If you have arrived here, it is very possible that you are looking for advice that will help you prepare your dog for next winter that we already have very, very close. In eforpets.com we know the importance of the health of any of your pets, but today we will talk about our dogs and everything we should know, and take into account so that your health is not harmed by the cold of the winter.
Table of Contents
Help Your Dog Prepare For The Winter Season
Autumn is here, and with it, a progressive decrease in temperatures. It is the ideal time to start our machinery and make decisions that help us prepare our dogs for a hard winter.
Obviously, it is not the same as our dog is in the north than in the south of Spain. On the other hand, it will depend in part on the breed of our dog and the amount and strength, both of its fur and skin type.
However, whatever your race, or where you live, you should take into account the majority of ideas that we give you below. If you follow all the advice, your pet will have much of the battle won against the cold.
Read more: 10 Best Dog House this Winter Season
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Visit Your Veterinarian
Autumn is the ideal date for you to take your dog to the veterinarian, for a review. Above all, you should not stop following this step if you observe that your pet has problems of lack of appetite, sadness, behavioral changes, and even dry nose.
Although we should take routine visits very seriously throughout the year, it is true that winter is a season in which the cold can cause major problems in the health of our animals in general.
It is strange that today we do not control our pets, and specifically our dogs, to keep them out of the reach of parasites. Your veterinarian can help you in this regard.
Read more: What Are The Average Vet Visit Costs?
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Take Care of Your Dog’s Fur
In case you did not know, the fur of the animals acts as a thermo-regulator. So it is vitally important that you do your job perfectly.
To keep your skin hydrated, it is essential that we perform regular brushing to our dogs, as it helps distribute fat and improve circulation.
You can also protect your hair from cold and water when you take it out on the street by means of a raincoat or some kind of sweater. In this way, you will avoid getting wet, and if it has got a little wet, do not forget to dry it when you are at home.
It is important that we especially protect our dogs, whether it is a small breed or if they have too short hair.
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Don’t Neglect Your Dog’s Bathroom
It is important that you use products such as waterless dog shampoos, gels, and conditioners that are gentle and conveniently hydrate your dog. Although we could extrapolate this to what our dog’s bath time should be throughout the year, it is true that winter has the characteristic that moisture becomes more noticeable, and lasts longer in the environment.
Hence we emphasize the need for you to completely dry your dog before taking it to the street or to the garden of your house. If the dog is wet and we expose it to low temperatures for a few hours, we could cause it to accuse some kind of illness, even suffer a hypothermia crisis.
Read more: 7 Tips to Clean Your Dog without Experiencing Bathing Problem
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Pay A Visit to The Dog Grooming
The first thing we should say at this point is that domestic dogs that live indoors do not need to have long hair to maintain optimal body temperature.
That does not mean that we should not visit our trusted hairdresser so that, in addition to beautiful, keep our dog’s hair at its ideal length. He, better than anyone, will know what is best for your pet so that his fur does not make him hot or cold.
Of course, forget to shave your dog in winter.
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Consider Buying Some Protective Booties
Here comes into dependence on the place where you reside. For example, if you live in an area of Spain where the cold does not do so much damage, such as Andalusia, Extremadura, Valencian Community or Murcia, you probably do not have to go to the extreme of protecting your dog’s hooves. Although there are mountain areas where there is snow and ice practically all winter, such as Sierra Nevada, Casserole, etc. in which you may consider it, especially on specific days.
The same does not happen if we talk about the north of our country. It is very advisable that you take into account the cold that your dog can catch through its paws, being in permanent contact with the ground, when it has ice or snow.
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Have Your Dog In a Hot Shelter
In winter, it is very important that we do not leave our dog out of its habitat without supervision, much less that it does not have a place to take refuge.
We cannot think that because our dog has a perfect and leafy coat, it can already tolerate the cold without any inconvenience. Nothing is further from reality.
As we said at the beginning, there are breeds of dogs that acclimatize and adapt better than others, to the cold of winter. But this is no reason to stop taking into account that they must have a shelter that allows them to be warmer at all times.
Read more: 10 Dog Breeds That Can Be Challenging for First-Time Pet Parents to Manage
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Take Care of Your Diet, But Also Your Weight
The feeding of our dogs can also help us strengthen your body while increasing the production of energy in your body, energy that will help to raise the temperature of your body.
Of course, we must be very careful not to feed our pets, because we can cause other damage to them, and that is not the goal.
Think that, having fewer days with good temperatures, and even rainy days, we will be less time outdoors with our dog, and therefore, will have less physical activity, so it will burn fewer calories … Come on, if you eat too much, you will tend to gain weight.
Final Words
Do you remember that we told you at the beginning that depending on the area in which you live it will depend on whether to take into account all, or part of our advice? Then you make your own decisions and carry out the advice that you see fit to prepare your dog for the winter that we have around the corner.