Keeping Your Pet Safe This Summer: Our Founder Karan Gupta on Pet Hydration
As temperatures across India push past 40°C this summer, millions of pet parents are unknowingly putting their dogs and cats at serious risk - not from the heat alone, but from the chronic dehydration that quietly accumulates over weeks of warm weather. This is what you need to know, and what you can do about it today.
Every year, as the Indian summer arrives, veterinary clinics across the country see a predictable and preventable surge - lethargic dogs, cats refusing food, pets showing up with urinary blockages, or simply spending entire days flat on cool floors, doing nothing. Most pet parents attribute this to "the heat," and assume their pet will manage. Most of the time, the pet does manage. But managing and thriving are not the same thing, and summer after summer of inadequate hydration takes a cumulative toll that shortens lives quietly, without a dramatic warning.
Our founder Karan Gupta has spent years working at the intersection of pet health and Indian climate realities - and this summer, he wanted to share what he's learned in full. What follows is his perspective on how Indian pet parents can genuinely protect their animals this season, told not as a list of tips but as a complete picture of what's actually happening inside your pet's body when the temperature climbs.
Why Indian Summers Are Harder on Pets Than You Think
The first thing to understand, according to Karan, is that your pet is not built the same way you are - and that difference matters enormously in Indian heat.
Dogs do not sweat across their skin. Their primary cooling mechanism is panting - rapidly moving air across the mucous membranes of the mouth and upper respiratory tract to exchange heat. It is effective, but it is also water-intensive: a medium-sized dog can lose 20–30 ml of fluid per minute through heavy panting. In a 40°C Delhi afternoon, that adds up to significant dehydration within an hour of outdoor exposure - and even more during a walk if the dog is excited or working hard.
Cats have an even more complicated relationship with heat and water. They evolved as desert hunters with a naturally low thirst drive - their ancestors obtained most of their hydration from prey, not from drinking. This evolutionary biology means domestic cats tend to significantly underdrink, particularly when their food is dry kibble. In summer, this baseline under-hydration is compounded by heat, and the result - over weeks - is concentrated urine, increased crystal formation, kidney strain, and immune suppression that makes them vulnerable to infections they would normally fight off easily.
"The thing I keep saying to pet parents is: your pet's silence does not mean your pet is fine. Dogs and cats are very good at not showing discomfort until it's significant. The cat that sleeps all day in summer, or the dog that's just 'a bit quieter than usual' - that's often not them being lazy. That's dehydration."Karan Gupta - Our Founder, Goofy Tails
It is also worth understanding that different Indian cities present different risks. Mumbai's humidity means dogs overheat faster even at lower temperatures because the humidity prevents sweat from evaporating efficiently from their paw pads. Delhi's dry heat means dehydration accumulates more rapidly. Chennai and Hyderabad's year-round warmth means pets there rarely get a genuine seasonal break for physiological recovery. Each of these environments demands a slightly different approach - but the core principle is the same: water intake must be actively managed, not assumed.
The Dehydration Problem Is Mostly a Food Problem
Here is the part that surprises most pet parents: the single most impactful change you can make for your pet's summer hydration has nothing to do with how many times you refill their water bowl. It has to do with what you feed them.
Dry kibble - the default diet for millions of Indian pets - contains approximately 6–10% moisture. A cat's natural prey contains 70–80% moisture. The difference is not marginal; it represents a fundamental mismatch between the food that is widely fed and the food that cats and dogs evolved to eat. A cat eating dry kibble as their primary diet must drink enormous amounts of water to compensate - amounts that cats, with their naturally low thirst drive, consistently fail to consume.
"We did our own informal analysis across customers who switched from dry to wet food. The response we hear most consistently is: my pet is so much more energetic, their coat improved, they're drinking less water but they seem better hydrated. The last part sounds contradictory but it makes perfect sense - they're getting water from their food the way nature intended."Karan Gupta - Our Founder, Goofy Tails
The solution, as Karan puts it, is straightforward: move moisture into the meal, rather than expecting your pet to compensate for a dry diet by drinking more water. High-moisture wet food, served twice daily, delivers approximately 75–80% of the water a cat or dog needs from food alone. Add a bone broth topper - warm, aromatic, and deeply palatable - and most pets easily meet their daily hydration requirement without touching the water bowl at all.
