Keeping Pets COOL

All our furry friends, from dogs and cats to rabbits, are in danger of overheating in high temperatures. Here's how to help.

- JENNIFER BILLOCK

One hot summer day, Jo Myers, a Colorado-based veterinarian for the pet telehealth company Vetster, got a panicked phone call from a dog owner. The dog had been exercising outdoors and gotten overheated. Myers noticed a lot of background noise on the call and asked the dog owner about it.

"She'd decided to put her overheating dog in the car, put the top down and drive around in the heat," Myers says. "It's like 95° out, so now the dog's not even in an air-conditioned car!"

Luckily the owner and her dog were close to the clinic, and she drove right over. The dog ended up fine, but Myers uses this as an example of what not to do when a pet is overheated.

"What I would have preferred she do was, as soon as she noticed the dog was overheated-having trouble standing up, weak and all that-throw them in the tub or hose them down while calling me," she says.

This is a good lesson for pet owners, and it highlights the importance of keeping all pets cool-even if they're indoor pets.

Hints That a Pet Is Too Hot