This hot weather is both wonderful and a cause for concern as Heidi’s heart really struggles when she gets warm. We feel we have it pretty sussed now as she has a Canine Cooler which goes with us to most places.
Cooling down after a walk
We tend to cart it around with us so that she has somewhere really comfortable to go in the house when she needs to cool off quickly but the most important one for me is travelling in the van as it can be so hard to regulate the temperature, especially when sitting in a traffic jam. The Cool Bed fits snugly in her crate and she has a piece of VetBed that she can manoeuvre around inside her crate so if she wants a bit of extra comfort it’s there on hand (or paw).
The benefit of this bed over one of the jackets you can buy is that she can move on and off it at leisure so she cannot get too cool (and it won’t chill as it’s not cold enough for that).
The vinyl cover enclosed a memory core which is filled with lots of cold water (like a water bed but not slooshy – it’s firmer than that). The water temperature always remains lower than body temperature and draws any heat away from the body which cools it down.
Yesterday I timed how long it took Heidi to go from really drawing for breath after a short walk to being asleep on her CoolBed and not panting. I thought it would take about five minutes and was delighted when I found it to be under 1 minute! It’s good to know that in an emergency we can cool her down so effectively.
Cool dog on her Cool BedI originally imported the bed from America for Meg as she used to overheat horribly when she was younger and had terrible problems breathing she was panting so hard. I was delighted with it from day one and looked into ways of getting some of here but that only happened recently. We now hold stock of the Cool Beds and are very happy to help spread the word and recommend them very highly.
I hesitated at the price originally but Meg’s is over 5 years old now which works out at £10 a year (and decreasing). I think I can now factor in the health benefit for both of them and a reduction of worry for me when we are travelling.
For more details go to http://mekuti.co.uk/caninecooler.htm ( 30 day money back guarantee applies).
It’s good to have something which cools her without wetting her or the use of electricity. She’s on it now waiting for her medication – a little like an appetiser before her main meal!
R