How to Ensure Your Pet is Safe Around Water

Safety during your holiday is a key consideration that you need to put into the forefront in order to keep every member of your family safe and healthy. In outdoor activities, water poses a serious safety hazard to anyone especially if the waterbody is large and not secured. This threat could not only be facing your family but also your pets. Water can be a great source of fun for you and your dog. Before you take your family out, make sure you know how to keep things safe. In this piece, we introduce you to some of the tips you need to consider before making that important decision. 

1. Always Keep an Eye on Your Pets 

This is probably one of the most effective tips that will save you from losing your pet. The most important water safety rule is to keep an eye on your pets any time they are near water. Do not allow unsupervised swimming as accidents can happen very quickly. We recommend having a person constantly watching over them. 

2. Buy a Pet Life Vest 

Most pets like cats and dogs can swim in normal water. However, this is not always the case, and swimming in large water bodies could be a challenge. We recommend getting a life vest for your pet for safety reasons. A pet’s life vest should have a good handle on top of it to make it easier for you to grab hold of the pet and hoist him out of the water if they become fatigued, or begin to drown. 

3. Observe Waves and Strong Currents

Although most pets can swim, strong currents and waves can overcome and drown them. We recommend that you pay close attention to any tide warnings for your destination and always check the current strength in any body of water before letting your pet swim. 

4. Ensure Your Pet Knows How to Swim

It is not wise to assume that pets are natural swimmers. We recommend checking if your pet can swim before letting it near large water bodies. 

Conclusion

Water safety is as important to pets as it is to humans since pets are just as susceptible to drowning as human beings. The above tips will enable you to develop precautionary measures to ensure your pets’ safety.

References: VBSPCA, PetWebMD, VeterinaryEmergencyGroup