25 + Tips on Heat Stroke Prevention for You and Pets

Important safety tips during the heat & drought period for yourself, your family, and animals. In recent weeks all over the globe, many regions are suffering from incredible hot weather with temperatures soaring over 40C+ (110F +).  Many of these country’s households do not have any air condition set up as mainly people are worried about the cold weather during winter time. As of this reason, the brutally hot sun is taking a health toll on the weak. Especially, elder, kids, and your pets can barely keep up in these conditions.  You need to take precaution to stay safe in order to avoid serious health issues such as heat exhaustion. In this article, a way to prevent heat exhaustion is to follow the signs and steps below:

Symptoms of Heat Stroke / Exhaustion

Signs in Humans:

• Nausea / Dizziness: If you feel dizzy all of the sudden and everything is spinning around you. Use a herbal nose stick to get instant dizziness relief
• Extreme Headache: Your head starts to hammer all of the sudden. Tip: Use for example the Tiger Balm White for headache relief
• Dark Urine: This happens because the body lacks seriously fluids and is being dehydrated

If you are experiencing fever above 40C (100F) with any of the symptoms mentioned above, you are possible having a heat stroke. Call the emergency ambulance right away. This is life-threatening. 

Signs in Pets:

As you know, overheating is as dangerous for pets as for humans. One of the main problems that make it a little bit tricky to recognize is that dog or cats mainly sweet thru the nose and not the skin itself. This said, there are other key symptoms to pay attention to such as:

• Excessive Panting: As the body starts to accelerate the breathing mechanism to balance the body temperature, it is one of the early signs of overheating.
• Vomiting / Diarrhea: This is quite obvious and should be dealt with urgency when vomiting is happening during warm weather conditions.
• Does not respond well to commands: If your pet does not respond and feels just somewhere else
• Lethargy: Your dog or cat sleeps excessively with little or no appetite. He/She will not even touch the food or water at all
• Red Tongue: Another warning sign is when the tongue and gum is turning bright red

A way to prevent heat exhaustion is to follow these tips for the family:

Run Fan wit Ice Cubes

Simply, place a bowl of ice cubes in front of the fan to get the room temperature cooled down quite a bit. In addition to this, hang wet towels in front of your closed windows. The windows are actually one of the major ways where the hot air can enter the house, even when they are closed.

Use a thin night dress

If you are at home, place a couple of light nightdresses into the freezer. Start to wear them so that your skin feels the coolness and freshness.

Take a cold bath/shower

Whenever you start to feel extremely hot, take an ultra cold shower for relaxation. If you have a bathtub, stay inside for an hour with some Epsom salt. The Salt will open the skin pores to absorb the freshness better. After finishing, use a drop or two of either menthol or mint essential oil and rub all over your body. It will be refreshing.

Tips for Outdoors:

• Try to stay in shadow areas at all times and avoid the direct sunlight.
• Wear head protection such as a baseball cap or hat. The reason being is that the scalp skin is very thin and can absorb very quickly the heat from the sun. The hat will protect you.
• Drink a lot of water during the day. Do not touch any Carbohydrate drinks such as Cola etc. You will only get more thirsty.

More Tips & Tricks:

• Place a cool wet towel around your neck
• If you have plants, only water them at night time. Start to gently spray the top to bottom before you start to water the ground.  Therefore, this technique prevents root shock in this warm weather
• Do not eat a lot during the day, only some light food such as salad or fruits. Under no circumstances, should you eat carbohydrates as they will burn off directly creating more body heat.
• As you will sweet out a lot of calcium, drink some electrolyte powdered drinks to avoid heart rhythm disorders.
• Sleep only on cotton bed sheets as they feel lighter on your skin
• Keep all windows and shutters closed during the day. Only open them early in the morning or late at night to get some fresh air inside.
• Get a hot-water bottle and fill it with iced water. Place on belly or neck as desired. Another option is to fill the bottle up and leave in the freezer for a longer chill.
• As hot air rises, stay on the ground floor as much as possible
• Place an ice pack on your wrist to calm down your pulse
• If you are at home or at work, get a small bucket of iced water and place your feet into it. It will cool down your whole body
• Keep your lotions, creams, face masks inside the fridge for a nice cooling effect. Leave your face mask on for an hour to rejuvenate your face from all the sweat.
• Use Cooling Powder such as Protex Powder. Many hot climate countries in Asia use this trick to get a break from the heat.
• Get a small desk fan for a nice breeze
• Turn off as many electric devises as possible including lamps as they create heat. We do not need more heat, right!
• If you have tiles get a bamboo mat or thin sheet to sleep on the cool tiles instead of a warm thick bed mattress.

FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR KIDS AND PETS: NEVER KEEP THEM INSIDE A LOCKED CAR – NOT EVEN FOR ONE MINUTE!

A way to prevent heat exhaustion is to follow these tips for your pets:

Build a Small Water Pond

Because Birds and bees need to drink water and cool down as well, it is important to build a small drinking trough for them. This trough can also be used for a quick coll off bath as well. For example, use a shallow plate out of plastic and fill it up with water. To avoid drowning, a deep container or bucket is not suitable. Place it in a shadow area of your yard.

Cool area for Pets inside your House

Choose a shadow area away from windows, doors to create for your loved ones a nice cooling place to relax. Next, get a lot of Freezer Blocks (the ones used inside the cool boxes) covered with a thick towel around them. As the pets can feel the cool air coming from them, they will be happily relaxing nearby. In addition, use the ice cube/fan tip (Run Fan with ice cubes above) for extra cold conditions in this area. Never place the fan onto the pets directly as they might catch a cold.

How to Keep Birds Cool

Use wet towels to over three sides of the cage, but keep in mind to let one side open for air circulation. The birds will love this cold environment and start to relax instantly. Only use damp towels and not completely wet ones.

Keep your Pets Cool when Outside

If you have a dog that cannot be shave-down, simply use the garden hose to wet them a little bit before walking time. Your pet will feel refreshed and ready to walk with you. Only walk after it is dark, never in the bright sunlight. In addition, take a water bottle with you in case your dog becomes thirsty or needs some more refreshments. Avoid walking on hot asphalt as the paws might get burned. If you cannot walk barefoot, it means that’s too hot for your dog as well.

Photo Source:  Myles! / Flickr