A THORNLANDS vet is urging people to look after their dogs as temperatures soar above 40 degrees around south-east Queensland.
Dr Katria Lovell, of Redlands Veterinary Clinic, said there had been a spate of heat related injuries and deaths over the last two weeks, including heat stroke, drownings and paw pad burns.
She said two dogs had arrived at the clinic dead after being taken out in the sun for a walk during the hottest part of the day.
She had also seen a rise in pool drownings and about 10 cases of dogs with paw pad blistering from walking on hot bitumen and concrete.
"I always recommend walking at dawn or after dusk," Dr Lovell said.
"I always say to people that if you think it is too hot for you to walk barefoot, that's essentially what you are asking dogs to do.
"...It takes a couple of hours for burning to show up on the pads but at the time it looks fine.
"Then over the next 12 hours it will start blistering so it is something the people need to be really conscious of.
"We always get a couple of burned foot pads at the start of summer. It is not terribly uncommon."
Dr Lovell said two dogs had fallen into pools recently while trying to cool down.
"A lot of dogs can swim and it's not an issue but if they fall in the pool and you're not home and they can't get out, they can get tired of swimming around and drown fairly easily," she said.
Dr Lovell said people should place their dog's drinking bowls in the shade and top them up with fresh water and ice cubes.
"I went out at lunchtime to check my dog's water recently," she said. "She has one bowl that sits in the sun and it was literally boiling because it was a metal bowl.
"It is not enough to leave just fresh water, it has to be in the shade.
"People have their clam pools out for their dogs but unfortunately in Brisbane it really doesn't take much for the water to get very, very hot and so then when the dog jumps in they can get really nasty injuries.
"I could not count the number of heat related cases we have seen and it is not even January yet so it's going to get a lot worse."
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