SEATTLE — With temperatures in the 90s, advocates are working to make sure homeless populations and their pets are safe from the heat.
Hanna Ekstrom is a veterinarian and founded Seattle Veterinary Outreach in 2019.
“I was driving around in my truck and I saw somebody with his dog trying to pull some money in for food. And I thought, I can do this, I can help with this,” Ekstrom said.
Seattle Veterinary Outreach is an organization that provides free and reduced-cost veterinary care for pets of people experiencing homelessness and low-income families.
“I don't think there's any problem with people living houseless having pets,” Ekstrom said. "I do not see increased issues in pets living outdoors. The one thing that I see is they are so bonded to their owners. It's almost umbilical like I can't even barely pull them away just for a minute for a blood draw because there's so locked tight with their owner. It's really heartwarming and it's inspiring.”
The organization holds two clinics a week where they treat as many animals as they can.
The clinics also have nurses, social workers and outreach coordinators to provide services for people experiencing homelessness as well.
“By providing everything all together, we can build trust in all of our organizations,” Ekstrom said. “So they'll transfer that trust over to perhaps the Recovery Café, that provides nutritious foods and a sense of community, or to other organizations like Molina Healthcare, United Healthcare that provide Medicaid.”
Ekstrom said people experiencing homelessness do not have access to cool spaces or sometimes even clean water. This puts them and their pets at an increased risk for heat stroke and dehydration, she said.
Another risk factor is many homeless people live in their cars.
“If it’s too warm, your dog may start to suffer heat stroke," Ekstrom said. "And it can happen as fast. If your dog’s in a car, it can happen as fast as 10 minutes. If it’s 85 degrees out, in 10 minutes it’s 102 (degrees)."
Some warning signs to look out for when it’s hot are panting, drooling, vomiting, dizziness and red gums.
Heat stroke can lead to seizures and death.
“If you see them start to do these things, you need to get them out of the heat," Ekstrom said. "You don't want to douse their whole body with cold water, that actually doesn't help. You need to douse their paws."
If symptoms don’t improve, Ekstrom said to take the to an emergency vet clinic.
Seattle Veterinary Outreach has a list of clinic locations and times on the organization’s calendar on its website.