PETS

Ask a vet

Dr Pauline answers your summer pet questions

What should pet owners be more concerned about during the summer?

With summer comes a bunch of hazards that can affect or even kill our pets. Commonly seen by our ER vets include:

1. Animals coming across and getting bitten by wildlife including snakes, mosquitoes, ticks, bees and other flying insects.

2. Overheating/heatstroke can quickly lead to dehydration and a life threatening situation. Always bring drinking water for your pet and never leave them unattended in the car.

3. Hot surfaces like pavements and hot sand can burn your pets feet. Also watch out for hose pipes that have been in the sun, as the water inside can be very hot.

4. Drowning, animals often jump or fall into swimming pools to cool off and drown because they cannot get out. is clean and well-groomed and take care if you cut it off. Do not remove too much as the coat also helps prevent sunburn to the skin.

6. BBQs, as scavengers, your dog may eat too much or ingest fatty foods like ice cream causing an upset gastrointestinal system. Cooked meat bones and sweetcorn can also cause choking or get stuck in parts of the body and meat skewers or toothpicks can kill if they pierce vital soft areas especially in the intestine.

How long can dogs safely lay in the sun?

Normally dogs love sunbathing, but for how long before it gets dangerous depends on many things. Most important is their in-built temperature control system in an area of their brain called the hypothalamus. This internal thermoregulating area has the ability to maintain body temperature within certain limits (38-39.5C).

Problems arise when the surrounding environmental temperature equals the dog’s body temperature and it becomes difficult for the dog to lose heat naturally. If you see your dog panting, drooling and trying to get a cooler space they should naturally move out of the sun's rays.

Heat stroke can kill a dog in as quickly as 10 minutes, if there are reasons they cannot thermo-regulate. If your dog is elderly, ill or has a thick fur coat I would recommend sunbathing is monitored carefully or restricted to cooler times of the day.

Dr Pauline Taylor, Pets Central veterinarian.

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What to plant in June

June weather facts

Average high temperature: 30.2C Average low temperature: 26.2°C Average rainfall days: 19.1 days

Come June we are now accustomed to the hot summer days in Hong Kong and we embrace it, for it will be with us a few more months regardless. This month we can expect increasing downpours of rain and typhoon warnings that will leave us mildly shaken to our cores. Nevertheless, life doesn’t stop and we mustn’t lose hope for our gardens.

Key practice this month will be to avert any damage created by strong winds by moving your container plants indoors. Violent winds and heavy rains can cause havoc in the garden, so it is important to set up your defense early.

Seeds of the following may be sown: mustard and cress, Chinese spinach, cucumber, lettuce, sweet corn, Chinese long and short beans. Chinese green and white cabbage will also fare well in the warmer months.

It is well-advised to sow seeds in pans or pots whenever possible, keeping up with the withdrawal strategy against the monsoon.

Thin out the leaves of your Chinese long beans. Eggplants will also be better off with some of their leaves taken off. This will help your vegetables continue to bear much longer in your garden beds.

Don’t be intimidated by the bold skies and rising heat, as your garden can still flourish under the right circumstances.

June is a busy month for gardeners, tread carefully and win over the winds with your garden’s sturdy charm.

By William James Tutcher

F.L.S. (1867-1920)

Superintendent of Hong Kong Botanical Gardens. Paraphrased from his seminal 1906 work Gardening for Hong Kong.