hot and humid, and Animal Gram mentioned in the comments that she would like to see weather related tips, so I decided to do this post.


Obviously having air conditioning in your house would keep your pets cool, but if you don't have AC, or if you do and your pets are still hot here are some tips to keep them cool.




Give Dogs Ice Cubes


Most dogs love to eat ice cubes. So if your pet is feeling warm give him/her a cool snack in the form of ice cubes. You can even put treats or things like peanut butter and yogurt (just regular fat free plain yogurt) inside the cubes when you freeze them to make them even more fun. 


You can also put ice cubes in their water dish to keep the water cool and some dogs may enjoy fishing the ice cubes out.


Some pet stores do sell special dog toys that you fill with water and freeze and give to the dog to chew, so you can always do that instead of ice cubes too.


Set up a small plastic pool.


If your dog (or maybe even your cat) likes water, fill up a small, shallow plastic pool meant for kids with water and toys, and let your pet play.


Some rats like swimming so if you have rats you can fill up a small plastic tub or a bathtub with a shallow amount of water and let your rats play in it. Just be sure to supervise them at all times in their little "swimming pool".


*the only small pet you should follow this tip for is rats. Rabbits and guinea pigs don't like to get wet, and gerbils, mice, hamsters, should not get wet. Don't do this tip for chinchillas either. They should NEVER get fully wet. (they are likely to lose their fur and get sick)


Place a bag of ice in front of a fan.


This creates a flow of cool air that can cool any pet down.


For caged pets place a bottle or container of frozen water up against their cage.


I do this for my hamster sometimes. It creates a cool spot in your pets cage. 


If your rabbits are warm you can mist their ears.


Rabbits get rid of excess body heat through their ears. You can use a spray bottle of cool water to lightly mist a rabbits ears if he/she is hot. Just make sure that the spray bottle hasn't been used for any harmful chemicals or anything toxic.


If you rabbits are warm definitely be sure to have a fan and some frozen water bottles around to keep them cool in addition to misting their ears. Rabbits overheat very easily.


Fortunately my rabbits cage is located in my finished basement, and it stays at just the right temperature for them (60-70) throughout the summer, so I don't really have to worry about keeping them cool, and the room that they play in is air conditioned.


For fish tanks, put ice cubes in the water, turn off the light, and place frozen water bottles up against the tank.


If your fish tank overheats you can cool it down by one of these fish tank tips. Just make sure to watch the temperature and not cool it down too much. 




And with any pet make sure they have plenty of fresh cool water at all times especially when it is hot out! 


And don't leave pets unattended in a hot car, they can quickly get heat exhaustion.


I hope you all liked the tips, and if you have any tips that I didn't mention here, feel free to leave a tip in the comments below, and I will do a post with all of the tips from the comments on this post.

4 comments:

  1. Great tips! Cara loves ice cubes! And when it's super hot, I always put them in her and Simba's water bowl too. This isn't a tip, but I always found it odd: When it was super hot out, Molly always used to lay right in the sun on the walkway...I never understood why! Seems like the last thing you'd want to do!
    My aunts take the dogs swimming at camp a lot when it's hot out.

    I'm so loving having you back blogging, by the way!

    Sarah <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. Super tips! Thanks for posting them. Found a new treat for our pups. There are frozen dog treats that are yogurt-based. The ones we've bought are called Frosty Paws from Hannafords. To cut down on too many calories, we take the treat which is in a paper cup and cut it into chunks and give them a few after they come in from playing on a hot day. One cup, meant to be a single serving, can be used for our two big pups for a little fun treat about three times.Now, when we say 'Frosty', they get all excited.

    Like Sarah, I'm also glad you are back with all this great info.
    -Animal Gram

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good suggestions! Now I just need to figure out how to keep myself cool!
    Love and hugs,
    Mom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's easy - mist your ears. Will that work for little kids, too?

      Ant Jess

      Delete