By Dr. Sonnya Crawford

Grays Harbor Veterinary Clinic

Summer is here, and it’s important to keep yourself cool — but you need to make sure to keep your senior dog cool, too.

Senior dogs have special concerns. In general, dogs are considered seniors at age 7 for small to medium breeds and 5 to 6 for giant and large breeds. Senior dogs are more sensitive to heat than their younger canine friends and can easily fall victim to heatstroke. Dogs that have short noses or heart/breathing problems, or are overweight, are even more at risk. It falls upon their human companions to make sure they don’t over-exercise or stay outside too long on warm days.

There are many ways that you can help keep your older dog cool. The easiest and most common-sense way is to keep them indoors on warm days. This is especially important if the family or younger dogs are outside playing; your senior dog isn’t able to recognize that they are getting overheated and stop playing themselves, so it is best to just leave the old guys in the house where they won’t overdo it.

Bringing out a kiddie wading pool and filling it to a safe level is a great way to help your elder dog cool off. While heavy swimming could easily exhaust an older dog, wading into the water is a great alternative. If the family is swimming in a lake or river and wants to take him, be sure to invest in a doggie life jacket. Sporting goods stores have some good options. Too many times older dogs become exhausted while swimming and go under, inhaling water and developing aspiration pneumonia.

As a rule of thumb, don’t expect your senior dog to do anything more strenuous than you would want your elderly grandmother to do in the heat.

Ice thrown into your dog’s water dish will also help cool him down on hot days, as will doggie “pup-sicles.”

Here are some quick, yummy recipes to try:

Yogurt Pops

Ingredients:

32 oz of either plan or vanilla yogurt

1 banana

3 tablespoons peanut butter

1 tablespoon honey

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in large mixing bowl.

Pour mixture into ice cube trays and freeze until firm.

Frozen Meat Treats

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked meat

¾ cup plain low-fat yogurt

A little bit of finely chopped parsley

1 cooked and mashed carrot

3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl.

2. Spoon mixture into ice cube trays and place in freezer until hard.