Latest / Paws Between Us - Pet Stories, Welfare and Building A Bond / Short Paws: Dog & Cat Care in the Heat and Pigeon Respect

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Short Paws: Dog & Cat Care in the Heat and Pigeon Respect · Paws Between Us - Pet Stories, Welfare and Building A Bond

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Welcome to Paws Between Us, your regular dose of positive pet news.
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Every other week, we bring you a short, uplifting episode packed
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with the latest feel-good stories and research from the world of pets.
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So take a moment to tune out from the negative news dominating our headlines and
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help us shine a light on the good, celebrating the joy pets bring
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to our lives and sharing inspiring changes making their lives better
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too. So settle in for a short pause and let's
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spread some positivity together.
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Hey Nat. Heyya, how you doing? Yes, I'm good. How are
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you? All right. Thank you very much. We're here for another Short Pause.
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We are. Our Short Pause where we focus on some of the news and
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research emerging from the world of pets. Things that have caught our eye,
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caught our attention, things that we've been thinking about. And it is very different to
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the other episodes that we produce where we talk to special
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guests and pick their brains about their expertise and wisdom.
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So yeah, this is, this is things that we are, we are passionate about or
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that we've seen seen recently that we want to share. Yeah. It sort of hopefully
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gives a little bit of a different take on the animal world.
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So, yeah. What have you come across anything this week? What's caught your eye?
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I have. I mean, what caught my eye was sadly last
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night watching the news about some of the wildfires across Europe.
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And there was a real sad clip where I think in a town
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in France, there were horses running through the
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town trying to escape the fires. And,
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oh, it's a real sad sight to see, and I just hope that
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those horses are okay. And there were people kind of taking
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dogs out of houses and things, and yeah.
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It's dreadful, isn't it? It is. It is. And then I
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have just seen lots in the news this week about the heatwave,
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'cause it isn't just people in the UK like us that are
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impacted. It is people in the sort of broader parts of
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Europe. Yeah. Yeah, I've been seeing some articles myself actually,
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'cause there was something in The Guardian, I think, a few days ago. Yeah.
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I mean, it's crazy, isn't it? And I think there's definitely vets and animal
2:09
charities out there that have warned that all animals can
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fall dangerously ill in hot weather, especially dogs. And actually they
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can get more poorly quite quickly at lower temperatures than many
2:21
people might realise. So it doesn't have to be super scorchio.
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To cause damage. And so the RSPCA's urging
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owners to treat the heatwave as a temporary dog lockdown, and it's safer for them
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to miss a walk than risk overheating. And I know we've talked about this before
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because Betty is particularly prone to
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overheating, so I'm always super vigilant. But it's
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quite a few vets out there that are reporting that they've seen an increase in,
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in pets with organ damage after overheating.
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And also a rise in blisters on pets' paws from the scorching pavement.
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So if you see me going around the streets bent down,
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putting my hands on the pavement, I'm not crazy. I'm just doing it
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because I am testing it. Yeah. And, um,
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I mean, this might be in the article and I might be preempting what you
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were gonna say, but there was things about like, consider even taking your
3:14
cat for any vet checkups unless they're kind of absolutely urgent, because taking
3:18
them in carry cases that are usually plastic and retain
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heat and have no airflow. I mean, oh my
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God, I got so upset a few months ago when I was
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in the vets, and it wasn't during the heatwave, but it was a warm day.
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A woman brought her cat in one of those space backpacks,
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and the cat was huge. It filled the backpack.
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It had a few air holes, but I was like, what?
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Why are you bringing your cat in a sort of fashion item that's like a
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space helmet? Bring something practical that your cat can
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move around in, but it couldn't lie down in this. Backpack. The backpack was open
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as well. And like, I know the thing about cats is that they need a
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bit of COVID to feel protected. Sorry,
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I'm going on a rant, but it really annoyed me. And I wish the vet
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at the time had advised her and said, this isn't really appropriate,
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get yourself something better. Because it's, oh, anyway,
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sorry, back to you. No, you're right. It makes me angry.
