Cooling Hot Pets, Dogs Left in Cars

Heat from the inside or outside
Did you know that all overheated pets shouldn’t all be cooled the same way?

Think of heat as either coming from within a pet or coming from the outside the pet. For example, if a pet has an infection causing a fever, the heat is coming from the inside. If a pet has just been burned, heat is coming from the outside.

To ice or not to ice, that is the question
Hot pets need to be cooled quickly, whether heat is from the outside or the inside; the way we cool them, though, is different. When the pet’s own body is generating the heat--when it has an infection and fever--use a fan and spray cool water on the skin. This creates evaporative cooling and pulls heat from the surface.

If cool water is good, wouldn’t ice be better? No. Don’t apply ice to the skin because it closes down or vasoconstricts the vessels. Vasoconstriction prevents blood from reaching the surface where it can be cooled by the air. Pets with internal heat stay hot longer if we use ice than if we use fans and cool water spray.

When ice is nice
On the other hand, when an animal has a burn and heat is carried from the outside of the body to the inside, ice helps. Ice vasoconstricts blood vessels so that less blood floods to the interior carrying heat with it; and ice numbs the pain.

Dogs left in the car
Dogs that become hyperthermic because they’re left in a car (or dogs left outside without shade) are treated as though they have a fever because they've been baked. Just as brownies from the oven are hot on the inside, dogs left in hot cars are hot on the inside.

These dogs are best cooled with water and fans, not with ice. Although the heat source was from outside the pet’s body, the body becomes so hot it acts as though it is generating the heat. So, cool water and fans are the best emergency care for these pets.

Be Safe - No Dogs In Cars!
Whether to use ice or fans and spraying water will never be an issue if we don't leave dogs in cars in the summer. I hope you never need to remember the right way to cool your pet!