Safe Conditions for Cats and Dogs
Monitoring Safe Conditions for Pets
If you want your pets to be happy and healthy, it’s important to maintain proper environmental conditions and know the safe temperature for pets. Whether we’re talking about dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, small mammals or even horses, the wrong conditions can lead to illness, poor general health…or even worse. Depending on the animal, it may be highly sensitive to temperature and even humidity. And if your pet lives primarily outdoors, it’s crucial to keep a close eye on weather conditions to make sure they are safe. Your best bet is to educate yourself on the specific environmental conditions your pets require, and then closely monitor those conditions with your own pet monitoring equipment.
Monitoring safe conditions for cats and dogs
Problem
If your furry friends spend a lot of time outdoors, they can be exposed to extreme temperatures and humidity. Also, in the winter, an outdoor pet can get dangerously dehydrated if its water bowl freezes. Indoor pets, meanwhile, may find themselves uncomfortable during the day if you program your thermostat for energy savings while you’re at work.
Solution
As the saying goes; “if you’re uncomfortable, they’re uncomfortable.” So closely monitor outdoor temperature and humidity, and bring them inside when conditions get extreme. If your dogs live in outdoor kennels, look into items such as heated pet beds, dog house heaters, heated water bowls, etc. Outdoor cats can be warm and safe if provided with proper shelter, food and water. There are a lot of “do’s and don'ts” so thoroughly research guidelines before building a shelter for outdoor cats. Also, make sure to regularly clean and maintain an outdoor cat shelter. With regard to indoor pets, monitor temperature and humidity when you’re away so that you know they are always exposed to livable conditions. You might even want multiple sensors for pet monitoring equipment, to keep them comfortable wherever they may hangout all day.
AcuRite Solutions & Tips
- Monitor Indoor Temperature Conditions: For indoor dogs and cats, position an AcuRite Room Monitor in your pet's favorite spot to track current indoor conditions, along with daily high and low records.
- Monitor Outdoor Temperature Conditions:: For dogs kept outdoors, install an AcuRite Outdoor Monitor on or near the kennel, dog house, etc. to track conditions. For outdoor cats, track conditions in places where the cat frequents or seeks shelter.
- Monitor Outdoor Water Bowls: For outdoor pets, position a Liquid Temperature Sensor in a water bowl to receive warning of freezing water.
- Use a Home Environment Displayfor convenient viewing of conditions measured by multiple Monitors and Sensors in and around your home.
- Track the weather forecast shown on the display and generated by an outdoor sensor in your back yard. Keep tabs on outdoor conditions to help anticipate situations where pets need to be brought indoors or require extra bedding for warmth.
- Set alarms to alert you of dangerous conditions. These can include dangerously low or high temperatures, a freezing water bowl, and more.
Learn More About Safe Pet Habitats
There are many great resources on maintaining a healthy pet habitat. Here are a few examples:
- Petco offers series of guidelines for setting up a habitat for a variety of pets:
- PetSmart offers a resource page, organized by species, which includes information on terrariums, nutrition and more:
- The Humane Society offers these guidelines on building a shelter for outdoor cats:
