Fireworks, hot summer months can be stressful to pets

As you’re getting ready for the outdoor festivities this Fourth of July weekend, don’t forget to make plans to keep those furry friends in a cool, quiet, comfort zone.

Dr. Jack K. Thomas, Jr., the new owner of Animal Care Center of Pahrump, knows firsthand how fireworks can stress the pets or four-legged kids as he refers to them. His one shih tzu gets so terrified that he has to remove Jasper from the banging noise of fireworks for a short time.

Thomas often prescribes a sedative, acepromazine, for dogs and cats, if needed, to keep them calm, but cats are difficult to medicate.

“The kitties usually do a good job, they go underneath the bed or something and that’s the end of it,” Thomas said.

If a pet cannot be taken away from source of fireworks, Thomas recommends diverting or masking the sounds by turning up the television, running a loud fan or using another type of “cover” noise to muffle the impact of booms.

Thomas has a wealth of hot weather tips for our four-legged kids. A major one is not leaving them unattended in a vehicle, even if the air conditioning and motor are running. The motor could shut off and one may not even realize it.

The inside of the vehicle will turn into an oven.

According to Thomas, 137 degrees inside a car compares to an outside temperature of 100 degrees. He also doesn’t like to see dogs walking across hot blacktop.

“I tell people, if you can’t walk across that blacktop in your bare feet, then don’t take your (dogs) across it,” he said. “That’s why they’re walking so fast and they’re uncomfortable and they’re switching feet all the time because that blacktop is tragically hot. I carry my kids across the blacktop whenever we see it.”

It’s not a good idea to walk your dogs in the hot sun when it’s in the triple digits because they can get very dehydrated. Then they may go home, drink too much water and this may cause larger breeds to flip their stomach causing a life-threatening problem.

He recommends walking dogs early in the morning. Even late at night, it can still be in the 90’s and if they are playing in the park, they can still get overheated pretty quickly. So, he said you need to carry lots of water.

White and light-coated dogs are more prone to skin cancers, but all dogs can be at risk according to Thomas. They shouldn’t spend too much time outdoors. He sees a lot of cats and dogs for allergies which can sometimes turn into skin cancer. Any time your pet develops a lump or bump, get it checked Thomas advised.

Coyotes are a continuing problem here. Thomas has treated four coyote attacks in the last three weeks, and fortunately all the pets recovered. He added that it can be tragic, citing a case where a pet owner saw one of her chihuahuas being taken away by the coyotes. But, she was able to rescue her other one which Thomas was able to save.

“You gotta be real careful with coyotes,” Thomas urged. “Some people, they seem to like the fact that coyotes are outside their gates talking to their dogs, you know and they’re not. They’re not talking to their dogs, they’re sizing them up and trying to figure out a way to get into the yard.”

According to Thomas, coyotes can get over a four-foot fence with no trouble, sometimes even a six-foot fence.

He has a rattlesnake vaccine that he routinely recommends for pets he treats from Tonopah, Beatty, Goldfield, Death Valley and the surrounding region. It is usually for pets that roam off the leash in the desert or are hiking with their owners.

“That just gives you an extra six hours or so to get to an emergency facility,” he said. “You know we don’t have an emergency facility here in Pahrump. So, you have to go an hour and a half over the hump into Vegas for any sort of emergency after hours. And so, that gives you a little bit of extra time before the necrosis starts to eat away at the tissue and the bad things start to happen with the blood.”

Usually, any flea and tick problems for pet owners in Pahrump are from out-of-state visitors.

“We also have a lot of travelers that even go to California one day a month or something, or one day for a whole year,” Thomas said. “That one day is all you need to pick up ticks, come back, or get a heartworm infection from the mosquitoes. We don’t have a big mosquito problem here in Pahrump, we don’t have a big flea and tick problem here in Pahrump, but we do see those kind of things and so that’s why we watch it.”