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I've had discussions with my vet about at what time of
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day it's more appropriate to bring Betty for an appointment, for example. Nice. And they've,
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yeah, they have said, look, Don't come afternoon or evening,
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let's get you an early morning appointment, which I think is really considerate.
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Brilliant. Brilliant. So maybe the vet did have a chat with the
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owner of the cat. You don't know. I know. And I do suppose I do
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have to think that it's sometimes, it's just out of ignorance, not out of kind
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of vanity or what, you know, what I was suggesting there. But it's that
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immediate annoyance of me and just sort of thinking that like lack of thought.
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Yes. But I do have to kind of chill and go, maybe she didn't realise,
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maybe it's actually not that warm. But anyway. Yeah. I mean,
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that's the thing. I don't know about cats, but I know that dogs can overheat
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quickly 'cause they don't sweat through their skin like humans do. And this is something
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that I learned a few years ago, that actually dogs
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rely on sweating through their paw pads to cool down.
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Yeah. And of course they need to pant and that helps them cool down as
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well. And that's why Betty does struggle a little bit because she can't
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pant that efficiently. So always really sort of mindful of that.
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And yeah, I mean, just in terms of signs of heatstroke in dogs,
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so excessive panting, bright red or pale gums, sickening weakness and
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lethargy. And a dog's temperature is meant to be around
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38.5 to 39, um,
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Celsius. And so some of these dogs are coming in apparently
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with temperatures of 41. Um, so yeah.
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And that's when you start to see sort of organ damage.
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Just to be very mindful, I guess, of this continued
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heatwave. Yeah. And I think that also applies, 'cause I
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think again, just to kind of COVID any other animals and pets, that applies to
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like rabbits in hutches in gardens. Guinea pigs
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apparently have been a big victim of this as well, because they're not necessarily
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always in shade. And I think during heatwaves, if you have
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got a run outside that they have shade constantly throughout
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the day, because otherwise they're just absolutely gonna cook in, and they
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haven't got a way of getting into a shady patch. So please, please,
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please, consider where your animals are kept. If it's hot for you, it's gonna be
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baking for them. Yeah. I mean, it is really hot, isn't it? It's,
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it's relentless at the moment. It's really tricky. And I think, you know,
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a lot of people are probably trying to do their best and still worrying.
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Yeah. Yeah. So, and what about you? I mean,
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I've also been looking up pigeons, which I can come onto.
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Oh. It's a very misunderstood animal,
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'cause they're seen as pests. But yeah,
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shall I, shall I talk a little bit about that? Do, because I saw
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something, it seems to have come into the news. So, yeah, go on.
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Yeah, I mean, pigeons seem to be having a bit of a renaissance at
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the moment, which is probably a good thing because the humble
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pigeon is very misunderstood. But apparently the tide is turning,
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which is a good thing. And this prompted me to find out a bit about
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pigeons because I was visiting my mum recently and she has this wonderful photo
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of her in Trafalgar Square feeding the pigeons and surrounded
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by pigeons, and she's in her element because she's always loved pigeons.
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And I was just thinking, okay, I don't know an awful lot about pigeons.
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I had a friend once who was in a flat and had a balcony,
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and the pigeons decided to also share their balcony,
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or share her balcony. And I remember she was trying to think of all these
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ways to kind of get rid of them. And I thought, I don't know,
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is that like fair? But yeah, they, you know,
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pigeons do face daily threats. So, apparently, according to the RSPCA,
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in 2025, more than 2,300 pigeons came
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through the RSPCA's doors, and most were injured, grounded, or orphaned.
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And pigeons have been with us for a long, long time, at least as
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far back as the Egyptians, apparently. Wow. Oh, wow.
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So, yeah, you sort of see them everywhere, don't you?
