How you feeling . . . Hot, Hot , Hot

As I mentioned in a prior post, I live in a desert. While my sister gets shaved to help stave off the heat, that is not enough for either her or I when it comes to playing in the heat.

The other day we went down to the big grass area down the street. We played for a few minutes and we were pooped. Not the stuff the humans pick up with the plastic bag, but just plain BLAH!

I was trying to figure out what we could do to give us our energy back and saw this article.

According to this human, they advise the folowing:

(1) Always have water available. On hot days, a 10-pound dog requires more than half a liter a day, and a 100-pound dog requires more than 3 liters. My humans always give us water, even had it at the park.

(2) Do not leave your dog in a car - ever. Even with windows open, the air in a vehicle on a hot day can kill. Duh! Even a cat would know this.

(3) Do not run with your dog in the middle of a hot day. The best time to exercise is early morning. Do not run at all with dogs that are overweight or have health problems or short snouts, which give such dogs difficulty in the heat. I know of one exception to this. There are things that the humans bury in the ground (no, not bones) that spray water all over the place. Running in these things on a hot day is actually nice.

(4) Don't leave a dog outside without shade. A doghouse isn't enough. I am not quite sure what they mean by 'doghouse.' We share our house with the humans.

(5) Watch for signs of heat exhaustion: increased panting, drooling, muscle quivers, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, nonresponsiveness. I love to pant, drool and lay arround. I have to watch out for the other ones.

(5) Spray your pet with cool water but bring its temperature down slowly. Wipe pads of feet with rubbing alcohol. Do not immerse in cold water or ice bath, which may cause blood clotting. Other than with the spray things in the ground, the humans better not be spraying me with anything. I heard that someplaces they do that to you to punish you. Could be confusing.

All-in-all I agree with humans on this point. Guard your health in the heat.