How to keep pets safe in the winter

If you’re cold in the winter’s frigid weather, imagine how your furry friends Fluffy and Fido must feel. If a pet is like a family member, the animal should be treated as such, especially when the temperatures drastically drop below zero.

“Really, in all honesty, what we do here at the shelter — and this is why we close on colder days — if it’s not safe for people to be out, it’s not safe for pets to be out,” said Joy Durham, Clarke County Animal Shelter manager.

Safety tips

Durham recommended many tips for keeping animals safe in the cold, including increasing the amount of food because pets’ metabolism burns through the food, checking water frequently because it freezes and making sure hay, straw and blankets are dry for warmth.

“Once it gets wet, it’ll freeze and the dog or cats fur can actually freeze, too,” she said.

Durham said to bring animals inside into the heat, or even into a garage that gets the pets out of the wind. A dog house can help an animal, but what will help the most is being out of the cold completely.

She also recommended investing in a wire kennel and heated water bowls.

When it comes to cows and livestock, Durham said it’s important to have sheds or lean-tos.

When outside

However, pets like dogs can’t stay indoors all day, they need to be let out to use the bathroom or go for a short walk.

Pets’ paws should also be checked a lot because the pads will get raw and cut open. When dogs run on ice, their paw pads can easily be cut. Dirt and rocks in the ice can also hurt and be dangerous.

On Wednesday, Jan. 7, when temperatures were dangerously cold and schools had cancelled, animals at the shelter were taken outside for three to five minutes at a time.

Durham said even the big dogs like German shepherds were not used to being out in the bitter elements with winds, no cover and blowing snow.

Durham’s American, English and French bulldogs are the first of her animals to get cold while outside and want to come back into the heat.

“The worst part is people think that pit bulls and some or your bigger dogs, they are the easiest to freeze to death because they have absolutely no body fat,” she said. “If you look at a pit bull, it’s all muscle. Muscle does not generate body heat.”

Wind chill

As the winter months continue and the temperatures slowly rise above zero, people should know, if the temperature is hovering around 25 to 30 degrees, the wind chill can still dip below zero on the slightly warmer days. Those wind chills can dangerously cut through a dog or cat’s fur.

“They don’t have a coat to put on to block out any of it,” Durham said. “If you can, bring them in … the wind is just as bad as the chilling temperatures.”