its too hot!

Well, who would have thought after the dreadful weather we have had in recent weeks that we were heading for the mammoth heat wave we have been experiencing! And it is still only spring.

Now I do like hot weather and the sunshine: I love the blue skies and all the natural vitamin d that the sun kindly gives us. But this weather has been hard for our two and four legged friends.

So what can we do? We can do lots for them, all cheap and easy.

No. 1 A paddling pool

Small paddling pools, both hard shell, plastic and fold up ones are really easy to get your hands on. I have actually scoured the likes of facebook market place and found old plastic sand pits parents were selling and I use them. My dogs very much appreciate the bargain I purchased for them.

But it doesn't have to be a paddling pool. A small wash bowl or shallow dish would be ideal for those animals, cats included, who may be a little timid of a larger water filled space.

Adding ice cubes both provides cooling water and a toy to play with.

No. 2 Cooling items

As well as cooling matts, cooling scarfs are excellent at helping our furry friends.

I am not talking about those scarves that advertise as cooling scarves, which are blue and sold by the cooling matts. These, I have found warm up once the colling element has gone and are more of a hindrance.

No, I mean those scarves aimed at humans which you soak in water and stay cold. They are perfect for putting on, under or in their beds, to keep them cool. We use them at dog shows.

(I do have them for sale in the shop too).

You can also use damp towels too for our pets to lay on. Especially our other furry pets such as rabbits and ginea pigs, and even birds. You can soak them in water, squeeze out excess water, then lay them on the bottom of their homes. They can then use them however they like, whether laying on them or near them, and the cold will be around them.

No. 3 Ice into water bowls

This is an easy one really. Put ice into their water bowls to guarentee their water is kept cold for them.

But another thing you can do is fill plastic bottles with water and freeze them. Then you can put them in their enclosures. The frozen bottle will act as a cold space for them, and once defrosted they can go straight back in the frezzer for use on another day.

We have found in the past this is also good for cold water fish and reptiles.

No 4 Frozen treats

This is a really good one to not only help our pets to stay cool, but can be a really good source of nutrients and vitamins for your pets.

You can make your own goodies out of plain yoghurt, or goats milk or peanut butter (always make sure the peanut butter is dog safe) poured into the ice cubes then add in lots of yummy fruits such as banana, strawberries, blueberries and cucumber. This are perfect little treats on a hot day.

Other ideas are the webbox lik'e'lik, both for cat and dogs, make purrrfect frozen treats.

We also sell Frozzy's icecream, ready made, without the hastle of making it yourself. It is lactose free too.

(We shall soon be selling powder goats milk so watch out for that coming soon)

No. 5 Wiping bunnies ears

This may seem like a strange thing to do, but bunnies cannot sweat or pant to keep cool, so they use their large ears as radiators. So, wiping them with a cool cloth or gently spraying their ears with cool water is a perfect way to help them.

You can also do this with other rodents too.

Also make sure that water doesn't go inside their ears.

No. 6 Freezing fruit

As we have with dogs and cats, we can do little frozen treats for rodents and birds. Fill the ice cube trays with water than fill them up with your pets favourite treats.

These also make great treats for garden birds too, popped into bird baths and other clean bird feeders.

I hope these tips will help you and your animals over the hotter days of the year. Is there anything i missed? What do you do to help your companions through the hot weather?