TUCSON, Ariz. - When the weather's this hot, people can hurt their pets without even knowing.
Pima Animal Care Center says it's seeing 10 to 15 cases a day of animal abuse and neglect related to heat.
Sometimes people don't understand how easy it is to endanger a dog.
Pima Animal Care director Kristen Auerbach says, "Just the other day, we had someone come in to get a license, and they left their dog in the back of their car in when it was over 100 degrees. And they felt terrible. Their dog went into heat distress, we gave it prompt medical care, and sent her to onto her private that but she wasn't even aware that the dog was in distress”
Dogs have an especially tough time coping with heat. They can only shed heat through their tongues and the pads on their feet.
We had no trouble finding pavement around 150 degrees. Light colored pavement was not really cooler.
Booties are recommended to help prevent burns but because they enclose the dogs feet they can reduce the dog's already limited ability to shed body heat.
And boots or no boots, the dog's whole body is still close to the hot pavement.
Sometimes people will leave their dog in the yard in the morning, thinking the dog will have plenty of shade throughout the day but they failed to account for the way the sun angle will change as the day goes on so a dog that might have plenty of shade at one time of the day, could have little or no shade at the other part.
Pet experts say if you touch the pavement and it's too hot for you. It's too hot for your dog. It's best to take most of those walks in the cool of the morning or evening.
