Hot weather on the horizon - think about the small furry pets

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We all know dogs die in cars and shouldn't be walked in the heat .
Cats willl likely find themselves a shady spot .

But don;t forget the smaller outdoor (and indoor) fur coated pets , usually in a wooden hutch .
Wood holds heat
Fur cannot be slipped off
Hay insulates

Every year small annimals will die . If they get heatstroke , quick action is essential, even with a Vet ( which might not be possible)

Flystrike is a huge issue .

Shade , water , fresh crunchy veg and grass
If they're at risk of heat you can wring out a towel in cold water and drape it over the hutch or run (not dripping water but enough to cool )

Freeze a 2 litre lemonade bottle of water , wrap in newspaper and pop in the hutch so they can sit near it safely

Flat ceramic tile - leftover floor tile if you have them are great

If they get heatstroke they will have shallow rapid breathing , and 'pancake' themselves . You need to cool them.

So if anyone has them or knows pet owners - especially if this is they're forst summer with them , tip them off to watch out for them.

I kept guinea pigs for years and I found summer much tougher than winter . If I had a £ for everyone who said Well in Peru it's 40c I'd be in Bali right now . My pigs were from Essex not Peru .
Domestic piggies are nothing like their rangey Peruvian cousins .

Keep 'em Safe

Great post OP. I don’t have any little furry friends like this but this was very informative. Well done.

shameless bump - this is going to be the hottest day of the year so far

Bump - great advice OP.

Good thinking. My siamese got to the point of looking at me gratefully when I wiped her down with a cold wet flannel, sitting facing the fan, yesterday!

Great thread. Worth remembering that small furry pets in tanks etc will be experiencing greenhouse like warming too. I keep tarantulas, and while they are all from south american locals, their glass enclosures can get horrendously hot in this heat. Good to spray down invert enclosures where possible, keep the water topped up, and keep them out the sun.

Bump again for the small furries

I've had my piggies inside for the last couple of days in their big playpen as it's much cooler than outside. I've picked them grass and dandelion leaves so that they don't feel like they're missing out

My rabbits were hot today. They don't have a hutch at all but an 8ft outdoor run. Total shade and ice in their water. I sprayed them with the hose gently (mist setting) to cool them... ice bottle is a great idea.

Absolutely. Gave our ratties some ice chips in a bowl and some Tupperware filled with water to bathe in earlier - they seemed to appreciate it.

Mine are indoor piggies. They've got a bottle of ice in their pen, but they don't seem to like it very much. I've draped a cool towel over their wooden log tunnel as well.
Inside is cooler than outside today, but I still worry about them. If I'm too hot, they must be too hot, and they can't do anything about it for themselves.

Dragon my guineas used to bury themselves in their hay they are not animals to reason with .
We used to make sure they had a covered box , so they felt they could hide or they took precautions and properly hid .

Their Pighouse was beautifully shaded under a tree . They had a fan too .
We put them out after the hottest part of the day until dusk when they had to be put to bed safely because the foxes were around .

My ruby eyed Himalayan hated sun and loved prancing about like a tiny phantom after dark

I bought a terracotta house for my gerbils, I soak it in cold water and it stays cool for hours. Ceramic or stone is also a good idea. If you can't buy something special for them, any old pot/bowl etc will do the trick but make sure you wash and disinfect it first! Especially a pot from the garden is hard to disinfect properly as it is porous and will bring a lot of germs with it.

Don’t forget guinea pigs cannot have anything to eat that’s been frozen, so as tempting as it is don’t freeze veg or fruit for them.

My buns are indoors, we’ve had the curtains closed in their room to stop the sun streaming in.

Been keeping an eye on the bearded dragons viv temps too but they’ve not really gone up, he’s not on direct sunlight either.

We were helping ours stay cool earlier, they are very long haired piggies.

I've just been out to cut grass for them, which they loved, and they've decided now that the ice bottle is ok. It's just water now though because they waited so long to brave getting close to it