It is summertime and my dog needs his annual haircut.  He is an Old English Sheepdog.  My friend told me, though, that she heard that hair actually keeps him cooler.  Is there any truth to this?

Spring and summer are buys times for groomers to do summer clips for pets. If you look at naturally occurring species in the wild, very few have the long hair that many of our breeds of dogs and cats do for good reason…they are difficult to keep up!

Long hair on many breeds does tend to provide some protection from the heat, and many people don’t realize that animals can sunburn just like people can. When it stops working is when the hair coat gets very matted and dirty and actually acts as a "trap" for infection and disease next to the skin. Also, animals only sweat through their mouth and the pads of their feet effectively, so the skin does not transfer heat as well. If a pet is kept well-combed and clean, there is no reason to have the hair cut. If you look at pets outside on a warm day, they are all uncomfortable, regardless of the length of their coat. In the veterinary profession, we see heat stroke more often in pets that are overweight than necessarily ones with heavy coats.

Regular grooming with the proper tools keeps you on top of possible skin or external parasite problems, along with helping the excessive shedding and keeping your pet comfortable. Bathing should never be done more than every four to six weeks, unless recommended for specific skin conditions by your veterinarian. Dogs and cats have many less oil glands in their skin than we do and products carried by your veterinarian a re better matched to the pH of their skin and coat type. If your pet does need to be groomed, it is often best done by professionals! Though it may seem costly by the time you have gathered the equipment and spent the hours, you would really have gotten a deal, just with the fighting alone!

There is many a time that veterinarians end up having to sew up lacerations from scissors that accidentally caught a piece of skin at home or clippers that caught a corner of the ear. Suddenly, all the good intentions of saving a few dollars fly out the window.

Look at all you options, educate yourself on grooming your pet’s hair coat, and then make a logical decision on the best fit for your situation. Good luck!

This information, prepared as a public service by the Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association, answers problems Rhode Island veterinarians currently are seeing in their practices, as well as new developments in animal care.