Your pets can’t take the heat, either

While scorching steering wheels offer Maricopans a constant reminder of the summer sun’s intensity, it is important to keep our four-legged friends in mind, too.

“Every year in Arizona we get calls about animals being trapped in cars,” said Heather Murphy, Pinal County communications director. “It can get obscenely hot inside a vehicle and people have to use common sense if their pet is always outside.”

Murphy wants those with outdoor pets to be aware that animals need circulating air, shade and water. She said pets should not be confined in environments that restrict them from staying cool.

There are felony cruelty laws to punish those who leave their animals to the heat in a way that endangers their lives, and the county will investigate those incidents when reported, she said. Unlike humans, dog don’t sweat, they pant.

 “Dogs maintain their internal temperature through panting,” said Sharon Canady, a veterinarian technician with Maricopa Animal Hospital. “Panting helps there ability to stay cool. The more they pan,t the cooler they are trying to be.”

A normal body temperature for a dog is around 100 degrees. But if a dog’s temperature rises to 105 or higher, the animal can have a heat stroke. When a dog is having a heat stroke, Canady said, he will pant a lot, vomit or start digging a hole to find something cool.

“Dogs cool off feet first,” she said. “That’s how they bring their temperature down.”

Canady said it’s imperative to keep your dog cool on a hot day, because he can have a heat stroke even if he does have plenty to drink.

Heat strokes in cats are rare, Canady said, because cats when outdoors are very good at squeezing into places where they can cool off. “They will go and find there way under a house,” she said.

Kimberly Diedrich, founder of petsocialworker.org, said, “Signs of dehydration and heat stroke in pets are lethargy, fatigue, general weakness, heavy panting, dry mouth, loss of skin elasticity, tremors, appearance of sunken eyes.”