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IRELAND IS BRACED for a week of exceptionally warm weather, with temperatures set to reach the high twenties in most parts of the country.
Met Éireann has issued a nationwide Status Yellow high temperature warning from tomorrow until Tuesday, with some places set to experience highs of up to 32 degrees.
With this in mind, pet owners are being urged to keep their pets cool and hydrated over the coming days.
Head of education at the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) Gillian Bird told The Journal that the charity is advising people not to take their pets with them on car journeys if they’re heading out to stay in the sun.
Pets should never be left alone in a parked car, or be kept in a car for a prolonged period of time in hot weather. “It gets so hot in cars. It is really, really hot,” Bird said.
According to the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA), if the temperature outside is 22 degrees, the temperature inside a car can reach 47 degrees. It can reach fatal temperatures in under ten minutes if it’s 30 degrees or hotter outside.
As pets pant to lower their body temperature, if the air becomes too hot inside a car and they are recycling very hot air, panting won’t help them cool down.
“Don’t bring your pet with you is what we’re saying to people, unless you are sure that the journey is going to be reasonably short, you’re going to be able to keep your pet nice and cool in the car and that your destination allows you to bring dogs,” Bird said.
At home, owners should ensure that pets have access to shade and plenty of fresh, cool water both indoors and outdoors throughout the day. The water should be refilled often, and steel bowls should be avoided as they will absorb the heat.
Owners can also invest in a paddling pool or a cooling mat to keep their pet’s temperature down.
Those with dogs should avoid walking them in the afternoon, when the temperature is at its hottest, and opt for early morning or evening walks instead, ensuring that they always have fresh, cool water with them.
People should also check the ground before taking dogs for a walk or letting a pet outside, as it can burn their paws if it gets very hot.
“Tarmac, concrete and sand can get extremely hot. If you wouldn’t walk in your bare feet or for any length of time in your bare feet, it’s going to burn your dog’s feet,” Bird said.
“Dogs sweat through their feet. One of the ways they regulate their temperature is through their feet, and if the ground is really, really hot, even if they’re not going to burn themselves, it will increase the chances of them getting heatstroke because they can’t cool down.”
As pets can get sunburned, especially dogs with thin coats and white hair, owners can apply sunscreen to the tips of their ears and the bridge of their nose if necessary. Bird said that this should only be done after checking with a vet, who can advise on a suitable sunscreen that will not be harmful for pets.
Exercising older, overweight dogs when it’s very hot outside should be avoided. This also goes for brachycephalic, or snub-nosed dogs, such as Bulldogs, Pugs, Boston terriers and Shih Tzus, Bird said.
“We had two cases this week already of these dogs that nearly died of heat exhaustion and they were out early in the morning going for a short ten-minute walk,” she said.
“Their noses are very short, they have difficulty when it comes to cooling down because of the panting and the shortness of breathing, so you do need to be very careful with those.
If you are going to bring them for a walk, make sure it’s really early in the morning or it’s late at night and only a short walk with plenty of fresh water. If the temperatures do go as high as they are meant to, our best advice to anybody who has got a smaller, shorter-nose dog is to keep them cool in the garden or in the house. Don’t look at exercising them at all.
Bird said that cats will usually look after themselves, but it’s best to keep them indoors as much as possible. If outside, make sure they have access to shade, cool water and that they don’t get locked in sheds or greenhouses.
Hutches for smaller pets like rabbits or guinea pigs should be kept in the shade in the house and in the garden, and they should have plenty of water.
“Make sure there isn’t any part of the day where your rabbit is going to be exposed to the sun during the day or if they are, they can get away from it. If you think about the heat that could actually build up in a wooden hutch, and your rabbit had no way of escaping, it’s basically an oven for them,” she said.
People who don’t have pets can also leave bowls of fresh, cool water outside for passing dogs or cats, as well as for birds and other wildlife.
“It’s always a nice thing to put out saucers or shallow bowls of fresh water for the birds as well. We have to remember the wildlife as well at this time of year,” Bird added.
Heat stroke risk
This week, the ISPCA and the Irish Blue Cross have both warned that heat stroke can be fatal for pets.
Some of the signs that a dog or a cat is suffering heat stroke include a temperature, weakness or lethargy, restlessness, not eating their food, excessive panting or heavy breathing, and drooling.
Dry gums or a change in gum colour from pink to dark red, pale, purple or blue is another indicator. They may also collapse or vomit in severe cases.
Anyone who suspects that their pet may be suffering from heat stroke should contact their vet immediately and keep them in the shade with small amounts of cool water while they contact a vet.
Bird recommends that people double check what the emergency number for their vet is ahead of the hot weather.
“It’s always a good plan to have the emergency number anyway, but especially in this weather, and if you are going away for the weekend or you’re going to a holiday home, maybe contact a local vet there and say to them: ‘Listen, if I needed to use the services, what number could I ring?’”.
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Sure. Like the sugar Tax that none went back to where it was meant to and car tax.
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: the sugar tax is to discourage the fatties from consuming sugar which makes people fat and motor tax goes into general taxation that then pays for all the road infrastructure.
Both can be readily avoided with the right life-choices.
@Fozz: do your homework buddy. Because you’re wrong.
