How do you keep your pets warm ?

Crisp_£_note

Hi

We are keeping our central heating off this year unless it gets below freezing and then we will only put it on low for an hour a day to stop pipes freezing. The reason why is we are in debt with our supply company so are hoping to catch up and get back into credit asap. We do have a calor gas fire which we put on in the evening for a few hours while we watch TV which warms the room up for the night before bed.

Anyway we have 2 dogs ( 1 Lurcher X Collie and 1 Greyhound X Salukie ) and my question is how can we help them keep warm? We currently tuck them up in their dog beds with a fleece dog blanket each. We are at home a lot so keep checking the dogs are warm and if they feel cold or have cold paws we put their blankets on them although we have considered their dog coats they use when walking which would stay put better. They have warm water or gravy on their main meal dog mix.

We have consiered whether there is a hot water bottle suitable for dogs but cant find any in a local pet shop.

Some may say we are silly as they have fur coats! Are we worrying too much? Its easy for us to put another jumper on or have a hot shower but the dogs have little choice or control. I am worried that its cruel and we love our dogs and cant face losing them or them getting ill.

Thanks in advance

DansMum_2

Hi...

I have a Bedlington x Whippet who has very fine fur. I dont have the heating on during the day if I can help it at all, but I am lucky enough to have a real fire which we light at night....

I bought a fleece dog coat a few years ago which was the princely sum of £5 he has that on during the day and overnight.

Also can you feed your dogs little and often if you're at home? Eating will help to keep them warm... Walking as well, the excersise will keep them warm....

Good luck x

chelle230

I have a little chihuahua, and she's forever shivering, she wears a nice warm coat when we're out, and just a jumper in the house, she has fleeces in her bed and snuggles up to our other dog for warmth, he never feels the cold.

have seen these http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=573&pf_id=2265&gclid=CKWo5IXXuaUCFVAf4Qod-HE39g too, so may invest myself

ermintrudey

We've got one of these for when its really cold for the dogs

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/microwaveable-heat-pad-by-snugglesafe-14092

have a search around as you may get it cheaper elsewhere.

plus we've found that a duvet works better than the blankets at night. it may be worth thinking about looking on your local freegle/freecycle for a dog cage. that way you can put a duvet inside (we put dog bed in there too) and blankets outside over the top of the cage ... that keeps them snuggly too - but leave the door open so they can go out if they want to be cooler.

Crisp_£_note

ermintrudey wrote: »

We've got one of these for when its really cold for the dogs

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/microwaveable-heat-pad-by-snugglesafe-14092

have a search around as you may get it cheaper elsewhere.

plus we've found that a duvet works better than the blankets at night. it may be worth thinking about looking on your local freegle/freecycle for a dog cage. that way you can put a duvet inside (we put dog bed in there too) and blankets outside over the top of the cage ... that keeps them snuggly too - but leave the door open so they can go out if they want to be cooler.

Hmmm thats got me thinking about a pop up play tent with a duvet inside.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far

Caroline_a

Unless your dogs have very thin coats with very short hair they should be fine. Cross bred dogs are hardier than purebred too. Dogs actually are better without central heating in my opinion, my dog pants like hell and then demands that the back door be left open! So it's me that ends up shivering!

lostinrates

Infa red heat pig lamp, as answered elsewhere. I also use equafleece coats for my grey hound, and other ''duvet'' style coats when we are out for a long time. She DOES feel the cold, and drops weight at this time of year too. My other dog also has duvet style rugs but needs them very, very rarely as she has a decent coat of her own. I also tend to hope good management (feeding well, exercising for warmth ) and keeping the generally healthy helps them battle the cold.

I'm slightly envious at the grey/suluki cross: i've known a few, all super and beautiful dogs.

Artytarty

I use microwavable heat pad for my dog sometimes at night. I slip it under the blankets in her bed.
I dont heat it as hot as you can though, just well warmed.

bluebeary

i have a two year old, small for his age cat, he likes going outside but not as much when its cold and thankfully hes in earlier each evening before it gets dark, he sits by the fire, has a warm blanket and sometimes sleeps in the warm cupboard

hes fine, hes very vocal and lets us know if hes cold, boy does he let us know

scottishchick27

I asked a similar question today about my cats. When I put my dilemma to my dad he said to put coats on them :rotfl:probably easier to do that for a dog though. His next suggestion was bubblewrap like my gran uses to put round the plant pots when it's frosty I don't think he was being serious though.

tanith

Oh my what pampered dogs you all have. Working dogs live outside and just have an unheated farm building or kennel for protection , feral cats live outside all Winter with just whatever shelter they can find . Animals are much more able to adapt to extremes of cold than we are. They will all be fine as long they have some shelter from the wind and rain..