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Cold Weather Tips
Antifreeze, rat and mouse poison and most wildlife deterrents are poisonous to dogs. Antifreeze smells and tastes sweet to them, while the other products have been made to be tasty to animals in general, and that unfortunately includes your pets. Even diluted antifreeze is poisonous, and just a few pieces of rat poison are enough to kill a medium sized dog. Call the Poison Control Center should this happen to you, and get immediate help for your pet.
Never leave a pet alone in a car in the winter. It’s nowhere near as fast as the heat of summer, but a car is like a refrigerator and can remain cold enough even with the sun out to slowly freeze them to death, especially when you consider they can’t even exercise to build up any body heat, should they need to.
Keep your dog on a leash outdoors. Besides being the law, a dog wandering off during a snowstorm will quickly lose his scent and not be able to find his way back to you, or home, possibly becoming impossibly lost. Always be sure your pet is wearing their ID tags.
Never shave your pet’s fur short in the winter. They need their coat, even for short trips outdoors to prevent frostbite.
When your dog comes in from outdoors, check his feet, legs and stomach for sleet, snow, ice and salt. Wipe of off to help your pet get warm. If there is much ice and show on them, check for frostbite.
Cats outdoors will look for warmth wherever they can find it. Finding it under the hood of a car on a warm engine can be fatal for them. If you know there are cats in your area, bang loudly on the hood before you start your car, to scare them into leaving. You don’t want the engine starting to make them flee into the spinning fan or the belts spinning round and round. It’s a common occurrence to find a cat under the hood in many places.
Puppies and elderly dogs just do not have the energy or perseverance to survive in the cold. Keep them inside, letting them out only long enough to go to the bathroom.
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Cats can easily freeze when exposed to the elements and even with thick fur, are not built for winter weather. Ears, pads of the feet, eyelids and tails freeze first, and then it gets painful and nasty for the pet. Please, keep them indoors when the weather is cold.
If your pet does spend a lot of time outdoors, by their own choice, and you wish to allow it, be certain they have plenty of good, healthy food high in protein for meals to keep their fur and bodies in good shape.
Be certain your pet has a warm and comfortable place to sleep which is off the floor, free of all drafts and with a warm blanket and/or pillow to lay on. Your pets are just as susceptible as you are to drafty places to sleep.
Keep track of your pets at all times, winter or summer, and try to always insure their comfort and health; they and you will love a long and happy relationship that way. Cats in particular might seem like they could not care less, but they sure make good use of any luxury they’re provided with in my experience! And dogs, well, I’m convinced that a dog saved my life so I’m really tuned into them, too.
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