@Fozz: These taxes are going to pay for the public service pay and pensions bill and nothing else, its totally unsustainable already and the next recession will see the chickens come home to roost again…..their filthy greed will sink us all.
@Fozz: making the right life choices – could you be more condescending ??? plenty of people need to drive out of necessity to earn a living or work /do business on this wonderful lsland – nothing to do with making the right life choices – such a self centred view of the world not to mention ill informed.
So let me get this straight. You want to take money off polluting companies and then literally hand that money to working families across Ireland? Good for the climate and for society as a whole. Where do I sign up?
@Kev: Becareful what a politician says.
Ireland owes €200+ billion due to the crash and another one on the way. So when these people say we are going to give you money back…it’s time to check the small print because Joe Public never wins!!
@Kev: In Cloud Cuckoo Land. You can get the forms at the Water Charge Office, but opening hours are are restricted to just before the next election.
@Kev: don’t be so naive this is the usual spin we get before some new tax is implemented, but just worded different.
I would not trust the Government to refund a red cent.
@Peter Buchanan: i wouldn trust this government or the next
Carbon off set companies should be illegal, it like drunk drivers paying into a fund for victims so that they can continue driving drunk.
@Life is short enjoy it: I couldn’t say it better
Sounds good, as presented. How soon before reality strikes and “dividends” are reduced because … well just because … any deception will do.
In all my life, I have never heard such a lot of hot air rubbish as that which permeates this whole climate action debate. When a politician explains to me what will happen when we get a three week, winter, blocking high pressure event, where the power is going to come from, I will be listening.! And don’t tell me batteries. Nuclear from the UK and France, but sorry, such a weather event is often “continental” and they will need every Kw. of power themselves.
No, we need a really well planned native, cyclical biomass system. CHP in every town. All subsidies to that end, not producing beef cattle for the commodity market. This would be of massive ecological and rural economic benefit. Farmers would be far better off, but can’t as yet see it.
BUT, horror, horror, horror All. We and all in the temperate and cold zones, are also going to have to engage with the dirty word. Nuclear. Generation 4, molten salt, mass produce modular units. Very little to do with the old types, except they feed on the former’s noxious wastes. Problem is, though they are a thousand times safer, and ten times more efficient for energy production, they are useless for bomb making.
http://www.bene.ie for information.
Finland is probably Europe’s most advanced society. Wonder do the Green Party there support nuclear.? Of course.
We’re still paying for E.Ryan’s last time in Government. We like to preach to 4.7m Irish, 10% of who want to believe they alone can save the Galaxy. If we were serious about it we’d be preaching to the 5 Billion people in the World that haven’t even heard about Climate Change. It’s difficult to leave the comfort of our little country for the potential dangers of delivering the Climate Change Gospel to people that have to scrape a living to survive.
@John Declan: News recently blamed older diesel cars for poor air quality due to congestion, do you know which party caused a generation of car owners onto to diesel, The Green Party. I don’t hear them talking about cleaning up their own mess they caused. They get elected on 1 policy, the environment.
Correct. They neatly blew the motor industry into space and had us all switch to diesel. Greens not to be trusted about economics as they don’t think things out. Guarantee this will cost the taxpayer! . Shades of cash for ash in the north
Nothing change with the green dreamers.
If they taxes their own bull the national bankers debt would be paid off in notime
Surely , Irish people are smarter now…
This is way way too good to be true. It is a brilliant idea, the wealthy who cause more pollution, more holidays, bigger cars, bigger houses will be taxed and subsidising those who are poorer. It is way too progressive to be implemented, there has to be a catch
” A really good bus service in Rural Ireland” Now that really is laughable—-Some people have to drive for up to 15 or 20 miles over narrow potholed boreens to the nearest bus stop. Eamon Ryan has absolutely idea about life in Rural Ireland, but it’s nice to spout a lot of Pius Platitudes, the Irish equivalent of saying “Let them eat cake”
Let me get this right, The Goverment want to give your average Joe Soap money back, call me naive but there is something wrong with this picture, great idea but I can’t see the average Joe getting a penny!
Can I have my overpayment of Motor Tax on my petrol car since 2008 back please,
since I did just 3000 miles a year (low carbon footprint) and did not spew out soot and fumes and noxious gases like diesel cars …. promoted by the daft Greens (Ryan’s Green Daughters!)
Sign the petition before they create another mess!
https://www.change.org/p/unfair-irish-car-carbon-tax-law
Ridiculous stupid idea that won’t work carbon tax that people will win riot against corrupt government
So the only people that will lose out are those that cant afford to upgrade their heating systems and cars to lower their carbon footprint and those that have enough money to have their house A rated and newer lower emission cars meaning a lower carbon footprint will benifit… more money for the rich as usual
there are about 100 corporations on this planet that account for 60+ % of all the emissions and yet the governments are intent on shifting this problem to make the public pay instead of engaging on a global level to really get to an authentic polluter pays solution……..how are we so brainwashed to see the plastic coca cola bottles as a problem of our own making when they could have just kept selling it in glass bottles …….
PLAIN AND SIMPLE USE THE CARBON TAX FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY. AND PAY THE LOWER INCOMES BACK IN FREE ELECTRICITY ETC ETC.
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