- Jan
- 5
Help Animals This Winter
Posted by Guest Blogger at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Although they are equipped with fur coats, dogs and other animals can still suffer from frostbite, exposure, and dehydration when water sources freeze. Cold temperatures mean extra hardship for “backyard” dogs, who often go without adequate food, water, shelter, or medical care. When the temperatures nosedive and you start piling on the layers, it’s also important to remember your wild neighbors.
• Take animals inside. Puppies and kittens, elderly animals, small animals, and dogs with short hair, including pointers, beagles, pit bulls, Rottweilers, and Dobermans, are particularly susceptible to the elements. Short-haired animals will also benefit from warm sweaters or coats.
• Don’t allow your cat or dog to roam freely outdoors. In cold weather, cats sometimes climb under the hoods of cars to be near warm engines and are badly injured or killed when the car is started. (To help prevent this, bang loudly on the hood of your car before starting the engine.) Animals can also become disoriented when there is snow or ice on the ground.
• Increase animals’ food rations in cold weather. In cold weather, animals burn more calories to keep warm. Also, be sure that animals are free of internal parasites, which can rob them of vital nutrients.
• Keep an eye out for strays. Take unidentified animals inside until you can find their guardians, or take them to an animal shelter. If strays are wild or unapproachable, provide food, water, and shelter (stray cats will appreciate a small doghouse filled with warm bedding), and call your local humane society for assistance in trapping them and getting them indoors.
• Clean off your dogs’ or cats’ legs, feet, and stomachs after they come in from the snow. Salt and other chemicals can make animals sick if they are ingested while the animals are cleaning themselves.
• When you see dogs left outdoors, provide them with proper shelter. Doghouses should be made of wood (metal is a poor insulator) and positioned in a sunny location during cold weather. Raise the house several inches off the ground, and put a flap over the door to keep out cold drafts. Use straw for bedding (rugs and blankets can get wet and freeze).
• Provide a source of water for wildlife, who may have a difficult time finding drinking water during winter months. Break the ice at least twice a day.
• Buy nontoxic antifreeze made with propylene glycol instead of ethylene glycol, which can kill animals even in small doses. Safe brands include Sierra and Prestone Lowtox. Animals are attracted to antifreeze for its sweetness, so clean up spills quickly, and buy brands with the bittering agent denatonium benzoate.
• Give wildlife a boost. While it’s best to provide natural sources of food and shelter for birds by planting flowers and trees that produce seeds and berries, birds may need an extra boost during the winter, when they are burning extra calories to keep warm. Use a blend of seeds that includes oiled sunflower seeds, which are high in calories. Remember to stop the feeding when the weather warms up. An artificial food source causes wild animals to congregate in unnaturally large numbers in areas where they may be welcomed by some, but not others, and it can also make them easy targets for predators. Eventually, they may lose their ability to forage for food on their own entirely.
• If you venture out to feed the ducks at a nearby pond or the gulls at the beach, do not feed them bread or corn. These foods don’t have enough nutritional value for wintertime eating. The best thing to feed ducks and gulls during the winter is dry dog or cat food. The birds love it, and the fat in it will help them stay warm as well as replenishing the water-repellent oil in their feathers.
This post by Mylie Thompson was originally published on PETA Living.
Posted to Family & Friends | Posted to Tags: companion animals, Guest Blogger, wildlife, winter
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Steve says...
January 5th, 2010, 5:06 pm
I added a heated bird bath to my yard this winter, and I am amazed at how popular it is. Lots of birds drink from it, and squirrels too. Even in November and December, all sorts of birds took baths there…until the weather got extremely cold. But even at minus 14 degrees, the water doesn’t freeze, and the bird bath remains popular for drinking. What a treat!
Karl says...
January 8th, 2010, 9:59 pm
It puzzles me why people that have dogs can’t just provide them with a basket in a laundry or a basement. Are people just wantonly cruel or just thick? Down here in Australia we get people who go out in their cars on a hot summer’s day taking their dog and leave the dog in the car while they shop, forgetting how quickly a car heats up.
Roxy says...
January 9th, 2010, 6:07 pm
I love the idea of feeding ducks and gulls dry cat or dog food. I’ve known for a long time that we shouldn’t feed them bread, but I didn’t know what a healthy alternative was.
Steve, that heated bird bath is an awesome idea!
lee glenn says...
January 10th, 2010, 12:20 am
Steve, how do you heat it? is it electric? i would be interested in doing this. any hints or links as to directions?
Steve says...
January 11th, 2010, 8:09 pm
Lee-
Yes, it’s electric. There are several different models available - just do an online search for heated bird baths, and a bunch of possibilites come up - it looks like Walmart even has them. You can get a heating element that you can put into any bird bath, or a bird bath that has the heater built into it. I have a no-frills one with the built-in heater, bought on a whim at the local bird-feed store, and it has worked like a charm. I have it about 10 or 12 feet from the house, with an extension cord plugged in to an external socket. But there are any number of ways to make it work. I can’t believe I went so many years without doing this. The birds LOVE it. It’s even easy to keep clean, because no algae build up like it does in the summer. Highly recommended.
-Steve
Kyure Lirnglot says...
January 12th, 2010, 2:14 am
Ah cool, and electric bath for the winter. Kinda wish I had one in my dorm to keep me warm at night, and the air dry, though I guess I could have other things for that.