Wind, snow, and temperatures well below freezing have made the outdoors less than hospitable, and just as we take care of ourselves before heading outdoors, the same precautions should be taken for our pets. Dr. Tim Yoder with Tri-County Veterinary Clinic in Pella says outside pets, in particular, need special attention during cold weather.

“You’re going to want to make sure that you’re increasing their calorie intake to be able to adjust for the cold, so you’ll want to feed them a little more food,” says Yoder. “You want to make sure they’ve got adequate shelter, insulated shelter, and possibly some supplemental heat; and especially water. Dehydration in cold weather can be a really big problem for outside pets, so we want to make sure that we’ve got readily available, unfrozen water. So heated bowls and those types of things are a really good idea.”

Yoder adds that the same guidelines apply to livestock and says that just using common sense will help your pets to keep from getting too cold. Low temperatures and sub-zero wind chills are again in the forecast for Friday.