Heat Wave! Should You Shave Your Pet?

We live by Lake Mi which is all sand..I buy all the flea treatments avialable and still he is full of them constantly..so i did shave my terrier..and now I keep vitamin E oil on his hotspots where he obsessivly bites and itches at..What else can I do?

As a veterinarian, I disagree. I have had many dogs clipped/shaved over the years and no problems have occurred. The vast majority are inside pets so spend very little time outside anyway. It does appear to make them feel friskier and act younger and greatly improves skin condition and ease of treatment if needed. There are less issues with fleas and ticks, and I have never seen a maggot infestation on a shaved dog, only on overgrown matted ones. Certainly, you should not shave a long-haired breed and place him in a yard with no shade. But neither should you do that with any pet! So, my advice is to shave and clip in the summer. In our Texas climate, this makes for a much more comfortable pet.

I think this vet is just full of it.ASPCA should do a little home work before letting someone that tries to make it seem like they know something write a column. Not the first time. Don't believe all you hear from anyone, oh except me, LOL. My black Portie acts, feels and is much better and happier with her hair shorter in 100 degree heat and if she ever has hair mats that I can't get out with a comb or brush I cut her hair and it is fine. As for cancer the main cause is pet food not sun. Obviously be careful about being out in the heat and clean non-chlorinated, non-fluoridated water. Chlorine causes cancer too. My dogs it RAW and they are they healthiest dogs (10 yrs. old)you will ever see. Oh, you don't have to have rotten dog teeth or dentists or almost any vet bills with a RAW bones diet. And your dog doesn't have to have surgery on it's ACL tears. They repair themselves. Vets are increasingly controlled by big PHARM. And forget the itching, needless vaccinations (have to do rabies and parvo but that is all) and expensive diets. Oh, forget chewing on stuff other than raw bones. Happy, happy, happy.

I do shave my dog in the summer per my vet's advise. He gets what is termed "hot spots" and they are horrible for him and me. So yes.......it is good to shave your dog in some instances.

Dogs are what they are today because we HUMANS created them to meet our needs and expectations. The argument that they evolved with a fur coat of a particular is not relevant to this convsersation.

I'm a groomer and I have to say I agree with this article. It is not saying you can't trim down your dog, just dont take away the double layers. I've been grooming for a long time and over the years I've had corgis, newfies, goldens, old English sheepdogs, German shepards, labs, huskies, malamutes, the list goes on and on. I have seen some that come back after a shave and their coats look alright just a little coarser, and then there are those that come back and their hair never grew back in in some patches. When you take a labs coat away it interrupts the shedding cycle and can actually clog their pores. I've had more customers come back telling me it was a horrible idea and that they're sorry they ever did it. Sure they seem happy for a while but as they get older they have a harder time regenerating their coat. Just saying if you brush your dog and really get down to the skin with your combs and coat rakes you're removing that excess hair that on longer coated breeds can collect and turn to matting which also traps any moisture underneath and can cause those nasty hot spots. Just speaking from experiencing first hand some pets are fine but most often experience more problems. Just take some time out of the day and brush your dog. It's a great bonding experience and most dogs appreciate the attention. If you go out and bring home a dog that you know required daily brushing then you have no one to blame but yourself if you're not doing what's required of you as their caretaker. It keeps them cooler and helps alleviate the hair on your furniture. Don't shave unless you have a medical reason for it!

I have had a good number of dogs and cats in my life time. Also, I live very near Cornell University's Vet School. Here is what I have followed over the years: Never shave a dog or cat down to the skin, but give them a shorter clipping of fur/hair in very warm weather. I currently have a standard poodle and I can certainly see his relief when his long curly coat gets a good trim for the summer. My former pet was a English Cocker/Boston mix and she lived to be 19 years old...she was always given a shorter clipping in summer. Most important...lots of fresh water (no chlorine), exercise in early morning or later evening, keep them where it is cooler all day, and DO NOT LEAVE THEM IN THE CAR/TRUCK for any reason. Good Luck!!

So ... is the article saying no dogs should ever be clipped? I.E. Cocker Spaniels, Poodles, etc? Just let their hair grow as it naturally does?

... than someone with a degree in veterinary medicine is astounding. We have a frisky, active 14-yo Siberian Husky that has lived in Texas her whole life, and has never been shaved, because it's unhealthy. She loves to lie out in the sun in 110 degree weather. At least once a week in the summer, someone asks why she isn't shaved and we explain the difference between dogs and humans. Instead of saying things like "Uncle Billy Joe Jim Bob always shaved his dog and it loved it" why don't you listen to the experts? Pet dogs live nearly twice as long as canids in the wild, and it's due to veterinary science and good husbandry practices, not what Uncle Billy thought.

