A Washington-based veterinary hospital is warning dog owners of the dangers of summertime walks.
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In a post shared on Facebook, the hospital shows a dog named Olaf whose paw pads were burned after a mile-long walk on hot pavement. The hospital said Olaf didn't whine or limp and the dog's owner didn't realize Olaf had suffered the burns during their walk on a local hiking trail.
"He is one tough cookie (and exceptionally sweet cookie)," Medical Lake Veterinary Hospital wrote in the post before adding, "A good rule of thumb is if the pavement is too hot for your hand it's too hot for your dogs' pads."
The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. One of the pictures in the post shows wrappings around all four of Olaf's paws. The blue wraps say "#StudMuffin and have drawings of muffins on them.
PetMD shared an article, calling it "essential" to look out for paw pad burns during the summer.
"There is actually a physical burn when the paw pads are burned when the concrete is too hot," Atlanta-based Dr. M. Duffy Jones told the website.
"These manifest themselves as blisters that rupture over the course of a few days after the burn. There might not be many clinical signs except pain expressed by the pet when it happens but, just as in people with burns, you can see blisters that can rupture and the pet might be acting painful and licking at their feet."
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