Scientifically it was proven that dogs usually don’t respond to the temperature in which humans feel too hot; their heat resisting capacity is very high.
How to Cool Off a Dog?- In some conditions, the temperature might strike the heat-resisting capacity of dogs, and as a precautionary measure, the owner should know how to cool off a dog.
Here’s a detailed description based on the provided text, along with some key takeaways:
How to Keep Your Dog Cool in Hot Weather
Dogs are remarkably resilient animals, but their tolerance for heat does have limits. As pet owners, it’s important to understand how to recognize the signs of overheating and take preventative measures to keep our furry companions comfortable and safe in hot weather.
Why You Should Pay Attention to Your Dog’s Temperature
Unlike humans who sweat to regulate body temperature, dogs rely primarily on panting, salivation, and releasing heat through their paw pads. These mechanisms can become less effective in extreme heat, especially with exertion or humidity. When your dog’s temperature rises too high, it can cause a dangerous condition called heatstroke (hyperthermia). Heatstroke can lead to serious complications, including:
- Muscle rigidity
- Irregular or rapid heartbeat
- Discolored skin
- Difficulty breathing
- Kidney failure
- Potentially death
Signs Your Dog is Overheating
Be alert for these symptoms that might indicate your dog needs help cooling down:
- Frantic Panting: Excessive, rapid panting that doesn’t subside even after rest.
- Thick Saliva: More saliva than usual can be a sign they’re struggling to cool themselves.
- Increased Breathing Rate: Short, shallow, labored breathing or gasping for air.
- Lethargy: Lack of energy or reluctance to move might indicate overheating.
How to Cool Down an Overheated Dog
If you suspect your dog is getting too hot, act quickly with these steps:
- Fresh, Cool Water: Provide unlimited access to fresh, cool water. Add ice cubes to make it more appealing.
- Move to a Cool Place: Take your dog indoors to an air-conditioned room or find a shady, well-ventilated area outside.
- Wet Towels: Apply cool, wet towels to your dog’s body, especially around the neck, underbelly, and between the legs.
- No Exertion: Avoid forcing your dog to walk or exercise in hot conditions, particularly if they are already displaying signs of heat stress.
- Ice Pack: Offer a frozen water bottle or a bag of ice wrapped in a towel for your dog to lie against.
- Swimming: If possible, allow your dog to swim or play in a kiddie pool to cool down.
- Trim Excess Hair: Consider a summer trim for dogs with long or thick coats.
Key Takeaways
- Prevention is Key: The best way to deal with heat-related issues is to prevent them. Avoid walks or exercise during the hottest parts of the day, and always make sure your dog has access to shade and water.
- Know Your Dog: Some breeds with short snouts (like Bulldogs or Pugs) are more susceptible to heatstroke. Be extra cautious with these dogs.
- Understand Heatstroke: Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of heatstroke so you can act quickly if necessary.
- When in Doubt, See a Vet: If your dog shows severe signs of overheating, or doesn’t improve with home cooling techniques, get veterinary attention immediately.
Remember, being attentive to your dog’s needs and taking steps to keep them cool could save their life!
Why is it Necessary to Cool Off a Dog from Heating?
Most of the time, dogs don’t feel hot as humans do. This hot canine feeling can be due to fever or some situation like getting stuck inside a car.
In both cases, dogs have a chance to get heat strokes, also known as hyperthermia which can be a deadly condition for the canine.
When the body of the canine reaches the temperature of 103 degrees farad, the canine is considered to be in a fever, but it can also be due to excessive anxiety or excess stress.
Dogs often strike this temperature due to extremely hot external temperature or excess workout sessions in humid conditions.
The excessive hot temperature of the canine’s body needs to be cooled down because whenever the dogs get hyperthermia, the muscles get rigid, the heartbeat of the canine gets irregular and fast as compared to the normal one, the breathing rate also increases, the skin begins to turn blue, the blood pressure becomes abnormal along with the buildup of fluid in the lungs and impaired blood coagulation.
All these changes in the body due to the sudden exposure of the dog to that extremely high temperature can cause kidney failure and lead to death.
To stop these dangerous changes from happening inside the canine body, the owner is suggested to cool down a dog whenever it feels too hot, as a bit of negligence can cost them their most lovable friend.
How to Know When the Dog is Feeling Extremely Hot?
