Pet owners issued urgent warning for incoming ‘Godzilla’ El Niño
Pet owners may need to make some preparations from now until the giant El Niño impacts the UK, with experts weighing in on the potential issues that could arise if not.
According to Newsweek, the weather event has a 75 per cent chance of becoming a historically strengthened occurrence between the October-to-December period.
There’s also the case that it is continuing to evolve as time progresses, with the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres revealing in a statement: “El Niño is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up.”
Considering our furry friends aren’t typically fans of extreme weather, there are a few things you can do to make the change easier on them.
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And it’s not always the feeling of the weather that’s dangerous to your pets, it’s how it affects their medications.
If you don’t know what an El Niño is, it occurs when ocean temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific become unusually warm, causing global weather events such as droughts, floods, and more.
According to Petco, El Niño-causing milder and warmer winters can mean that fleas and ticks don’t go dormant, as the temperatures remain high enough for them to thrive.
Bringing the humidity into the equation, and the pet brand says it’s the perfect environment for insects to breed.
So, fleas and ticks will live longer, meaning your five-to-seven-month flea and tick season turns into a year-round threat.
If you miss treatment for your pet, they can quickly become infested, and this can also lead to things like developing worms and anemia.
Ali Smith, a canine behaviour consultant at Maven, explained the implications of a changing weather event to Newsweek and how to act now to protect them.
She revealed that if your area is prone to heavy rain, you can always prepare an indoor toileting area for your pet to stop them from going outside in the rain - which you’re supposed to avoid if you’ve applied any spot-on treatment until it dries and has time to set.
However, if you live somewhere that could see flooding or landslides, she said to create an emergency plan that includes stocking up on supplies such as food, water, and medications, as well as any vet information or identification.
"It's a lot of the regular emergency preparedness things we might expect," she said.
Of course, handling cats is a different matter altogether as you’ll need to get them into a pet carrier so they don’t bolt.
"The big one I see is people not being able to capture their cats," Smith warned the outlet. "Getting cats used to a carrier is a thing we need to prioritize especially in these areas!"
For dogs, it’s a matter of securing them in a harness so you can walk them, and for rodents, a cage is also something you could carry.
Ultimately, she says you need to have your supplies ready to grab quickly and a place to go in case your location becomes a danger.
Britt Jones