12/07/2025
It's brutally hot out today.
Please be sensible with your dogs. They are better off at home than out and about today.
Think of your bald pet photographers on days like this and how their radar dome heads draw ever last ray of sun directly towards them 🥵🥵🥵
➡️ 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
