Experts say pets need care when weather plummets

You would not leave a family member out in the cold, so when the temperatures drop into the 30s this week — bring your pets inside, urges animal advocate Laura Snyder.

"Animals catch colds and respiratory infections too," says Synder, treasurer of the Brownsville Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Provide them with a warm shelter."

Brownsville animal advocates for years have battled what they call a culture of apathy toward the city’s estimated 80,000 pets, and pet problems are exacerbated during extreme weather.

The first step is for all residents to do their part.

"You want to keep your animals warm and dry," said Nicole Nicotra, a member of Brownsville Pets Are Worth Saving (PAWS). "Sometimes I just want to scream because there are people who still leave their pets out, chained to where they cannot get into shelter, although it is freezing."

Bring them into a garage or laundry room, Nicotra said. If bringing them indoors isn’t possible, make sure the entrance of a pet’s outside shelter, such as a dog house, faces away from the wind. Also, keep the shelter elevated and off the cold ground by putting it on top of a pallet or blocks.

Put sweaters or other clothes on small, short-haired dogs, pets shaved regularly and those whose bellies drag the ground, animal advocates said.

Animal control officers from the Brownsville Animal Regulation and Care Center, which includes the city’s animal shelter and clinic, will be issuing citations and confiscating pets from homes if they do not have the proper shelter, said Robert Dippong, the animal center’s supervisor.

"State law states that no animal shall be left outside in temperature below 32 degrees," he said.

City officials were discussing as of press time Tuesday whether the center would be able to temporarily house animals from families who had no heat at home at a separate building. Updates will be aired on Channel 12 today, Dippong said.

At the Gladys Porter Zoo, employees have been taking precautionary measures to ensure that the animals are warm and that all of the zoo’s heating tanks are working.

A blunder last month with a propane tank being used to heat the giraffe exhibition sent a longtime zoo maintenance worker to the hospital, zoo officials said. But all of the tanks have now been re-inspected and those tanks that are more than four years old have been removed, said Ciri Haugh, the zoo’s marketing coordinator.

Of course, not all animals will be kept indoors this week, she said.

"Certain animals flourish in the cold, such as bears," Haugh said. "This is not as cold as it is in the Midwest. I am sure we will still have Winter Texans coming to the zoo in shorts."