For dogs specifically, switching to or adding high-moisture wet food to the daily meal is the most evidence-backed single intervention for summer health. For cats, the same principle applies - and is arguably even more important, given how reliably cats underdrink on dry-food diets.
For a much more detailed nutrition plan, check out our Nutrition Guide for Dogs and Cats.
Seven Practical Ways to Increase Your Pet's Water Intake Daily
Beyond the fundamental shift to wet food, Karan outlines a set of practical, low-effort interventions that make a meaningful difference in pet hydration during summer - and most of them take less than two minutes to implement at every meal.
1. Add Warm Bone Broth as a Daily Meal Topper
This is the intervention Karan recommends most consistently, and the one that gets the most enthusiastic response from pet parents who try it. Bone broth - made from chicken or lamb bones slow-cooked to release collagen, glycine, and natural gelatin - is intensely aromatic when warmed slightly above room temperature. Both dogs and cats find it irresistible. Pour 100ml over any meal, warm it gently, and most pets will lap up every drop - delivering passive hydration, natural collagen for joint health, and gut-supporting glycine in a single daily addition. Explore Goofy Tails bone broths for dogs → and for cats →
2. Switch from Dry Kibble to Wet Food as the Primary Meal
If you are still feeding dry kibble as the primary diet during summer, this is the summer to change that - or at minimum, to make the transition. High-quality wet food for dogs and wet food for cats delivers 75–80% moisture versus kibble's 6–10%. The hydration difference is not subtle. If a full switch feels abrupt, start with a 50/50 mix and increase the wet food proportion gradually over two weeks. The transition is almost always smooth - wet food is more palatable than kibble and pets rarely resist the change.
3. Use Multiple Water Stations Around the Home
Both cats and dogs drink more when water is placed in multiple locations - particularly in different rooms from where they eat. Cats especially are sensitive to proximity: many cats refuse water that is placed near their food bowl (an instinctive behaviour linked to avoiding water contaminated by prey near a kill). Moving the water bowl to a different room dramatically increases feline drinking behaviour in many households. Three to four water stations of different types - ceramic bowl, glass bowl, running fountain - provides both variety and redundancy.
4. Freeze Broth as Cooling Enrichment
Dilute bone broth with water (50/50), pour into an ice cube tray, and freeze. Offer 2–3 cubes in the afternoon as a cooling enrichment treat. Dogs in particular find this deeply engaging - the cold surface, the familiar broth aroma, the licking and chewing - and it delivers hydration, collagen, and mental stimulation simultaneously. In cities like Delhi and Lucknow where afternoon temperatures regularly exceed 43°C, broth ice cubes are one of the most practical warm-weather enrichment tools available.
5. Never Walk Dogs During Peak Heat Hours
This sounds obvious, but it is consistently ignored. The safe window for outdoor exercise in Indian summer is before 8 AM and after 6 PM - and in peak summer (May–June), even 8 AM in north India can see ground temperatures exceeding 45°C on asphalt. Asphalt absorbs and radiates heat significantly more intensely than ambient air temperature: if the air temperature is 40°C, the pavement can be 60–70°C - hot enough to cause paw pad burns within minutes. Walk on grass wherever possible, limit walks to 15–20 minutes in the early morning, carry water and a collapsible bowl, and watch for early dehydration signs: excessive panting, drooling, slowing down, seeking shade.
"I had someone message us last May about their Labrador who got heatstroke on a midday walk in Gurgaon. The owner thought it would be fine because they brought a bottle of water. But by the time the signs appeared, it was already a medical emergency. The advice I give now is: if you wouldn't walk barefoot on that pavement, your dog shouldn't be walking on it either."Karan Gupta - Our Founder, Goofy Tails
6. Keep Indoor Environments Cool and Ventilated
Pets that spend summer in hot, poorly ventilated rooms are in a state of constant thermal stress even without direct sun exposure. Ceiling fans, access to cool floors (tiles, not carpet), and at least a few hours of air conditioning during peak afternoon heat (1–5 PM) make a measurable difference to daily fluid loss. Cats instinctively find the coolest spot in any room - elevated, away from direct light, near a window with airflow. Giving them access to these spaces matters. Dogs benefit from damp towels placed on tiled floors, and from the option to choose their own resting spot rather than being confined to a single room.