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And they are regarded as pests, but I think it's a little bit more—
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it's— that's a bit unfair, really. And there are apparently more than
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350 different species of pigeon, which include
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doves. Oh, I did wonder this. Yeah, I did wonder about doves. I never knew
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that. I never knew doves were also a pigeon. Because they look pretty, then they're
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all right. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, exactly.
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And during the Second World War, around 100,000 pigeons carried vital messages,
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maps, and microfilm in capsules attached to their legs.
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So, they sort of played a key role really in the wartime
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efforts, and they delivered information during bombings and power cuts, even when
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they were wounded. And thirdly, 32 pigeons received the PDSA
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Dickin Medal, the highest military award animals can receive,
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which I think is amazing, really. Yeah,
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they played such an important role in the war effort,
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didn't they? And it's great that they got that recognition. Yeah, and I
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don't quite know what happened between then and now where they then developed
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such a poor reputation. There was something about
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the, I don't, I mean, I don't know how true it was, but there was
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something about that a lot of the pigeons that are around
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now have come from domesticated pets.
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Right. Okay. Again, I have to have a look, but like they were kind
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of kept as a pet or they were kept for racing. There was lots of
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pigeon fancying back in the day, wasn't there? And they were
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useful to us and then they became, they didn't, they weren't as useful to us
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and so became sort of feral, I suppose.
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Is that the right word? Yeah, maybe. And now just have to fend for themselves.
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Yeah. Well, they're very smart, apparently, very smart and complex
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creatures. Okay. They have exceptional memories, as part
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of my research has shown. Their brain is only the size of a cashew
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nut, so very small, but their problem-solving skills are better
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than modern AI models. And they're one of the few non-mammals
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who can recognise themselves in a mirror. And with training,
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they can even spot signs of cancer in medical scans as accurately as human
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experts. So, wow. I find that fascinating, and I want
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to do a little bit more digging into that. Um, because yeah,
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I don't know how, how that works or how we've come to realise
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that they can spot those signs of cancer. But yeah,
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they're really misunderstood. And I don't, I think having now looked into all of
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this, I don't think I'm gonna look at them the same way. 'Cause in the
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city where I am, there, there's loads of them everywhere. And you just sort of
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pass them by really without giving them much thought, or you just sort of shoo
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them away, or, well, I don't, but some people do and kick them
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and yeah. Wow. Gosh, yeah. I mean, I could never do that, but I have
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heard on social media of people attacking pigeons, and I
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think it's really, really sad. Disgusting. So, it's definitely changed
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my view of them. And yeah,
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I want to do a little bit more research into them to understand
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them a bit better. Yeah. Well, it says,
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while you were just talking there, I kind of had a little Google, and it
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says that they are, you know, people think they're unhygienic, but they're not. They spend
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a lot of their time grooming and bathing. They're not unclean.
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And they have a whole range of emotions. They can love, grieve,
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suffer from loneliness. And if like, if any of them are living
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isolated, they tend to experience things like depression.
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So, if you've, you know, if you've kept a pet on its own, one on
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its own is not good. They prefer to live in flocks. And they're
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loving and loyal creatures. So, we've kept them for thousands of years and
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now we're abandoning them. Yeah, exactly. That's what I find so
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sad is that clearly they had a key role in the, at least in the
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UK at some point, and we've turned our back on them.
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And we shouldn't do. A friend of mine had a baby,
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2 baby pigeons in her garden, and she took very good care. One of them
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flew off. She was very pleased to see one of them eventually after a day
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or 2 flew off. But the other one was struggling and she did a very
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great thing and took it in, created like a little nest for
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it and Googled a lot of different things to kind of feed it, to try
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and bring it back to its strength. And unfortunately the
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poor thing did pass away because it just wasn't well. And I think I've read
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that quite a few unfortunately do die at a young age, but she
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He took very good care of it and like, it's nice that people are out
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there willing to kind of do some love for our wild animals
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and the ones that live close with us. Yeah, those acts of kindness are amazing.
