The irrefutable fact of climate change is not only impacting human health and the environment; it’s also becoming more threatening to the health of our beloved pets. With increasing temperatures and unseasonal weather, vector-borne disease changes, our furry, scaly, and feathered companions are sure to experience more medical issues in a changing world.
Heat Stress and Extreme Weather: Direct Threats
One of the most direct impacts of climate change on pets is more frequent and severe heatwaves. The majority of pets, particularly those with flat faces or dense coats, sweat less than humans. This makes them extremely susceptible to heatstroke, which is invariably lethal.
- Higher Temperatures: Prolonged exposure to extremely high temperatures can strain a pet’s internal cooling mechanism to the point where it fails, resulting in heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
- Severe Weather Conditions: Global warming also results in more severe and more frequent severe weather conditions such as floods, wildfires, and hurricanes. These conditions result in injury, displacement, and separation from owners, subjecting pets to extreme stress and physical injury.
- Unhealthy Air: Wildfires caused by higher and drier temperatures emit smoke and toxins in the air, and this will impact the pets’ ability to breathe, particularly those with ongoing diseases.
Geographies of New Diseases: Emergent Carriers
Increased temperatures and changed rainfall patterns are enabling disease-carrying insects like ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes to spread. This is enabling them to increase their range geographically and transmit diseases they carry in companion animals.
- Tick-Borne Illness: Warmer winters and longer warm seasons cause the ticks to be active for longer and to be able to increase the area they cover. This is more probable for pets to get illnesses like Lyme disease and worse.
- Mosquito-Borne Illnesses: Likewise, more heat and moisture will mean more mosquitoes and a longer cycle when they do have the capability to spread illnesses like heartworm.
- Flea Infestations: Warm winters also imply fewer fleas are dying off, so flea seasons are more prolonged and more intense, which is annoying and has the potential to cause illness as well.
Allergies and Environmental Changes:
Climate change also impacts how common and intense environmental allergens are, and they have the potential to affect our pets as well.
- Extended Pollen Seasons: Increased temperatures may result in extended and longer pollen seasons, exacerbating allergies in sensitive animals, causing skin irritation, respiratory issues, and other types of allergic reactions.
- Increased Mold Growth: Humidity changes and increased flooding may result in increased mold growth, another common pet allergen.
Less visible but nonetheless impactful, climate change also impacts the quality and availability of pet food and water sources.
- Agricultural Impacts: Repeated weather events such as floods and droughts will interfere with agriculture, which can compromise the price and quantity of pet food ingredients.
- Water Pollution: Flooding and water quality change may escalate the risk of waterborne disease in pets in the event they ingest contaminated water.
Keeping Our Pets Safe Under a Changing Climate
As global warming keeps affecting our world, it’s important that pet owners be informed of such growing health dangers and act accordingly to protect their pets:
- Year-Round Parasite Protection: Talk to your vet about year-round medication to guard against ticks, fleas, and heartworm.
- Heat Protection Measures: Practice heat precautions in hot weather, including providing shade and lots of fresh water, not exercising too much during the hottest part of the day, and never leaving pets in parked vehicles.
- Allergy Control: Talk to your veterinarian about identifying and treating any allergies your pet may have, possibly caused by changing environmental conditions.
- Emergency Preparations: Do not overlook your pets in your emergency preparations, having sufficient food, water, medication, and an evacuation plan to safety.
- Air Quality Monitoring: Watch for local air quality indexes, particularly during fire season, and have your pet stay indoors more when air quality is poor.
- Annual Vet Visits: Regular visits to the vet are crucial to remaining sensitive to your pet’s general state of well-being and to diagnosing new climate-related conditions early.
Global warming represents acute threats to our animals’ state of well-being and health. By being well-informed and by taking preventive action, we can eliminate these threats to the greatest extent possible and maintain our precious friends healthy and secure during a period of change.
