Rescue Journal

this heat is very bad.

Carol  ·  Jul. 10, 2007

the dogs are irritable. kathy stopped a fight before it started with cole and jazz. jazz was in a really pissy mood this morning. lynn was badly bitten on the leg today when blind jazz was aiming for ben. ben is now with the other dogs and jazz is on her own in ben's room where it is a bit cooler...she is no longer pissy, she is virtually comatose with the heat. i have the fan directly on her, and she wakes up when i touch her but tomorrow is going to be even hotter and i am really worried about all of them. wilbur is gasping with the heat, michael is panting non stop and they are both in the coolest part of the house. i bought another commercial fan and some white tarps today for the dog room and tomorrow greg will hang the tarps outside the windows and cover the sky lights. i shifted the other fans around and will ask greg to install the air conditioner somewhere tomorrow too....i think maybe in the kitchen and then we can rotate the dogs thru there as they need cooling down.

i have some pretty grave concerns tho about jazz...i love that blind, deaf, stubborn, pee tank but it becomes a huge safety risk for not only humans but for the other dogs if she is going to start biting cuz she is too hot and in a bad mood, esp since she can't see exactly who she is biting. jazz has no clue how to inhibit her bite, she just chomps down for all she is worth. i am worried.

Comments

Janice

If you have too hose her down ..starting udnerside of her so she doest' get shockey .. or slow tip water from barn buckets on her .. She will not like this either. Last year this time i found Tdedy bear in troble, he is also a senior. I light sprayed him at first then got him soaken wet. There hide will absorb the mositure and it will keep them cool for a good period of time.

Chris T

Carol - don't forget there is another air conditioner here that you can have. You may also want to buy a portable. Although they are pricey you can move it around. You just need to hang the hose out the window.

Jean

Is there an area in the barn where you can soak the shavings for her so she can lie in something wet and cool? My pigs were tossing their water bowl to create a wet spot in their shavings and then lying in that. Just an idea.
I also picked up a small child's pool from Cdn Tire for $9, cut down one side a bit, put some water in, and then scattered pieces of apple in it to encourage them to go in it. That worked fairly well until Scotch discovered it was easier to hold down one edge of the pool with his feet, watch all the water run out, and grab the apples as they floated by! Still, could work for Tunie, and it did make a nice wet place for them to root and lie down after.
How are the rabbits surviving the heat???? I've heard they are very susceptible to heat distress.

Carol

tunie was in acute distress by the time i made it out to the barn, she stayed in the barn and i had the doors and windows open but it was still too hot for her today...she was panting, grunting, trying to bite me when i came near her, she was laying in the shavings in the middle of the barn ...i couldn't even get her to eat an apple soaked in water....we set a fan up on her and she eventually cooled off a bit and got up for dinner. i will put the fan over top of her tomorrow pointing right at her. such a worry, this heat.
and the grass ain't looking so good tonight either.

i went to see lynne and re-dressed her leg, glad i did cuz the doc missed the 3 cm tunnel there from one of jazz's teeth, i flushed that out and packed it so it will heal better.
sorry lynne, that is a nasty bite.

Jean

I used to freeze ice in buckets like ice-cream pails, and sit them in front of the fans - it really did make quite a difference (and the dogs like to lick at the giant icecube as it melts!).

It was 37 degrees in the shade up here at 3:30 today according to my thermometer - about four degrees warmer than the "official" temperature for Mission. That means it will likely hit 40 here tomorrow.

Janice

This afternoon i soaked a towel and washed both dogs faces off.. fans going . this morning i took the hose around to all pens and soaked the grounds and filled pools and water dishes.. i wish you too were on city water there.. and easier for me i'm not working

Would buckets of ice in front of the fans help .. i dunno ..

Mo

I am worried with you Carol, if we can just make it through the next few days, relif is in sight... perhaps not Jazz's sight because she doesn't have any, but by the weekend it it may cool off & give everyone a cooling off period.. all my guys are spread out on the kitchen floor & I've put off the dogs walk till a bit later in the evening... which is hard cuz once my butt hits the couch at night... it is used to staying there Lol