Noida: ACs, coolers & nets in dog shelters to beat heat

NOIDA: For dogs, their normal body temperature is a few notches above that of humans. They also have fur that doesn’t allow them to cool down easily.
Keeping these limitations in mind and the searing summer that has already witnessed record-breaking temperatures, animal shelter home owners in Noida and Greater Noida have resorted to other cooling measures. Installing air conditioners and coolers, green nets and easy access to water all day are some of them.
Beyond this, they also needed to take care of some breeds of dogs who are more vulnerable to the heat. For instance, pugs have short muzzles and normally have breathing issues.
The main way that dogs cool themselves is by panting. With temperatures way past 45°C on several days, pugs especially find it hard to bring down their body temperatures in this weather.
“For a few breeds, we cut their hair and put them in a room with AC. This year, it was even more difficult,” said Kaveri Rana Bhardwaj, who runs the Sophie Memorial Animal Relief Trust in Greater Noida’s Omicron 2
Bhardwaj shifted 19 of her older dogs and puppies to her home to better protect them. For the remaining 137 animals, she is managing with coolers and green nets.
"We spray a lot of water three times a day and we’ve used 90 percent green nets to block out some of the sun. But all of this has fallen short. We are now renting a new facility in Zeta sector of the city where we’ll install air conditioners and have more indoor space,” she said.
Anuradha Dogra, a volunteer at the shelter run by the Dhyan Foundation in Noida's Sector 94, spoke of similar issues.
“We have a Japanese Akita that is normally suited to colder climates. He is a one-man dog as the breed doesn’t do well with a lot of people around. We have kept him in the storeroom with a cooler and an attendant,” she said.
For several other breeds – many of them meant to live in sub-zero temperatures and abandoned by their families, including Siberian huskies – they arranged an AC room within the shelter.
Veterinary doctors say dogs can develop serious health issues apart from even the risk of heat stroke and stress. Fungal infections, maggot infections and skin issues can appear in extreme heat.
“Though all dogs can be vulnerable to hot weather hazards, certain dog breeds are less heat tolerant than others. Brachycephalic breeds, such as bull dogs, French bulldogs, pugs and Boston terriers, have difficulty breathing in extreme heat. Hot weather can also cause dogs to become irritable and less active. They should be given a lot of water, timely food, and other ways to cool themselves,” said Dr Keshav Sharma, a veterinarian in NCR.
“Dogs can die because of heat strokes. They can also become more vulnerable to tick fever, skin problems, maggots and other health issues. We lost some dogs to the heatwaves last year, so we made the best of arrangement that we could this time around,” said Vikas Gautam, who runs a dog shelter home in Sector 163, Noida.
Like Bhardwaj, Gautam also had to take one pug in his shelter to his home in the city. “Pugs can collapse in just 5-10 minutes of exposure to severe heat. So I took the one pug in my shelter to my house,” he said on Tuesday.
It isn’t just that the summer has increased the burden of work for shelter homes. Their expenditures have gone up too, triggering worry about how they will make ends meet if the heat doesn’t abate. “We are paying s 1 lakh per month in our electricity bills. It could be even more than this,” said Dogra.
The shelter homes are largely run on donations and fundraisers. “We use online platforms to raise funds for buying essential items and paying the bills. This month, our expenses will only increase,” said Bhardwaj, adding: “This has been the worst summer we’ve seen so far.”