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Apparently young pigeons, they're known as squabs. Mm-hmm.
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Yes. And yeah, you can do a homemade wildlife rescue
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box if you find a young pigeon who
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is maybe injured or in danger, you can do that.
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So, there's plenty of info on the online about how to make your own wildlife
13:02
rescue box. So, do check it out. And yeah, next time you
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see a little pigeon, maybe give it some, give it some thought,
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give it some respect, or give it the respect it deserves. Yeah.
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So, what about you? What have you found? What's caught your eye this, this week?
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So, potentially a debatable subject,
13:22
but it's about fireworks and animals. The UK government's launched a
13:26
consultation about the future of fireworks and pyrotechnics.
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Because it's around reducing negative impacts on like people, communities, and And
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it acknowledges that like a lot of people have been kind of complaining and
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raising concerns for quite a few years. So, like pet owners, farmers, animal welfare
13:43
groups, members of the public, because it can cause a lot of distress to like
13:47
maybe your household dog, your cat, you know, everybody's going to know that. But then
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also horses, wildlife, and livestock also struggle
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with all the bangs and randomness. It's quite frightening to a lot of animals.
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So, the proposals are kind of out now. It's on their website.
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It's on the government website under their consultation section,
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but it's about restricting louder fireworks and only maybe
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potentially having them for professional use only. So, general public
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would only have access to quieter versions, smaller fireworks.
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And at the moment, they want to get as much feedback from
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the general public and from businesses and organisations as well, like consumer groups
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and healthcare organisations and mental health Charities,
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things like that, as well as animal charities and animal welfare organisations.
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And I know that Cats Protection and RSPCA have been promoting
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this and putting some information on places like LinkedIn and probably social
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media, because they want to hear from the general public and pet owners as well.
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I have had a look at it. It is quite complex.
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There's a certain bit of information and reading you'd need to do as a layperson
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to sort of put your viewpoint across. But every view,
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I suppose, will be useful if you've got a particular opinion on this.
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The deadline for the consultation is the 7th of October,
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so you've got quite a few months to have a look at
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the website, maybe get in touch with some of the charitable organisations if you want
15:14
a bit of guidance, or if you want to know if they're doing anything as
15:16
a collective, might be a worthwhile step.
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But otherwise, have a look at the www.gov.uk/government/consultations.
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Then you'll be able to find that and input your own viewpoint
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on it. And like I say, it's open until the 7th of October.
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But yeah, thinking about it from, I suppose, I was just going to sort of
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give my own opinion on this, and then we can discuss it a little bit
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between us about how we feel. I mean, my cats are
15:47
nonplussed about the fireworks. They don't react at all, which is great.
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We don't tend to have many that are on the street or very often.
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So, I suppose they're limited in terms of the noise and how close it is.
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But what we tend to do is make sure the TV's on very loud or
16:02
loud enough to drown out any random bangs so
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that it just feels like it's part of the TV. So it doesn't
16:09
come as a shock, 'cause they're quite sensitive to like the doorbell going and random
16:13
other noises. So I'm quite surprised that they're very chilled about it. But in the
16:16
past, I have had cats that have been terrified by it and,
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you know, it's really distressing and a lot of people worry about their animals during
16:23
that time and Yes, you know, I don't want to take the fun
16:27
out of it because displays are great for, you know,
16:30
as humans, I love going around and watching fireworks go off. It can be really
16:34
exciting and entertaining. But I think I agree. I think like
16:38
for larger displays, that's all well and good. They happen
16:41
on the night and the night before, the weekend before, whatever. But like having neighbours
16:45
with gardens, just sort of having these really loud, huge fireworks
16:50
that go off and often at random times in the week, random times in the
16:53
year. I'm not so sure I'm that on board with
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those because it does frighten wildlife. It, you know, it's quite
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a threatening noise, and I think we need to be more kind and thoughtful.
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Plus, there's the danger, you know, they're weapons at the end of the day.
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In the wrong hands, they can cause some serious damage. But yeah, I don't know.
