As a pet transportation company, our Pet2Vets drivers have seen a fair share of emergencies, non-fatal and fatal, unfortunately.
It is heartbreaking to get a call from a desperate and frantic Pet Parent who is distressed because his or her pet, mostly dogs in this case, have either stopped breathing or are actively dying right in front of them.
Sadly, in our experience, some of these unfortunate events could have been prevented. Pet Parents need to realize that pets suffer and die when they are left outside, sometimes without adequate shade and water, or left in parked vehicles even when the windows are half open. The rule is, if it’s too hot for you to be outside of your Air Conditioned room, or too hot to be inside your vehicle with the windows half open, it is the same for fur babies. The Arizona heat during the summer is extremely dangerous and uncomfortable, both for humans and animals.
Just during the first week of July, we retrieved 3 dogs who died of heat exposure. One of them was taken to the Emergency Clinic barely breathing with an internal temperature of 106 degrees, it was determined that he had internal organ damage and a brain injury and he had to be put down. Sadly this dog was left outside for hours and he suffered a heat stroke.
If you have to leave your dog outside, keep your pet as comfortable as you can by providing a place with shade and plenty of water, investing less than $20 in a kid’s pool at Walmart can mean the difference. Large dogs can go into the pool with no problem and it offers much-needed relief if they are left outside. For smaller dogs, you can get a dishpan for less than $3, this is something that your dog will definitely use when outside, and the advantage is that it will cool them down and keep them hydrated. The ideal scenario would be that you can keep your pets inside the home in the Heavenly relief of Air Conditioning, but if this is not an option, at least make sure that you provide a safer alternative to avoid your pet baking in the not so forgiving Arizona heat.
Pets are our companions, they are not disposable and they bring us an unmeasurable amount of Love, Joy, and Loyalty. It is very humbling to us at Pet2Vets when we witness how the majority of our Pet Parents care for and love their pets. But it’s important to understand that being aware of the dangers of how heat can kill a pet is paramount so that Pet Parents don’t put their fur babies at risk. Many pets don’t survive heat stroke, and if they do, they will incur a high Vet bill, placing the pet in medical danger and the parent in financial distress.