Keeping Pets Safe While Traveling

Summer is a time for vacations, weekend trips and get aways.  When you travel from home, Milwaukee Paws will be there to keep your pets happy and safe!  However, if you plan on taking your pet with you, there are a few things to keep in mind to keep pets safe while traveling.

ASPCA has a great article on traveling with pets, especially when traveling by air!   Read it here!  The article points out the importance of making sure your pet has a collar with tags engraved with ID, being prepared so your pets stress is minimized and your fun is maximized.

It is important to remember to NEVER leave your pet in a car in summer.  Even a car with its windows cracked open can become exceedingly hot and place your pet in danger.  ASPCA states that a car in 70 degree heat outside can have an internal temperature of over 90 degrees in a short time!  When the outside temperatures are 85 degrees, the temperature inside your car can rise to over 120 degrees in about 30 minutes!  Click here for more information.

Keep your pets cool:

It's important to remember that pets will often not let you know if they are too warm until it's too late.  When outside, remember to offer cool water regularly. There are plenty of collapsable bowls or water bottles geared towards pets on the market that you can take with you like the LumoLeaf Portable Pet Water Bottle which is a bottle and an attached bowl in one unit.

Black top and metal grates in sidewalks and roads become very hot quickly in the heat.  Keep pets off of black top as much as possible and remember to follow the guideline: if it's too hot for you to place your hand on for 10 seconds, it's too hot for your dogs pads!  Dogs pads are sensitive and can be burned by walking on hot asphalt or metal grates.  Instead, opt for shady areas, grassy areas or stay indoors in middays.

We do a majority of our walks middays, but when the weather is over 90 degrees, the walks are kept shorter and our walkers spend time indoors working on cognitive enrichment for pets.

Keep their diets consistent:

It can be tempting to offer your pet some food from the family barbecue or picnic, but don't do it.  Many foods that we enjoy are actually detrimental or toxic to dogs.  Food items like Grapes, avocado, onions and chocolate are all harmful to pets.  The Humane Society puts out a nice list of foods that are harmful to pets. Read it here

Keeping Fido from the barbecue also minimizes the chances that he/she will experience gastro-intestinal upset.  Even a small change in diet can cause a pet to experience nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Keep their skin protected

Pets can get sunburned or bit by insects.  They need sunscreen, just like their humans do, but not the same sunscreen!  Make sure you only apply a pet safe sunscreen like Epic-Pet Sun Protector Spray  There are many varieties on the market, the point is to find one approved for pets.  Human sunscreen contains chemicals that are harmful to pets such as zinc oxide.  Vetstreet has a more comprehensive article on sun protection for pets here.

Regular use of flea and tick prevention is especially important in summer.  Consult your veterinarian for flea and tick prevention as well as heart worm prevention.