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What's your thought on it, or what's your opinion? Yeah, I mean, I'm in agreement
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with you. I mean, it does sound like there's plenty of time for people to
17:19
contribute views, and every view will count, I'm sure. So yeah, I encourage people
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to have a look and have a say if their pet is impacted.
17:27
Betty, like Weaver and Marie, isn't that,
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isn't that bothered. And I always find that strange because,
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like you say, when the doorbell goes, she's instantly alert
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to that. Not so much scared, but it gets her attention.
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Where the sort of like the bangs and things that, that go on around bonfire
17:48
night, but also New Year and things like that. She,
17:52
yeah, she doesn't seem too fussed about, but I know there's lots of people out
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there who have pets who get very, very scared.
18:00
Yeah. And yeah, is it necessary? That's the thing.
18:03
I'm not sure it is just for anyone at any
18:07
time to be letting off fireworks. I think it would be better to
18:10
be more controlled. Yeah. And I think the thing to say actually,
18:15
they're not looking to ban everything. They're just looking to kind of reassess some of
18:19
the certain level of them, the sort of bigger,
18:22
louder, more risky ones, I suppose. Yeah,
18:26
because do they really need to be that loud? I don't know. I mean,
18:29
they're beautiful when they light up in the sky, but is the sound important to
18:33
the overall experience of them? I'm not sure it is. Does it add
18:37
anything? I think if you restrict fireworks more to events and to
18:41
controlled environments, at least you know roughly when those fireworks
18:45
are going to go off. If you live near somewhere where
18:48
you know there's an event, you can make plans, right? You can perhaps pop
18:52
out, go somewhere, take your, your dog perhaps with you.
18:56
Mm-hmm. Maybe you don't have to be at home having to listen to it.
19:00
And so when they're just going off like randomly at any, like you
19:03
say, times of the day, doesn't, you know, it can take you by surprise.
19:07
So yeah. Yeah, it's an interesting one.
19:11
And I know that it's a really difficult time of year for some pet
19:14
owners. November through till about January, isn't it?
19:18
Yeah. People get really worried about it and it does cause quite a lot of
19:22
like headache and stress for humans and
19:25
their pets. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, reading here, it's like,
19:29
it talks, even talks about like the fact that the emergency services have
19:33
had a whole hassle to deal with people who use them
19:37
as weapons and like taking them to football matches
19:41
and everywhere they kind of seem to be able to be brought in.
19:44
What I always felt, I mean, this is kind of going off slightly, but people
19:47
have those smoke bomb things as well. People are holding them at
19:52
festivals. I'm thinking, surely that's just dripping stuff on people. I don't understand,
19:57
like, the thinking sometimes, but. Yeah. I mean,
20:00
I don't, is that, I don't think that's, like, necessary. I can't see or
20:04
understand why people take them to football matches and concerts and
20:08
things. Surely it's a health and safety hazard as well.
20:12
Yeah. Yeah. No, well, I will definitely check it
20:15
out and see if there's some views that I can share.
20:19
Interesting to see what the outcome is and whether or not there is a reassessment
20:23
as a result of this. Yeah. And I'm sure come
20:27
nearer the time, maybe we can share some more thoughts and some advice
20:32
on keeping your pets safe and happy around
20:36
this time of year. Yeah, that'd be good. Things that you can do. So.
20:40
Yeah. Thank you for sharing. Yeah. So go on
20:43
just to the gov.uk website and under their
20:47
consultations, you should be able to find it. Thank you, everybody.
20:51
Yeah. Yeah. So that's our roundup for this week. We hope
20:54
you found it interesting. If there are topics that you would like us
20:57
to look into and to share on this podcast, then do let us
21:01
know. Do drop us a line on our socials or email us directly
21:05
at pausebetweenus@gmail.com.
21:09
Thank you, and we'll see you next time for a long pause with another expert
21:13
speaker. So, take care, everyone. See you next time.