The body of your canine used to give some responses to the extremely hot temperature by noticing that the dog owner can know that the canine is getting hot, and it’s time to take the precautions to save them from that heat stroke. The symptoms a dog owner can go with to detect excessive heating in dogs are.
Frantic Panting
Dogs usually pant when they get excited, but they also use to pant when they feel overheated as they can’t sweat like humans.
The panting of dogs helps them to inhale rapidly, thus humidifying and exhaling the air. As a result, the evaporation of the water from the dog’s body increases which makes the dog cool.
Extreme salivation
The behavior of extreme salivation is almost noticed in all types of dog breeds whenever they feel hot. Extreme salivation in dogs increases the surface area of the tongue, which makes the heat vanish in the surrounding air, thus helping the dogs cool down.
Increased Breathing Rates
When dogs get overheated, they start to breathe faster as the elevated breathing rate helps them release the body’s hot temperature throughout the nasal cavity. You will notice that they keep on gasping, as if they want more air.
Lethargic Behavior
Due to the excessive heat in the body, the dogs use different processes to release it, resulting in the loss of the energy present in the body. Thus making the dog appear lethargic in behavior.
These are the topmost behaviors a dog used to give whenever it felt extremely hot. So if a dog owner is looking for tips to detect overheating in dogs, they can go through the points mentioned above to take preventive measures.
How to Cool Off a Dog?
As we have discussed the symptoms through which a dog owner can detect overheating in dogs and have also mentioned why the preventive measure is necessary. So now we will discuss the steps a dog owner can follow to protect the dog from overheating.
Provide Regular Access to Fresh and Cool Water
Like humans, water can also work as the best resource to cool a dog down the excessively hot temperature inside the body. It is considered the best source to cool off the dog as it cools down the dog’s stomach from the inside.
It is suggested to the dog owner that they keep on adding ice cubes to the canine water bowl as in hot weather, the water gets warm up rapidly.
This will be beneficial because dogs will find it tempting to drink chilled water in the hot season. Thus the temperature of the canine’s body will also remain in control.
Move the Canine to a Cool Place
The second-most preferable step to comfort the canine from that unpleasant and extremely hot situation is to move the canine from that extremely hot place. For doing this, the owner has to take the canine to a place with a cooler or an air conditioner.
If you are outside, take the pet under the shadow of a tree or a shaded place. The shady place will make the dog feel cool as shaded areas provide less heat exposure.
Use a Wet, Cool Towel
If you have noticed that the temperature of the canine’s body is still not getting down after you shift him to a cool place.
The use of a cool towel over the body of the canine can be the best choice to go with. For cooling the canine with the help of a wet towel, all the owner has to do is just take a bowl filled with fresh water.
The owner can also add some ice cubes as per his choice, dip the towel in it, and squeeze out the excess water from the towel.
After squeezing out the water, the owner has to dab the towel over the body, and once it gets warm, the owner can also go for dipping it again in the chilled water bowl. The owner can repeat this process until the body cools down.
Avoid Workout Sessions in Humid Conditions
It was proved in the research done on the dogs during the humid seasons that whenever the canine is given exercise sessions in the middle of extremely hot weather, the body of the canine gets heated excessively, which can also lead to a heat stroke.
Thus, avoiding the workout sessions in the hot weather can help your dog maintain a balance between the internal temperature of the body and the outside temperature.
Use an Ice Pack
Providing some dose of chilled and freezing water to your dog can work wonders in cooling off the temperature of the canine. To prepare an ice pack, you can just use a plastic bottle, fill it up with water, and then put it in the deep freezer.
Once the water inside the bottle turns into ice, you can give it to your canine. That’s all you have to do. The canine will decide the posture in which it is comfortable to apply.
Provide Swimming Sessions to the Pet
As we all know, water is the best source to cool down the body’s temperature. So it was seen in dogs that when they are provided with regular swimming sessions, they feel relaxed as the body cools down automatically after coming in contact with water.
Hence we can say that regular swimming sessions can be helpful in controlling the temperature of the canine’s body.
Trim the Canine’s Hair
Just like humans used to trim their hair whenever they feel hot, this theory also applies to dogs. When the hair of the canine gets trimmed, the pet’s ability to resist heat increases, thus maintaining a balance between the temperature outside and inside.
All the steps mentioned above are based on the experimental searches done by the cynologists over the behavior of dogs suffering from extreme hot conditions.
So if a dog owner is looking for steps to prevent the dog’s body from excessive heating, they can completely rely upon the steps mentioned above to get the best results.
