Pets and Global Warming: Impacts of Global Climate Change on Animal Health
This climate crisis is not only changing the environment, but it also affects the health and life of our pets. Rising high global temperature, unstructured weather conditions, and changes in the environment are new challenges facing animals-from their physical health up to behaviors. Keeping them safe and healthy in this unpredictable world will come from knowing how global warming affects our furry friends.
- High Temperatures and Heat Stress
One of the most direct pet consequences in global warming is heat stress. Pets are more prone to overheating, heatstroke, and dehydration whenever the average temperature increases - especially during periods with hot summers. Unlike man, pets cannot sweat in the same way humans use as a method of controlling the body's temperature. Dogs cool off through panting, but this becomes difficult when the heat is too high.
Brachycephalic breeds, for example, the Bulldog and Pug, are much more prone to heat stress primarily because of their shortened muzzle. Cats are much less resistant to heat but are not entirely immune to dehydration and heat exhaustion should they be exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time during the day. Symptoms of heat stress in pets include panting, lethargy, vomiting, and even collapse. Heatstroke can be fatal if it is not relieved.
What's within Your Control?
• Water and a cool place to sleep must always be provided for pets.
• Never take pets out for walks especially when the sun is out (in most places during 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
• Never leave your pet in a car and park even for a couple of minutes.
- Elevated Parasite Exposure
Other parasites, like fleas and ticks, mosquitoes prefer warmer weather, as they can enjoy longer seasons. They are not only annoyed by pets but can cause so much disease on them, too. For instance, ticks can harbor Lyme's disease, while mosquitoes can harbor heartworms lethal to many animals.
Now that the pattern of the climate is expanding these breeds' cycles, pets are vulnerable all year round, regardless of what season may have previously kept them safe from there.
What You Can Do?
Use prescribed veterinarian-approved flea, tick, and heartworm preventatives regularly.
Inspect your pet's fur for parasites regularly if it has been outside.
• Have a tidy, well-manicured lawn so that they will not linger and multiply in one area.
- Changes in Ecosystems and Relationships with Wild Animals
Global warming is reshuffling the ecosystems, which means changing the population of wildlife and the habits of animals. Thus, those animals keep on moving to other places, making some habitats uninhabitable. They then come into contact with domestic pets. The more frequent it is, the higher the chances are of there being a transmission of diseases such as rabies or leptospirosis and even possible confrontations that may hurt the other animal.
Climate change is driving some wildfires and clearing in some areas, which drives wildlife into neighborhoods and cities where pets reside. The more evacuating of animals from their natural habitats may increase the odds of encounters between animals and species such as coyotes, raccoons, and snakes.
What Can You Do?
• Keep a keen eye on pets during outdoor activities and areas where wildlife is more likely to cross paths
• Be sure that pets are current on vaccinations, with particular emphasis on rabies and leptospirosis.
• Wildlife alerts in your area, especially when the wildlife migrates or when it is wildfire season.
- Air Quality and Respiratory Problems
Air pollution has recently become an issue for pets as a result of wildfires, dust storms, among other types of pollutants. Poor air quality exacerbates asthma in cats and obstacles in breathing by dogs, particularly breeds such as French Bulldogs and Boxers.
Even outdoor-loving dogs and cats can be impacted by the smoke, particulate matter, or smog by causing irritation within the lungs and coughing, wheezing, or difficult breathing.
What You Can Do?
•Keep your pets indoors if the air quality is poor or there is bad wildfire smoke.
•Make investments into air purifiers for a clean, filtered indoor air environment if needed.
• Bring inside your pets on very warm days when the quality of outside air is not good.
- Food and Water Safety
The threat of climate change is even affecting food and water safety for pets. Droughts, extreme temperatures, and impurities of water due to storms and flooding reduce the quality of that available water. It may be the water that cause pets sick just like their human owners-may have gastroenteritis or from harmful algae bloom effects.
Again, climate change could further influence pet food quality by changing agricultural production. Catastrophic weather may affect the availability and pricing of some of the ingredients. This can lead to deficiency or contamination of the pet supply.
What you can do?
•Ensure that your pet has fresh clean filtered water and do not let your pets drink from standing water outside.
• Aware of pet food recalls or warnings that have been issued by the pet food manufacturer, do not store pet food in damp and hot places.
• Products that carry a brand name associated with the pet food brand, which markets the production as safe and sustainable.
- Behavioural Changes and Anxiety
This stress of environmental changes can also be reflected by the behavior of pets. Like human beings, pets get influenced by the changes that are happening around them, and owing to this, they show anxiety, unrest, or destructive tendencies. For example, storms and hurricanes may create more chaos among animals sensitive to sound or those plagued with a change in routine.
For example, if the outdoor environment of a pet is unstable from extreme weather, this leads them to act up or become anxious. An upset routine in exercise routines or feeding time and a long period of confinements indoors can make pets develop behavioral problems.
•Keep pets relaxed at home by making use of toys, treats, and other ideas for relaxation like music or pheromone sprays.
• Provide a storm shelter for pets in case the weather gets extreme.
• Provide indoor plays and interactive skills for pets to keep brains stimulated if external utilization should be minimal.
Saving Pets from Climate Change
The climate crisis is giving us new headaches with pet owners, but something can be done about the influence it exerts on our pets if we notice and are active about it. We can watch changes in temperature, other environmental changes, and new health risks for our little pets to be kept safe and healthy as they face a changing world about them.
This altered climatic condition means a new responsibility on owners-to which end, feeding and housing and indulging them with love has now been transformed into adapting our strategies to care for our pets to protect them from the increased warmer threats globally. And having thought through the sustainable practices, we can help our pets as they navigate their way through this climatic crisis and enjoy happier and healthier lives.