7. Watch for Signs of Dehydration and Act Early
The standard advice - "do the skin pinch test" - works, but by the time the skin tent test is positive (meaning skin doesn't snap back immediately when gently pinched at the scruff), your pet is already meaningfully dehydrated. Earlier signs to watch for: reduced enthusiasm for food, darker or strongly-smelling urine, reduced urination frequency, dry or tacky gums, lethargy disproportionate to the temperature, and - in cats specifically - reduced grooming. If you notice two or more of these together in summer, increase fluid intake immediately and consult your vet if symptoms persist beyond 24 hours.
The Supplement Conversation: What Actually Helps in Summer
Beyond food and water, our founder also addresses the role of targeted supplementation in summer pet health - and he is careful to distinguish between what is genuinely useful and what is marketing.
"The thing I want to be clear about," he says, "is that supplements are not a substitute for proper food and hydration. They're not going to undo the damage of a dry-food diet. But on top of a good nutritional foundation, they do meaningful work."
The two areas where he sees the clearest evidence for summer supplementation are joint health and immune and skin resilience.
Joint Health in Summer
This might seem counterintuitive - summer is usually associated with activity, not joint problems. But in India, summer is also the season when large-breed dogs exercise less (due to heat restrictions), carry more physiological stress from dehydration and thermal load, and often gain weight when their walks are reduced. This combination quietly accelerates joint inflammation. For dogs prone to hip or elbow dysplasia - Labradors, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Rottweilers - summer is actually one of the most important times to maintain consistent joint support. Canine Mobility+ provides glucosamine, chondroitin, collagen, and curcumin in a daily liquid topper →
Immune and Skin Health
Summer is peak season for allergic skin flare-ups in both dogs and cats. Higher airborne pollen counts, increased dust and allergen exposure from dry weather, heat-induced stress, and the systemic inflammation driven by dehydration all converge to make the skin barrier more vulnerable. Dogs with recurring dermatitis and cats with allergic skin reactions consistently show more flare-ups in summer. The combination of curcumin (anti-inflammatory), Boswellia (reduces immune overreaction), and ashwagandha (stress adaptation) in a daily supplement meaningfully reduces this inflammatory burden. Canine Vitality for dogs → and Feline Vitality for cats → are formulated for this purpose.
"I think of supplements the way I think of bone broth - not as medicine, but as daily nutritional infrastructure. They're not doing something dramatic. They're quietly closing the gaps that diet alone can't cover. And over a summer of consistent use, those gaps matter."Karan Gupta - Our Founder, Goofy Tails
Special Considerations: Puppies, Kittens, Seniors, and Brachycephalic Breeds
While every pet needs more careful hydration management in summer, certain categories of pets are significantly more vulnerable and deserve extra attention.
Puppies and Kittens
Young animals have a higher body surface area relative to their body mass, which means they heat up and cool down faster than adults. They are also significantly more susceptible to dehydration - a puppy or kitten that misses even one or two meals due to heat-related appetite suppression can decline quickly. In summer, kittens and puppies should always be on high-moisture wet food, fed in smaller, more frequent portions rather than fewer large meals, and kept in cool environments during peak afternoon hours. Water availability must be checked every few hours.
Senior Pets
Older dogs and cats have reduced kidney function, a more compromised immune response, and reduced ability to regulate body temperature compared to younger animals. The chronic dehydration of a dry-food diet that a young dog might manage without obvious symptoms can push a senior dog into kidney distress within a single hot season. Senior pets should be prioritised for wet food feeding, daily bone broth supplementation, and, where relevant, joint support to compensate for the reduced activity and increased inflammatory load of a hot summer.
Brachycephalic Breeds (Pugs, Bulldogs, Persian Cats, Shih Tzus)
Brachycephalic (short-nosed) breeds are the highest-risk category in Indian summer, full stop. Their narrowed airways mean panting - the primary cooling mechanism for dogs - is significantly less efficient than in normal-nosed breeds. A Pug or Bulldog that would cool itself effectively through panting in mild weather simply cannot move enough air when temperatures reach 40°C. These breeds should never be walked in summer midday heat, should always have access to air conditioning, should be monitored for any increase in panting frequency or open-mouth breathing, and should be on wet food diets year-round. Persian and Himalayan cats face the same physiological challenge and should be kept cool and well-hydrated throughout summer without exception.
