Heat Protection for Pets

Global climate change is causing heat waves in Germany to become longer, more frequent, and more intense. The resulting weather conditions—with hot days and warm nights—pose a significant health risk because the body is under particular stress during the day and cannot recover as well at night. What applies to humans also applies to other animals—not least the pets that live with us.

This Lecture , from a veterinary perspective, how heat affects pets and what measures can be taken to address it. The focus is on the One Health approach: It takes a holistic view of the health of humans, animals, and ecosystems, allowing us to understand how they are interdependent. It becomes clear that this is not just about direct heat stress, but also about preventing diseases in weakened organisms. Furthermore, it is not only the pets that live with us in our homes and are emotionally close to us that are affected, but also the animals in pastures and barns that provide us with essential food.

From a systemic perspective, it becomes clear how important it is to adapt our way of life to a hotter climate, on the one hand, and how worthwhile investments in climate protection are—investments that can mitigate the need for these adaptations—on the other.

The Speaker

Prof. Dr. Reinhard K. Straubinger, PhD, is the dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He received his training at LMU and Cornell University and completed his habilitation at the University of Leipzig. Since 2008, he has been the chair of the Department of Bacteriology and Mycology at the Institute for Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses in Munich. He is also a specialist in immunology and microbiology. His research interests include infectious diseases in animals, host-pathogen interactions, and the application of molecular and genetic engineering methods in research and diagnostics.

Participation is included in the museum admission fee.