Animals and Temperature

[Janice]

I know that animals have a different body temperature then us, but it amazes me how they can stand to be outside in 90-100 degree weather.

It has been so hot and muggy here all week, I can hardly stand it outside for even 10 minutes. But, all my animals will beg to go out and stay out a long time. I even notice them laying in the sun and loving it.

To me, that would be like going outside in a fur coat

[Miss Mary]

I guess we spoil our dog. She doesn't like to be outside in the summer, unless it's cool. Middle of the day? She only goes out if she has to and she's right back inside. She hangs either on our tiled kitchen floor or brick fireplace hearth (a spot she claimed as a puppy).

I imagine if a dog was raised outside they'd handle it better. We get her wet with the garden hose on very hot days and fill her water bowl about 4 times a day. That does help. I call her a walking carpet when it's very hot. She just pants and pants.

I'm glad we have A/C and cool places for her to lie down.

Mary

[TexasStooge]

No matter how hot or cold the weather is, the cats here stay indoors.

[angelwing]

Well, considering that my pet is scaly not furry, this weather is prime for him, except when it's humid, I never take him out in the sun for too long as I end up getting a bad sunburn, he don't mind, he just opens his mouth to cool off

[Janice]

Of course, my cats are all Puerto Rican Maybe it is in their genes.

[alicia-w]

our dog has a wading pool. when it gets too hot, she will lay down in it. then we dry her off, play frisbee for a few minutes and go inside.

[pojo]

we have 2 indoor cats.... house does not have A/C... both cats have been known to lay on the concrete basement floor (tri-level finished basement) to cool down.

[HurriCat]

One thing none of them can take is a hot car. At work, my buddy and I were driving past a small shopping center. These jackasses had left their big boxer-looking dog in the car, with about eight inches of a window down. This is Orlando, FL in August, by the way, with Mr. Sun going full bore. The dog had squeezed his head and part of his chest out of the tiny gap, and was wiggling side to side. We parked right away, and the dog got all the way out as we ran up, landing in a heap and panting like crazy. The car doors were locked, but I'd already been intending to take out the window. I went around to the nearest storefront and went inside. I asked who owned the big brown car and some lady and teenager said it was theirs. I told them that their dog was almost dead and that they needed a vet NOW. These people actually looked surprised that it could get so hot in a car. They loaded up the dog who was up on it's feet, but still wobbly and panting. They said they were going right to the vet, so maybe the dog ended up okay. I wanted to thrash those two so bad. Even in the shade with all windows cracked a good bit, a car becomes an oven. Leave the pets at home!

[Regit]

One thing that helps with long-haired dogs is that their coat acts as insulation keeping them cool. Chows are a good example of this. Unfortunately, a lot of people think it makes them hot and shave their insulation off for the summer. I worked at an animal shelter for quite a long time and as a general rule medium-large dogs can find their own protection outside from 17-97 degrees F. Outside of that range, animals needs to come inside or be provided with unnatural cooling (fans, misting systems, etc), or warming (blankets, insulated dog houses, etc). The temp range for small dogs is about 32-92 degrees.