What do you do in warm weather?

Hi,
I wanted to know if you do something special with your pets in summer. Lia starts to curl on the carpet instead of the couch or her crate, se seems to be warm. Here in Spain we reach temperatures of 30-35 ºC almost every day during the summer. I wanted to know if you cut your cavies coat, or do something similar.

Good question Iwas about to ask the same thing today, cause the past 2 days have been really hot, like unnaturally hot here in San Diego. I think the dogs dont like to sleepin the crate and stuff because the crate is warm with the pad (well at least mines is) and stuff. Instead both dogs took their naps on the hardwood floor. Also I made sure they got a whole lotta water, and I amde some ice cubes for them to lick and play with just inc ase. Hope that helps!

We get really hot weather here in oz too in the summer. I obviously make sure they have a cool shady place inside and out to lay and plenty of water and I have mine clipped. There are picutres in the post cavy cuts 2 if you want to see their clip.

I know that in the US, for instance, aircon is an everyday applinace, but when Izzy's heart got bad, I bought a potable unit, which all dogs enjoyed. I also got him a Coolmat, the turquoise one that you fill with water, but they don't sell thenm in the UK anymore and mine split over the winter (Izzy liked to sleep on it every night, summer or winter).

Some people drape towels, soaked in water, over their dogs if they really do need to be outside in the heat.

Yep, as Luvzcavs said, here in Oz we too have very hot summers with the occasional freak day of as high as 45C (113F), though thank the gods, that is fairly rare.

We try to keep the dogs inside as much as possible on hot days. We've got slate on the floor in the living room so they like to lay on that. I usually put a fan on the floor blowing on them and I fill up plastic p.e.t. bottles with water & freeze them and just place them on the floor so the dogs can lay up against them if they want. I also offer them ice cubes to lick & float some in their drinking water.

As to clipping... I am pretty new to long haired dogs, so this is new to me. However the breeder of our 2 Cavalier swears that the long coat of the dog acts is an insulator against the heat and they advised us not to clip in summer. I'd really like to hear what others think of this, as I am truly in 2 minds about it.

would love to know about that one (insulation) surely that would mean any heat generated through running about would be kept in wouldnt it? like i said would like to know, may not get v hot summers here in uk like yours but interesting to find out.

We had a/c installed in our house a few years ago...for the dogs! When I was crating them and leaving the house the family room would get as hot as 85 degrees! Yikes! I was so afraid I was going to come home to a dog dead from heat stroke. So.....in comes the a/c. We kind of enjoy it too I also keep Jake's belly shaved and at the next groomer's visit Shelby will have her belly shaved as well.

After getting back from our adventures the last couple of the days the dogs were filthy and it was hot outside. So I hosed them off in the backyard and let them run around soaking wet. They looked like they felt so much better.

We have a digital thermostat, and before we got Ruby, we programmed it to not run while we were gone. Now that we have her, we've been setting it to stay cool during the day. Memphis gets incredibly hot in the summer. I think the absolute highest last summer was 105 degrees, and we have HORRIBLE humidity, which makes it almost suffocating outside. We're just going to try to limit our time outside with her during the middle of the day and do our walks early in the morning or late afternoon/early evening. Even then, it's pretty miserable down here. Her coat won't be grown in, so that should make it easier on her, but she just pants even now in early May when we go outside for short little walks.

I forgot to mention about the air con and the fans I use and keeping them inside as it is so second nature here.

Saturday King is getting a hair cut...He's getting his summer cut so he can stay nice and cool...I also have a/c in the house not just for the animals but for us as well...I also have (for outside play) a cooling bandana. It's pretty much a bandana with micro beads that hold in the cold, so he can stay cool in the hot weather...There is also a harness out there that does the same thing...

fill up a soda bottle with water and freeze it (like mentioned). you can put the bottle in a tube sock if the dog seems to not want to touch it directly. also, for outside play.... if you have the yard for it, get a cheap plastic kiddie pool and fill with water for splashy play time. just make sure its always supervised (don't want them chewing on the pool or drowning)

also, if you crate the dog when you're gone, make sure the crate is getting adequate ventilation... it may be getting hotter than the room if there isn't adequate air flow. some pet stores sell mini clip fans to go on crates if the crate get too hot....never used one so don't know how well they work or if the blowing air irritates the dogs...maybe someone here has experience with them??

angie said:

would love to know about that one (insulation) surely that would mean any heat generated through running about would be kept in wouldnt it?

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Trust me, nobody runs about during a heatwave here in Australia. Only silly cricketers..... or how did that song go... Mad Dogs & English Men go out in the noonday sun... something like that

Still I honestly don't know about the insulation thing. I'd like to know for sure too.

Laura&Lia said:

Hi,
I wanted to know if you do something special with your pets in summer. Lia starts to curl on the carpet instead of the couch or her crate, se seems to be warm. Here in Spain we reach temperatures of 30-35 ºC almost every day during the summer. I wanted to know if you cut your cavies coat, or do something similar.

Click to expand...

Hej
In denmark teh weather mostely is cold, but in the summer the temerature is nicer. I have bought at coolblanket to my dogs. You put the blanket in some cold wather for about 20 min. and after that she blanket is cold for about 3 days. The dogs loves to lay on the blanket in a warm car.
I bougt the blanket at a dogshow

This will be Scouts first real summer. She was only a baby last summer. I also have central air and love every minute of it. I'm really not a hot weather person. It gets very hot here in the summer especially in August. We gave terrible humity, not as bad a Memphis or Florida or the other southern states, but it can get pretty sticky. When you wake up in the morning it's 85 F and 100% humidity, and it's only 7 am where do you go from there?

Breeze knows about air conditioning. She goes out very quickly does what she has to and barks loudly to get back in. When i went to Florida two years ago my Uncle that lives next door took care of Breeze and the air conditioning stayed on all week even though I wasn't home. I figure why should I be in the air conditioning cool and make her suffer at home in the heat. It also stays on all day while I'm at work.