Beach Danger

Beach Danger: Keep Your Pets Safe

While pets enjoy playing at the beach, it is important to be mindful of their health and safety. Your pets are often exposed to dehydration and blocked bowels when playing at the beach. And to ensure your pets are always safe at the beach, here are the common health threats you need to look out for:

Sunburn

Dogs are vulnerable to get sunburned – and light or white-colored pets are often at high risk. If you want to keep your pups safe at the beach, carefully apply sunscreen on their ear tips, nose, inner legs and abdomen. More importantly, ensure your pets get sufficient shade.

As a precaution, you should only use sunscreens that are pet-formulated. This is important because most human sunscreens contain toxic elements that may harm your pets if consumed.

Snacking on beach sand

Though pets enjoy digging in the sand at the beach, some may end up ingesting the sand. And though ingesting a small amount of sand is not harmful, consuming large quantities can cause blockage of the bowels or intestines. 

Symptoms your pet has ingested a lot of sand include abdominal discomfort, repeated vomiting, loss of appetite, distended belly, and heavy panting when defecating. It is therefore important to keep an eye on your pets as they play at the beach to prevent them from ingesting sand.

Ingesting seawater

You should never allow your dogs to drink seawater. A common side effect of drinking seawater is diarrhea but when they consume a lot of it, then salt toxicity can occur. 

Ingesting too much salt can cause electrolyte imbalance, which often leads to dehydration, kidney failure, brain damage and death in rare cases. Always ensure you carry a pet bowl and fresh drinking water.

Dry drowning

To prevent accidental drowning, you should never let your pets swim unattended. Your dog can easily be pulled away by strong currents and tides, and the exhaustion can cause drowning when the dog ingests water. 

This ingested water can cause built-up of fluids inside the lungs that may result in cardiac arrest or respiratory distress. You can keep your pets safe by using lifejackets to prevent accidental drowning.

Heat sickness

Pets are vulnerable to heat stroke as well, which can be fatal within minutes. Therefore, you should keep your dogs away from the beach during extremely hot days. During summer, ensure your pets have access to shade and water.

Conclusion

Although you can carry your pet with you on your vacation, you should consider the safety precautions if you decide to visit the beach. And if your pet experience sunburns, heatstroke and any of the mentioned threats, you should visit your vet as soon as possible.

References: Modern Dog Magazine, Vets-now, The Bark