Vacation tips for pet owners: How to keep pets cool while traveling in the heat of summer

“The car is usually not a place for animals,” says Oeschger. Despite all the warnings, there are always dogs that get locked in stationary cars and die from the heat. “A few minutes in the car is all it takes and the dog can get heat stroke,” says Oeschger. In direct sunlight, an outside temperature of 20 degrees will suffice. It doesn’t help either to park the car in the shade and open the window a little.

holiday for cat

Unlike dogs, cats are very territorial. “With them, owners should think twice about taking the animal with them on vacation,” says Oeschger. It is much more comfortable for cats to stay at home. The animal rights activist pays great attention to the animals that are taken care of at home when caregivers are not present. “It is definitely not enough to give the animals a lot of food at the beginning of the holiday.” Animals should be fed and checked regularly. This includes monitoring the general condition: is the animal healthy, well fed, awake?

Oeschger points out that many professional pet sitters are fully booked due to high demand during the summer holidays. He recommends that the herding service be dealt with in a timely manner.

safely across borders

Attention when crossing the border: if you change the country to dog and cat, you must clarify in advance whether the animal has all the paperwork and vaccinations. Animal rights activist Oeschger: “Animals can be confiscated at the border.” This can end tragically for the animals and their owners. He is constantly getting calls from angry pet owners whose animals have been confiscated at customs and don’t know what to do.

Better donate than act yourself

Even if it’s made out of love for animals: Oeschger strongly recommends against bringing dogs or cats from the resort to Switzerland. From an animal welfare perspective, this is not sustainable and often ends in disaster if the animal is seized at customs and has to be transported back to the country of origin due to missing documentation. This is costly and unfortunately sometimes even results in the death of the animal. If you want to import an animal into Switzerland, you need to learn the legal requirements for several weeks or months. It is much better to support local animal welfare organizations with food donations or financially for neutering.