Dogs vs. Cats: Where the Summer Challenges Differ
Dogs and cats both suffer in Indian summer heat, but the nature of the challenge is meaningfully different for each species - and so are the most effective interventions.
| Factor | Dogs | Cats |
|---|---|---|
| Primary cooling mechanism | Panting - rapidly loses water as vapour | Saliva spreading on fur (grooming); seeking shade; minimal panting normally |
| Thirst drive | Moderate - will generally seek water when thirsty | Low by nature - evolved as desert predators obtaining water from prey |
| Primary summer risk | Heatstroke from exercise; paw pad burns; dehydration from heavy panting | Chronic dehydration from dry-food diets; urinary crystal formation; kidney stress |
| Most impactful intervention | Restricting exercise to cool hours; wet food; bone broth topper | Switching to wet food; bone broth topper; multiple water stations |
| Warning signs to watch | Excessive panting, drooling, seeking shade mid-walk, bright red gums | Reduced food interest, reduced grooming, lethargy, dark urine, straining in litter box |
| Highest risk group | Brachycephalics, working breeds, overweight or senior dogs | Cats on dry-only diets, neutered males (urinary risk), senior cats |
"What makes cats so much more concerning in summer is that by the time they show obvious signs of dehydration, it's often been building for days. Dogs at least pant visibly and seek water. Cats just quietly withdraw. The cat that's been sleeping all day, eating a little less than usual - that's often not contentment. That's a cat that's been under-hydrated for a week."Karan Gupta - Our Founder, Goofy Tails
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: My dog has access to water all day but still seems lethargic in summer. What's going on?
Lethargy in summer is not always about active dehydration from insufficient water bowl access. It can reflect the cumulative physiological stress of chronic mild dehydration from a dry-food-dominant diet, or simple thermal stress from inadequate indoor cooling. If your dog has clean, fresh water available but is eating dry kibble, the body is still working harder than necessary to concentrate nutrients from low-moisture food. Switching even one meal per day to wet food, and adding bone broth as a topper, often produces a noticeable improvement in energy and alertness within 1–2 weeks. If lethargy persists despite dietary improvements and adequate cooling, a vet check is warranted - summer can unmask underlying conditions that were compensated for in cooler months.
Q: How do I know if my cat is dehydrated?
Cats are masters of concealing discomfort, which makes dehydration easy to miss until it is significant. Early signs include: reduced interest in food (appetite suppression is often the first dehydration signal in cats), reduced grooming, darker or more pungent urine, reduced frequency of litter box visits, dry or slightly sticky gums, and lethargy that seems disproportionate to the temperature. A simple at-home test: gently pinch and release the skin at the back of the neck - in a well-hydrated cat it snaps back immediately; in a dehydrated cat it will tent slowly. However, this test only becomes positive at meaningful dehydration levels (around 5–8%), so do not wait for it before taking action. If your cat is on dry food in summer, treat potential dehydration as a baseline assumption and take proactive steps - wet food and bone broth - rather than waiting for visible symptoms.
Q: Is it safe to give my dog ice water or ice cubes in summer?
Cold water from the fridge is fine and often eagerly accepted by dogs in summer. Ice cubes as enrichment - particularly frozen in bone broth - are safe and beneficial. The concern sometimes raised about ice water causing gastric bloat (GDV) in large-breed dogs is not supported by current veterinary evidence; the risk factors for bloat are rapid large-volume eating, exercise immediately after meals, and genetic predisposition - not cold water. What you should avoid is restricting water temperature in a genuinely thirsty dog during heat stress. If your dog is panting heavily and heat-stressed, cool (not ice-cold) water and a cool environment are the priority.
Q: My cat refuses wet food - how do I get them to accept it?
