There is no shadow of a doubt in the belief that pets are family. There should not be no discrimination in the way we treat our favourite human beings (relatives, friends, et al) over the way we treat our little fur balls of joy. In fact, if anything, we must treat our pets to the best of our demeanour, because they are more usual than not more trustworthy than human beings can be any day (tongue in cheek).
Winter is not just coming, it is here already. And we at SafetyKart, are here to make an appeal to not differentiate in the way we think the winters affects us and our beloved pets; and that is precisely what the reason was for the introductory preachy paragraph. The pets suffer from the adversities of cold just the same way a we do, and so we must take extra care of them. And hence, we give you a comprehensive list of 9 winter safety tips for pets:
Keep your pets indoors
The most basic of them all, but also the most neglected of all the thoughts in a pet owner. If we see fur on our pet dog or a cat, we think that they are safe from winters by default, but they are far from it. The way you yourself avoid going out much in the winters, in the same way the pets should also be kept wary of the harmful effects that going out in the cold may incur. And so, it is best to keep you pet mostly indoors in the winters.
Give them a cloth to wear
As the extension of the previous tip, we must stress sufficiently hard to explain the fact that the fur of the pets on its own is not enough to cover them from the winter cold. Hence, it is absolutely mandatory that they be given a lot of warm cloth to keep themselves covered through the season. Most probably than not, they will not be able to tell you when they are feeling cold, so it is better to take this step as a precaution than a cure.
Take extra care if your pet spends most of the time outdoors
Since your pets behave almost as your children do, they will not listen to you even when you take extra care of trying to keep them inside. Hence, you should make some more arrangements for them outside your house in case they like to spend their time outdoors. Build them a small shelter outside to keep them warm during their brief expeditions.
Increase their usual pet feed
Food has calories and carbohydrates that provides the energy to the body to keep itself warm. The same goes for the pet bodies. Hence, the diet that your pets were in summers and spring will definitely not be sufficient for them in the biting cold winters. In fact, they themselves will feel hungrier than usual because their body extracts the energy in more quantities this summer.
But having said this..
Check the diet every now & then
You still must make it a habit to check and double-check their extra diet in the winters because if they do not play & work out for the same amount of time as they usually do in other seasons, they will get fat and develop problems in the body. And winters are not the greatest time to be caught ill either, because the body takes longer to respond to treatment. This happens more in older pets, so beware.
Bang your cars before starting
The warmth of your car’s engine attracts a lot of stray wildlife from around, especially cats & dogs of your neighbourhood. They climb up your tyres or your car’s chassis and cuddle up for a sleep there. Hence, it’s always a good idea to bang on your car’s bonnet first before driving it off. It is essential for the safety of the animals that may be sleeping.
Help stray wildlife out in the cold
It is not just your own pet that you should take extra care of in the winters, it is also the stray animals that you may find on the roadside that you must provide warmth to. You should donate clothes and blankets to these animals because they will never speak if they are feeling cold unlike human beings.
Check the pet’s paws
Because the winters makes the roads and the floor biting cold, it is possible that your pets may not even know that they are injured. So, always check their paws whenever they come back from their outside strolls or play-time.
Recognize problems
It is always better to identify the problems as soon as possible than to feel bad later. If your pet starts behaving in an abnormal way, consult a veterinarian as soon as it is possible. The pets usually whine and make sad voices when injured or cold, so take care.
Feature Image Source: bluecross.org.uk
This post was first published here in December 2015
