11/07/2025
The heat is back. Excellent advice in this including chill options for rabbits and guinea pigs in hutches outdoors. KEY POINTS : 1 in 4 animals with heat stroke die, 1 in 2 cases are flat faced dog breeds and 1 in 2 are caused by exercising in the heat
➡️ Dogs DO NOT DIE from missing a walk. They might if you risk taking them out in hot temperatures.
➡️ According to research, 26.56% of the dogs with heatstroke died
➡️ Nearly half (48.7%) of the dogs with heatstroke were dog breeds with flat faces. Flat-faced dog breeds were four times more likely to develop heatstroke than normal-faced dogs.
☀️ Protect your animals from the heat ☀️
🌞Dogs can get heat stroke on hot walks
🌞Animals get heatstroke in hot hutches they cannot escape
🌞Animals can get heatstroke if left in rooms with no ventilation
🌞Animals can get heatstroke if they have no access to cool water
We are hopefully aware now of the national UK campaign 'Dogs Die in Hot Cars' - this advice remains!
However, work by VetCompass has shown that 10 times as many dogs present for veterinary care related to heat-related illness (HRI) following exercise as dogs that present following being entrapped in a vehicle.
The most commonly cited reasons for triggering heat-related illnesses were exercise (51.46% of cases), hot environment (31.02% of cases) and hot vehicles (12.41%).
➡️Remember there could be a number of risk factors including:
✅Brachycephalic breeds
✅Age - juvenile or geriatric
✅Thick Coated Dogs
✅General Health
✅ Other illnesses
❌Do not leave animals in hot cars
❌Don't take your dog to the pub all day in the heat
❌Do not walk your dogs in the heat - remember even when the sun is down they may still get too hot while exercising if the temperature is still hot
❌ Ensure they aren't locked in rooms with no ventilation
❌Do not lock rabbits and guinea pigs (and other animals) in hutches or enclosures with no escape from the heat
✅ Provide plentiful cool, fresh water
✅ Provide shade, ventilation and cool breeze ( consider using a fan)
✅Give them cool mats to lie on
✅ Engage in enrichment to boredom bust
✅ Provide rabbits and small furries with cool frozen bottles, shade, ventilation, escape from the heat and plentiful water
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/research/research-centres-and-facilities/veterinary-epidemiology-economics-and-public-health/news/new-research-from-the-rvc-suggests-human-heat-health-alerts-could-help-prevent-heatstroke-in-dogs