Shaving? Obviously, any animal or human will sunburn if you shave them down to the skin, but I interpret shaving in this regard to mean a very close clipping, leaving a very short coat on the animal. In this case, there is NO WAY an animal can possibly sunburn. There's still a layer of fur covering the skin! And IF this really was true, every short haired dog that is kept as an outside dog would be sunburned. The suggestion is preposterous. I truly have to wonder about Dr. Louise Murray's common sense (Senior Vice President of ASPCA Bergh Memorial Hospital!?) in writing this article. All northern breeds, Huskies, Malamutes, Keeshonds, etc were bred for life in a climate where summers are short and winters are long and harsh. If you bring a dog like that, any dog with a heavy coat, into a different climate zone, it can't possibly be comfortable in any summer's heat in the lower 48, let alone this summer scorcher. You have to think about each breed's origin and function, their level of fur insulation's purpose, and make them comfortable accordingly. Would anyone expect a Pit Bull to live outside through an Alaskan winter? Of course not, they're just not made for that climate. So why would you expect a dog with tons of fur to be alright in a warmer climate? The arguement that the fur is insulating against the heat is as ridiculous as wearing a sweater to keep yourself cool. There is NO LOGIC in this. If there was, nature would demand thick summer coats to protect animals from the heat, but instead, they SHED! HELLO?! Ya think there may be some reason for that? Living bodies produce heat. You trap the heat in the winter with a coat to keep yourself warm. You remove layers in the summer to allow your body heat to escape. Fur (insulation) doesn't let body heat escape. Why do so many men shave their heads in the summer? If it was cooler to have all that hair, they sure wouldn't be getting rid of it!! Humans -who can talk- can explain this thermal dilemma. Do you think it's any different for dogs and cats? PLEASE. I can't believe that this isn't understood and that an article like this would even be written by anyone, let alone a veterinarian and an ASPCA professional!!!! All the people who wrote about how happy their dogs are after being clipped aren't crazy. A cool dog is a happy dog. A hot dog is a miserable dog.

I'm courious ... my sister & B-in-law clipped their 3/4 wolf hybrid down to 1 inch for the 2nd time. Where they live it can be 100 in the summer and she loves to roll around in the red dirt. It seems like her coat is getting longer and more dense each year! I dont think they really care if her coat grows back and isn't as esthetically pleasing. They just want her comfortable.

I have two Pom's and last year, in May, had the groomer give them lion cuts, with their backs about 1 inch long. It worked great at first, but their hair started to grow back very quickly. By August their hair was really coming in and it was still very hot. So having had a poodle that we used to clip, I thought we could do it ourselves. I started with my young pom and was having problems with the clippers, ended up clipping him back to a "shaved" state. When I did my older Pom, I was very careful not to do that again, so I got it to about 2 inches in the back. Well to make a long story short, the older Pom's hair grew back, in good time before winter set in, however, my young Pom's hair did not grow in until one year later. I did not know not to shave a double coated dog back that far. He had to wear a sweater in the winter so as not to get sick. They are both indoor dogs, but anyone that shaves a double coated dog is at a risk to have a "hairless" dog, so be very careful. I will never cut my young Pom again. But be sure to brush your long hair pets regularly, it does help them at all times of the year.

I have a golden retriever and I work at a grooming shop. living in tx there are terrible burrs. I have had him clipped/shaved. not down to the skin mind you but clipped short enough to where i can manage the burrs in his hair. he only goes outside long enough to potty and roll once or twice, lol.But that is enough to get burrs caught in his hair and sometimes they have to be cut out so clipping him in the summer is a good choice for us. he seems to feel better after having his hair cut.

I'm sorry I have to disagree here with the vet, I know shearing down to the skin in the middle of summer with an outside dog would allow the dog to overheat and sunburn, but I know for a fact they are more comfortable with the hair off, down to say 1/2". There energy level is so much better and they are cooler. I also have llamas here in TX and I will tell you it is animal abuse to not shear them, watching one die of heat stress is terrible, because the owner has not sheared it early in the year. They cool themselves much like dogs, foot pads and open mouthed breathing. They need some hair to protect the skin and keep the sun off the skin, but saying they (llama or dog)need all that long hair causes summer to be the worst kind of season for any animal with long hair. Brushed or not, undercoat removed or not. If it does not grow back to it's original glory and that bothers a person, perhaps they need a shorter haired dog in the first place, or just make sure their dogs have AC 24/7 during the hot months, they will still probably be hot but not miserable.

Since when is it 102.5 degrees outside which is a dog's body temp. It is insulating the dog's heat in and not allowing radiant cooling or not alonging the water to the skin when you wet them down. Bad advice.

For the people that think their dogs are happier that they are shaved you are completely fooling yourself. You are just lazy people who do not want to brush and keep up with the beautiful coats of the breeds. Why not purchase a dog then that doesn't have a huge coat. How about purchasing a breed that is appropriate for the area you are living in, wouldn't that make more sense. I have 3 Shelties and a German Shepherd and would never think of shaving my dog's beautiful coats. That's the beauty of the breed. I don't exercise them on really hot days and I purchased a small baby pool for them and they LOVE that! I also purchase battery-operated fans that I keep in my car for them when they are with me.

