How to better protect your pets during winter

South Bellmore Veterinary Group Review: How to better protect your pets during winter

Animals need protection against hazardous weather conditions such as extreme colds or drop in temperatures. Your role as the pet owner is to give shelter and warmth to your pets to keep them safe against dangerous winter storms. South Bellmore Veterinary Group, as a group who takes care of animals as if they’re their own, would like every pet owner to better protect their pet and maintain its best health. The following paragraphs will elucidate a few steps on how to take care of pets during winter or the cold season.

Keep every pet indoors or create a sturdy shelter for pets living outside. If you have short-haired animals, you are advised to keep them indoors during winter. Give your cats the warmth and comfort they need inside your home since they will really be looking for shelter especially in cold seasons. Your dog needs to have a well-made and draft-free shelter, but you should make the space small enough to keep its body temperature inside. However, space should still let your dog move around. You also need to add something to the entrance of the shelter to cover it and put a straw or cedar shavings for proper insulation.

You also need to check the electrical cords properly and if needed, double check each of them if they’re away from any danger or if they’re in a good condition. Don’t forget even the cords of devices that warm water bowls. Put heat lamps on a good distance away from dry bedding materials to avoid accidents that could even lead to a fire.

Next requires you to jot down things since this includes the list of important things to remember to put on your pet’s emergency or survival kit. Any types of emergencies could happen anytime especially in risky weather conditions such as winter storms, so to keep the best health of your pet, better be prepared beforehand. Food and water will always be included in any emergency kits, South Bellmore Veterinary Group suggests storing at least a three-day supply for both food and water, and you better keep the foods on an airtight and waterproof container. Put the medicines and medical records in a safe and enclosed packaging together with other essential documents that contain the pet’s adoption papers, registration information, and vaccination documents. If you’re open to the idea of microchipping, further discuss the issue with your veterinarian and might as well enroll your pet in a recovery database.

Make sure if you also have enough stock of cotton bandage rolls, bandage tape, bandage scissors, latex gloves, isopropyl alcohol, a saline solution as well as antibiotic ointment, and flea and tick prevention for your pet’s first aid kit. Keep a reference book ready too to perform first aid on pets properly. Add a collar or harness with ID tag, along with rabies tag and a leash plus a secured and durable crate or pet carrier on your pet’s emergency kit.

In order to document ownership right away in case of unfortunate events such as you and your pet were separated during the evacuation, better keep a photo of you and your pet. You can also easily request help from other people if you add important characteristics of your pet such as its gender, age, breed, color, and species.

Your pet might become scared or stressed because of the bad weather condition, so in order to calm their mind, show them their favorite items where it can be a toy or some treats. You still need to maintain the proper hygiene of your pet so ensure to keep newspapers, paper towels, plastic trash bags and household chlorine bleach for the right sanitation of your pet’s litter box. Keeping an exotic pet requires added attention or special care, so see to it that you have the right bedding and habitat materials for this kind of pet.

Buy sweater or added clothing for your pets during winter to at least avoid frostbite and hypothermia. Don’t forget about your short-haired animals since they really need warmth and protection throughout the entire cold season. Wipe all your pet’s paws with a damp cloth if you used rock salt or other chemicals in melting the snow and ice outside your home because these elements can irritate your pet paw pads.

South Bellmore Veterinary Group would like you to treat the animals within your neighborhood with care, so if you’d happen to see some abandoned animals struggling in the tough weather, contact the animal care in your area or the local authorities to give shelter to those poor animals.