25/06/2024
A timely message from Dr David Marlin
🐎🐕SUMMER, HEAT, HORSES & DOGS!🐎🐕
With the promise of summer finally arriving in the UK early next week, we’ll be posting regularly with advice about how to keep your animals 🐕🐎safe and comfortable in the hot weather, but in the meantime, you can check out the website for these FREE RESOURCES
🐕 https://drdavidmarlin.com/managing-dogs-in-hot-weather/
🐎 https://drdavidmarlin.com/best-practice-for-horses-in-a-heatwave/
☀️ https://drdavidmarlin.com/heatwave-poster-print-and-share/
Below is a little graphic to get the ball rolling! Many people are still under the misapprehension that a thick coat can keep an animal such as a dog insulated from the heat! That could only be true if the animal in question wasn't producing any heat, i.e. it was dead! Animals continually produce heat at rest (let alone exercise) and have to get rid of it continually to avoid overheating. The main route they get rid of heat is at their BODY SURFACE! The process of heat loss through this route is known as CONVECTION & EVAPORATION (if sweat is being produced). They can also lose heat by CONDUCTION if they lay down on a surface cooler than their skin/hair surface. If the body surface is covered in hair, then this acts as insulation and slows down the release of heat! The more/thicker the hair, the slower the heat loss.
Many people seem to believe a dog's coat has magical properties and keeps dogs cool in the heat. (Interestingly, horse owners don't believe this about horses) It doesn't. Hair is dead, not living. It obeys the laws of physics. It traps air in the same way human clothing does and slows down heat loss. The only instance where hair helps keep an animal cool is when the air temperature is higher than the body temperature. Under these conditions, the animal must rely or sweating and panting to lose heat.
Physics is physics! Physiology is physiology! :)
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