Good go these rants and insults are pathetic. Grow up! Most of you are only here to start a fight and act better than someone else. Just because you are miserable in life doesn't make it right to take it out on people on here. Hey, if you want to shave your dog and it dies you have to live with it. I am going to take the advice I have heard for YEARS from very reputable people & locations so that I wont ever put my baby at risk. How many wild animals have fur? Yep. Their fur doesn't just protect them from the sun and over heating but also from mosquitos that pass on heartworms. People have taken animals out of their enviornment but forget where they came from and how they survived before us. Just because we have bred canines into what we want as pets doesn't mean we created a new species. They're still dogs with built in protection. Don't leave them in the heat for long periods of time, walk them very early or late, provide lots of fresh water, & let them chill out. Also, brush them daily to remove old fur and bathe them regularly to help release the fur they're trying to shed. So just because someone may have.had good luck with cutting their dog's fur doesn't make it safe for all dogs and I'm not going to risk my dog's life to save a couple minutes of cooling off. So go for it, act like a bunch of children and insult me but I did my homework years ago and have plenty of scientific proof to back it up. Insult me, it's ok. If that makes you feel better about yourself for a few minutes so be it but I it wont hurt my feelings because I am happy with myself.

When I saw my adopted Belgian Tuveren that I saw online on Petfinder.com she had a gogeous full coat but when I went to actually see her the staff at animal control were apolygizing profusely because she not longer looked the way she did on line. They had asked a volunteer groomer to merely trim the hair in her rear because she was matted. Instead the groomer clipped her into a lion cut. She looked ridiculous but it did grow back. I haven't clipped her since because I have read you shouldn't as the article explains but I feel so bad for her when I hear all that panting. I keep my air conditioner higher than I need to just so she is cooler. She is an indoor dog who goes out in the back yard and to the dog park a few times a week to see her friends. Seems like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I hate when she's uncomfortable.

Have 2 fluffly breeds and I clip them yearly. I don't go down to the skin, so no sunburn issues. I've done this for years regardless of the back and forth on clipping. Why? because it appears to be what's best for my animals. The long hair on my dogs picks up every twig/sticky seed, etc in the yard, sheds all over the house, etc. Do I brush them? Yes. Are they clean? Yes. Do I overwash them and destroy natural oils? No. And as for tick protection, I've had ticks burrow into long hair and you don't see them until they are engorged. On shorter hair they stand out. Just like on our heads. When in a tick area during tick season, I keep my animals clipped and my hair pulled back. As for climate and coat blow-out. Another thing to consider is that we breed for certain types of coats and this can cause the animal to retain a coat that it would normally (if left in undomesticated wild-state) blow out. Also, our pets don't have the same lifestyle as a wild animal. they don't have coats evolved for the environment in which they live and they don't always have the luxury of digging a hole in the dirt so they can lie in cooler ground. We domesticated them, we bred them for looks and/or abilities, we have to deal with the artificiality of their biology. So I put this down to show dog stuff. Can't alter the coat unless it's supposed to be clipped into some shape for "the standard." And I've (personally) never had the coat not grow back exactly the way it looked preshave. And I don't know of anyone else who has shaved their pets and not had the coat grow back. Something tells me if the coat grows back differently, then something was off before you shaved the animal. And I've rescued a couple dogs, taken to the vet and the vet has recommended shaving. Those coats grew back too. Oh, the breeds I've shaved are: Malamute, Aussie, Border Collie, shi tzu (spelling?), retriever,parsons, and a couple mixed breeds. And they are all much peppier when I get the hair off of them in 90 degree heat. PS. If you don't like "Global Warming" use the term "Global Climate Change." From ice cores we can tell global cooling and warming trends durning the planet's history and yes, we should be going into a cooling trend, but we are not going into any regime quite the way it's been done in the past (that we can see.) We are slamming into a climate change that's unprecidented in its scope and speed. And we are going into it without the aid of massive volcanic eruptions (seriously, the ones we have are miniscule) and without asteroids, etc. From long term data collections it is the human race that has, from the time we seriously started burning fossil fuels, changed the climate. In a couple decades, this yes/no arguement will be moot, as most of the coastal populations will be dealing with flooding disasters that will wipe away any doubt of the nature of the future of this planet's climate.

We clipped our collie mix last year in florda and he got a skin infection.. Not a Good Idea !!

We have a beautiful little Havanese, & for those who aren't familiar w/ the breed, they are descended from Lhaso's & Bijons, so they have hair & not fur. We always keep her in a puppy cut. However, in the summer, we do cut her down very short. She seems happier. But it also makes it easier for us to keep her clean - when she comes in fr the yard, she isn't full of knots, she isn't as dirty & it's much easier to check for tics. She's an inside dog. She's never outside alone, in fact she'll only stay in the yard if we're out there w/ her. She'll generally run around a few times & then she'll plop herself down on a cool patch of grass under the shade of our big tree & stay there. If we're out in the yard for any length of time, we put water out for her. We also carry water for her if we walk her in hot weather. We have NEVER had her shaved!