Seasonal pet safety: heat, cold, fireworks, ticks

Most seasonal problems with animals repeat year after year and have the same causes. Here is a calendar of what to prepare for in advance.

Summer: heatstroke is the main danger

Dogs do not sweat. They cool themselves by breathing, and in heat that mechanism is not enough. Heatstroke develops within minutes and can be fatal.

• Never leave an animal in a car. Even in shade with a window cracked, the interior temperature becomes critical within 10–15 minutes.
• Walk early in the morning and late in the evening. During the day asphalt burns paw pads.
• The hand test: hold your palm on the asphalt for 7 seconds. If it is too hot for you, it is too hot for the animal.
• Water always available, including on trips.
• Extra care with flat-faced breeds, older animals and overweight animals — they overheat fastest.

Summer: windows

The season of cats falling from windows starts with the first warm weather. Insect mesh does not hold a cat's weight and creates a false sense of safety. You need metal screens. Tilt-and-turn windows left ajar are also dangerous: a cat gets stuck in the wedge-shaped gap, which often ends in severe injury.

Spring and summer: ticks and parasites

• Tick prevention is needed from early spring to late autumn, and year-round in mild winters. A vet chooses the product and schedule.
• Check the animal after every walk in grass: armpits, ears, neck, between the toes.
• Remove a tick with a proper tick remover, twisting rather than pulling. Do not use oil and do not burn it.
• After a bite, watch the animal for 2–3 weeks: lethargy, refusing food, dark urine mean going to a vet at once.

Autumn and winter: cold and chemicals

• De-icing salt on pavements damages paw pads. Wash or at least wipe the paws after a walk, and protective wax can be used before one.
• Animals lick the salt off their paws — and that is poisoning. This is the main winter cause of digestive upsets in cities.
• Short-coated, small, older and convalescing animals need clothing. That is not fashion but heat balance.
• Antifreeze is lethal and tastes sweet — animals drink it willingly. A few mouthfuls can kill. Wipe up spills in the garage.
• Knock on the bonnet before starting the engine: cats climb into warm motors.

Loud noises: fireworks, thunder, explosions

This is the most common reason animals go missing — especially dogs that break free of a lead in panic.

• On days when loud noises are expected, walk earlier and on a short lead or a harness that cannot be slipped.
• At home close the windows, draw the curtains, put on background sound — a TV or music.
• Make a refuge: an enclosed space the animal can crawl into — under a bed, in a wardrobe, in a carrier with a blanket over it.
• Do not pull the animal out of its refuge to "comfort" it. Let it stay where it feels safe.
• You can and should comfort an animal that seeks contact. The myth that "you reinforce the fear" does not hold up — fear does not work like a reinforced behaviour.

Holidays: dangerous food and decorations

• Chocolate, onion, garlic, grapes and raisins, xylitol in sweets, alcohol, cooked bones — all toxic or damaging.
• Tinsel and thread: cats swallow them, and that often ends in surgery.
• Candles, fairy lights, cables — up high or protected.
• Guests: on a day with many people, an animal is better off with its own quiet room than at the centre of attention.