The heat has arrived, there are those who love it and longed for it and those who hate it, can’t stand it, and are already thinking about winter; owners of dogs and cats, on the other hand, not only care for themselves but also for their 4-legged friends.
There are dog breeds that are more tolerant of high temperatures, and others that suffer terribly during the summer months. Among these certainly the brachycephalic breeds: those breeds in which the jaw is shorter than normal, the soft palate elongated and fleshy, in which there are narrow nostrils, a deviation of the larynx and a small trachea; these dogs pant inefficiently, which hinders heat exchanges when the ambient temperature is high and exposes them to a higher risk of heatstroke, it is often possible to notice marked difficulty in breathing already after a short run and a lot of breathing. Noisy.
Sunburn, sunstroke: beware of the heat for dogs
by Priscilla Di Thiene
Protect yourself from the heat
We can implement different strategies to help our friends, such as not going out during the hottest hours for walks, playing or exercising, but trying to do it early in the morning or late in the evening, before meals in so as to stimulate the appetite; do not go to the beach all day on the hottest days, especially with dogs who do not like water and therefore do not find refreshment in it, always leave clean and fresh water available, be careful not cold but fresh, and change it several times a day, do not give an excessive amount of food, and do not give an excessively caloric food.
Many animals with the arrival of heat tend to eat less than normal quantities of food, some sometimes refuse to eat. An important thing is not to panic, and try to understand if the refusal of food may be due to an animal’s discomfort or excessive heat; in any case, it is always better to contact your trusted veterinarian who will be able to discern between the two things. In case our friends are in excellent health, but tend not to eat or eat small amounts of food due to excessive heat, we can try to change some of their eating habits.
What to do if they don’t eat
When to feed? In the cooler hours, very early in the morning, and late in the evening; even if our friends are used to eating twice a day, we could consider the hypothesis of increasing the administration of food to 1 time a day for the hottest months, perhaps late in the evening.
What to feed? In principle, the food they have always eaten, for those who administered very caloric foods, evaluate with your veterinarian a change with a less caloric food for the warmer months. It is also found useful to add fresh water to dry food, in order to make it more palatable and less complicated to chew; for those who feed their animals with a home diet, you can decide to increase the amount of vegetables rich in water, and slightly decrease that of carbohydrates.
Yes, travel. But with the dog and safely
by Priscilla Di Thiene
Fruit is another food appreciated by our friends during the hottest months, which maybe we can give during the day instead of one of the main meals. Just as we can make small fresh snacks that can help them get through the hottest hours: for example, homemade ice cream based on sugar-free white yoghurt with pieces of whole or pureed fruit, without exceeding given their high quantity of sugars .