By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
With heat reaching the triple digits this week, it's important to do what is necessary to keep your pet cool, according to Erica Miller, DVM, with Apple Lane Animal Hospital.
"A lot of times what we talk about is everyone's always like, oh, you know, I normally walk my dog when I get off work or over my lunch hour, the hottest part of the day, right?," Miller said. "Now exercising your pet, think about first thing in the morning, late, kind of later in the evening, you know, last night probably around 7:30 or so, it's starting to kind of cool down, the sun's going down, so not quite as bad."
The reason to wait is to avoid injuries to their feet.
"It's hot, so if you can't walk around without socks and shoes on, you know, think about your pet too," Miller said. "We see a lot of burns on the paw pads because the cement's hot and they don't have any way to tell us and all they can think about is they're so excited to go on a walk and exercise with you, and so that's something else to think about as well."
There's no interventional treatment that can speed recovery much once those burns have happened.
"It's time," Miller said. "A lot of times we'll kind of do some like salve, some ointment on the pads and sometimes if they're bad enough we have to wrap them, which how many dogs like to have their paws wrapped and how many owners like to keep the wraps on the paws and that normally means we have a cone of shame on."
Just keep those pads clean and dry if you do have burns, and contact your veterinarian.