Keeping your pet safe and warm during the Winter!
Whether your pet is indoor or outdoor, wintertime requires at least a little prep work to make sure your pet is safe during winter months. Although the last few winters have been mild, there are already some warning signs that this winter may be harsh. So, you voted… here is it!
First of all, a fresh UNFROZEN water supply is of critical importance to pets, especially outdoors ones. Dehydration is a common source of illness in the winter and one that people often don’t think about. I recommend heated water bowls (available from most pet stores) if your dog or cat is outdoor exclusive. However, if you don’t have that available to you, you can give your pets a warm drink twice a day. Some pets actually enjoy warm water in the winter (don’t you like a warm drink when it’s cold?) but more importantly, warm water takes longer to freeze than cold water. Other things you can do is use insulated water bowls or wrap a towel around the bowl to keep the heat in longer. Either way, you MUST check your pet’s water supply twice daily all year around. If you know that it is going to be a particularly cold night, a small “bedtime snack” can also help your pet have a comfortable night.
Lots of outdoor animals have very wooly coats in the winter. This can hide all sorts of problems like weight loss or weight gain. It is not healthy for pets to be made fat “for insulation” in the winter (although I keep hearing clients tell me that). Pets should maintain a healthy body weight year around. But fluffy pets can lose weight and you be totally unaware of it so make sure you feel your dog or cat’s ribs daily to make sure they are comfortably padded…. But still palpable! Thick-coated animals will also need additional brushing as their winter coats come in to prevent matting. A matted animal can freeze to death where a properly groomed animal may be just fine. If it is unusually cold (below 15 degrees), I recommend ALL pets be brought indoors.
No matter how thick the coat, all animals need protection from the elements to survive cold weather. This means a dog (or cat) house that is wind proof and water proof. A leaky roof can let your pet get wet and in cold weather (or even cool weather), a wet pet can die of hypothermia. This is especially a risk for smaller pets with a higher surface to body mass ratio. The smaller the animal, the faster they can get cold. Pet houses should be carefully sized for your animal. Putting a 10# dog in a great dane’s dog house simply is not acceptable. People seem to think that “bigger is better”. However, the whole principle of the doghouse is that the dog can heat it up by body heat. If it is too large, the dog can and will still freeze to death. A simple way to check is to stick your hand in the dog house an hour or so after the dog has bedded down on a chilly night. If the air is significantly warmer than the outside air, then you’re fine. If it is not, your house may be too large or too drafty.
I recommend that the houses have doors on them in the winter to prevent wind from sucking the warmed air out of the houses. If the dog or cat house does not have a door (and you can make one by tacking a towel or piece of carpet to the door to make a “flap”), make sure the opening is NOT facing into the wind. Also, make sure the house in wind tight – drafty doghouses are almost as bad as nothing. I strongly recommend Igloo doghouses. Cats also need cozy dwellings in the wintertime. I will never forget a neighbor that I used to have seemed to think that a piece of carpet (short pile) on a chair on the front porch was adequate shelter for their cat… and how befuddled they were when they came outside one morning and came banging on my door when the poor cat froze solid in temperatures of only 21 degrees. In a proper cat box (wind proof and with proper bedding), the totally outdoor longhaired cat would have been fine.
Bedding inside the houses is as important as the houses themselves. Animals need 3 dimensional bedding – i.e. something they can snuggle down in. As previously mentioned, a piece of carpet is not adequate – there is no ability to snuggle. When thinking about the bedding in your dog (or cat) house, think about this: if you were sleeping out here with no blanket and only a pair of long johns, a pair of jeans and a sweater, would you be warm enough? Good bedding options include things like straw or wood chips – although you need to watch and make sure these are not getting so packed down that the dog can’t snuggle – or a purchased dog bed – typically foam with a fleece covering. A regular blanket is really not good because blankets, once they are mashed flat, are simply poor retainers of body heat and since dogs and cats don’t have thumbs, they aren’t much good at “fluffing” the blanket. Fleece blankets can make good bedding, however, since they don’t “pack” flat quite so easily.
Every year, I hear clients tell me “I have this great dog house but my dog won’t go in it.” The first thing I ask is “does your dog seem comfortable?” Most of the time, the clients tell me “yes” in which case I tell them that it is simply important to provide the shelter if the dog wants it. Be advised, it is state law that all outdoor pets have access to food, water and shelter. On the rare occasions the owner says that the dog seems cold, there are a few things to consider about making your doghouse attractive to your dog. Keep in mind, although straw or wood chips are not bad bedding options, if your dog is allergic to wood or mold or grass, lying in such bedding can make them itch…. So they will lay out in the cold. Also, some people purchase wooden doghouses then paint them. Paint fumes that we cannot even detect can be very irksome to most dogs. I don’t recommend painting a doghouse except in the spring of the year. Then it has all summer to bake out the fumes. If you have a door on the doghouse or have recently installed a door, some training may be involved to show the dog how to use the door.
In closing, let me remind everyone that many pets put on weight in the winter… as do many people… largely because of lack of exercise. So, don’t slack off on the walks just because it’s cold out there – both you and Fido need it!
As usual, if you have questions about this month’s topic, you may reach me at the office!
Winterizing Your Pet
HO HO HO! The holidays are rapidly bearing down on us and it’s time to write about some of the dangers associated with this time of year. While everyone knows that antifreeze is a winter time danger for pets (although the ASPCA reports that this problem is not actually seasonal), the less obvious problems are the ones I wanted to talk about.
First of all, as I’ve been hearing spoofed on the radio, “it’s the most fattening time of the year”. There’s a ton of yummies laying around for everyone this time of year and most of them are bad for pets. Chocolate, of course is a terrible thing for pets (they don’t have the right enzyme to digest it properly and the chemicals in chocolate can be fatal) but many of the other goodies that can be lying around during the holidays are almost as bad. Dogs and cats (and people) don’t need to be eating lots of sugar and even nonchocolate sweets can make them sick. So, keep the plum pudding for the 2 legged folks, not the four.
Ribbons and bows…. That’s both the line out of a song and a huge hazard for pets. Ribbons, bows, and tinsel are all very appealing to both cats and some dogs. These things can cause severe injury to your pet. So, if you have cats, no tinsel on the tree and regardless of whether your pet is a cat or a dog, watch out for lots of bows under the tree unless you know your pet is not a bow eater.
Traveling is a large part of many folk’s holiday preparations. If you plan to travel with your pet, you need to make sure your pet is traveling safely. I strongly recommend all pets either be in a seat belt restraint or safely secure in a carrier.
Finally, keep in mind; poinsettias are lovely… and toxic as all get out so keep your kitties away from them!
Holiday Dangers For Pets
