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Is there anything i can

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wiggal | 16:35 Sat 25th Aug 2007 | Animals & Nature
12 Answers
do to help my pets keep cool?
Im sat in my front room at the mo and im far to hot for my liking lol!
But i worry about the dog and cats, the cats are splayed out all over the place on the wooden floor which seems to suit them fine.
But Ashke has a long coat, (samoyed) and i worry most about him getting too hot. I have the back doors open so he can choose to be inside or out, and a bowl of water in the shade outside. I just worry that he is too hot!
I just want to know if there is anything i can do to be cooler!
Ta :)
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You can buy gel dog beds that keep them cool, or bandanas that you put in the freezer.

I have long haired dogs and they are fine in the house as we have a huge blaster air fan, and we were out walking them at 6am this morning with, and they have stayed inside ever since. They will however have a blast with the hose pipe later on.
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Ashke doesnt sleep in a ben, he has one, but he never ever uses it, he sleeps on a blanket on the rug when he is in.
The bandana sounds interesting! but he would pull it off.

We also dont have a hose in the garden at the mo as the hose tap is at the front of the house and we need to somehow get it connected and put one in the garden :(
My girl cat, Merlin, is long haired and has the hairiest bum in the world. She looks like she has hairy jodhpurs on and looks like she possesses 'thunder thighs'.

It be so nice if we could shear our furry friends like sheep as they must be really warm. Even here in Scotland it is very warm today.
Lots of cooling things here:

http://www.hubintsecured.co.uk/acatalog/Body_C ooling_-_Body_Heating_Products_-_Car_Vents.htm l

I know someone who tried the cooling mat extra large, they live in Portugal and have a GSD (it doesn't lie in a bed), took a little while to get the dog to lay on it - think they ended up putting the dogs blanket (or quilt) on top of it, but when the dog did finally try it she loved it. The dog went from panting all night long (keeping the owners awake) to sleeping peacefully. Her only complaint is that it was not really big enough.

Seems all you do is soak it in water and it remains cool for a few days.

Your dog might end up fighting the cats for it though!!
Hi wiggal.. we put rock sulpher in the dogs drinking water it cools the blood down [ so they say] as regards my cats they end up oon the landing where it is cool.We have a fan but my babies just do not like it, different with the dogs they dont seem to mind it all.
Move to dumfries, it's peeing it down and we've lit the log fire it's that cold.
Or can I come and live with you lol
he may not pull the bandana off, it is only like a large dog collar
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/COOL-IT-BLUE-Bandana-LAR GE-keep-your-DOG-COOL_W0QQitemZ220143540216QQi hZ012QQcategoryZ20746QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem
I fill the water bowl up with ice cubs and they remove them to crunch them up
If you dont have a hose pipe in the garden, you could fill up a water spray bottle which will give them a fine mist
When I go to a dog show and it is a hot day I take a wet hand towel, which has been in the fridge overnight, and lay it over the dogs back for 20 minutes or so, it really seems to cool them down.
Most breeds with long coats have a sort of vacuum layer which keeps them warm in winter and cool in summer. Don't forget that dogs pant to keep cool, not because they are hot, if you see what I mean. Its their way of sweating.
Sulphur blocks in the water can help cool the blood, but be very careful of giving dogs ice cubes, as they can cause bloat because they make the stomach muscles contract.
Ordinary fresh tap water is enough to keep them cool when they drink, and if the worst should happen and the dog get heatstroke then use orginary water and soak the dog to bring down the temperature, dipping it in if it is possible.
* ordinary!
Never heard of ice cubes making your stomach contract before, if that did that to a dog would it not happen to us too? I have never given ordinary tap water as I give boiled water which I have put in the fridge so it is cold, as in the winter they prefer to drink from water outside, and never done my dogs any harm in 20 years or so. I quite often freeze a tub of water and pop that in the dogs bowl too.
From the US:

After his class I took a hand full of ice and put it in his bucket with more water. I use a small Playmate cooler with
ice water in it also, have for over 15 years. I use small 2qt.
buckets. He had maybe � a bucket. After checking the dogs were cooled off we fed. He seemed like he was
choking, he was dry heaving and was real drooly.
He had not eaten, he was in some distress. I checked him over and did not notice anything. I walked him around
for about a min. when I noticed he was starting to Bloat. I did everything I was taught to do in this case. I was not able to get him to burp, and we gave him Phasezime.
The Show vet did not have a bloat kit, he referred us to the clinic on call, but that was closed.
After finding another clinic open we rushed to that. They
were set up and waiting and got him stable very fast. After he was out of distress we transported him to AVREC
were he went into surgery to make sure no damage was done to any of his vital organs.

In surgery the vet found that his stomach was in its normal
anatomic position. We went over the events up to the point of Bloating. When I told him about the ice water he asked why I gave him ice water, and said "I have been very lucky for the past 15 years." The ice water caused violent Muscle spasm in his stomach which caused the bloating. Even though I figured his temp was down enough to feed
and give him this ice water his internal temp was still high. Dr. Vogf stated that giving dog's ice to chew or ice water is a big NO NO; theres no reason for them to have ice/ice water. Normal water (room Temp.), or cooling with cold towels on the inner thigh is the best way. How Dr. Vogf
explained it to me was : If a person falls into a
frozen lake what happens to our muscles?
So if you do use ice and ice water, beware.


Sorry if that seemed a bit disjointed, but I tried to get it all in one message. This was a dog at a show in the United States, and the owner wanted to warn other people what could happen. It was crossposted to one of my dog groups.

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