Cats that have been on dry kibble for months or years often take 2–4 weeks to transition to wet food, particularly if the transition is abrupt. The most reliable approach is gradual: start with 10–20% wet food mixed into the kibble, and increase the wet food proportion every 3–4 days. Warming the wet food to just above room temperature dramatically improves acceptance - warm food releases aromatic compounds that make it far more appealing to a cat's nose. Adding a small amount of bone broth over the wet food helps enormously: most cats find the aroma irresistible even when suspicious of the texture. Patience is the most important variable - do not give up after one or two rejections. Most cats complete a successful transition within 2–3 weeks of consistent effort.
Q: How much should I increase my pet's water intake in summer compared to winter?
A reasonable guideline is to target a 25–30% increase in total fluid intake during India's peak summer months (April–June) compared to winter. For a 10 kg dog who needs approximately 500ml of daily fluid in winter, that means targeting 650–700ml in summer - a difference that is most practically met by increasing wet food proportion and adding bone broth rather than expecting your dog to drink significantly more from the bowl. For cats, the guidance is less about percentage increases and more about ensuring they are consistently reaching adequate baseline hydration - which many cats on dry food never actually achieve even in winter. Summer simply makes the existing shortfall more dangerous.
Q: Are electrolyte supplements useful for pets in summer?
Electrolyte supplements - products like Oral Rehydration Salts formulated for pets - are genuinely useful in two specific situations: active heatstroke recovery (under veterinary supervision), and acute episodes of diarrhoea or vomiting leading to rapid fluid and electrolyte loss. For routine summer hydration management in healthy pets, they are not necessary and should not be used as a substitute for dietary moisture and appropriate water intake. A pet eating good wet food and receiving bone broth daily is getting adequate natural electrolytes - sodium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphate - from their food. Adding commercial electrolyte supplements on top of a well-managed diet is unlikely to provide additional benefit and can, in excess, create mineral imbalances.
Q: Is it normal for pets to eat less in summer?
A modest reduction in appetite during peak summer heat is normal and physiologically appropriate - both dogs and cats have metabolic mechanisms that reduce food intake when ambient temperature is high, partly to avoid generating excess body heat through digestion. A 10–15% reduction in voluntary food intake during the hottest weeks is usually nothing to be concerned about. However, a significant appetite reduction - more than 20–25% of normal intake, lasting more than 2–3 days - or any pet that is refusing food entirely should be assessed by a vet. Dehydration itself suppresses appetite, so what appears as "not hungry in summer" is sometimes actually a dehydration spiral: the pet isn't eating because they're dehydrated, and they're not drinking because they're not eating. This is particularly common in cats and is one reason bone broth - which provides both fluid and nutritional stimulation - is so valuable during summer.
Q: What food should I keep at home specifically for summer pet care?
The short list: high-moisture wet food for dogs or for cats as the primary daily meal; bone broth for dogs or for cats as a daily topper and for freezing into enrichment ice cubes; and a fresh supply of clean, cool water refreshed twice daily. If your dog or cat is on a dry-food-only diet going into summer, this is the most urgent change to make - not for palatability reasons, but for physiological ones. The investment in wet food and broth during summer months is genuinely one of the most direct things you can do for your pet's long-term kidney and urinary health.
A Note from the Founder
"Every summer I have the same conversation with pet parents who come to us after something goes wrong - a urinary blockage, a kidney scare, a bout of heatstroke. And the thing that makes me sad is not that it happened. It's that in almost every case, it was preventable. Not through expensive interventions or complicated routines, but through one or two simple, consistent changes to what they put in the bowl.Karan Gupta - Our Founder, Goofy Tails
We started Goofy Tails because we believed - and still believe - that most of the chronic health problems we see in Indian pets are nutrition problems in disguise. The summer just makes that more obvious, more urgent, and occasionally more tragic. But it also makes the solution more visible: give your pet food that hydrates them, give them broth that makes every meal irresistible, keep them cool, and watch what happens. It's not complicated. It's just consistent care - and in summer, consistency is everything.
To every pet parent reading this: your pet is not going to tell you when they're struggling. They're going to trust you to notice, and to act. This summer, I hope you do."
Your Summer Pet Care Checklist
- Switch to high-moisture wet food as the primary daily meal - the single most impactful summer change
- Add bone broth as a warm daily topper - passive hydration, collagen, and irresistible palatability
- Place multiple water stations around the home in different rooms from the food bowl
- Walk dogs only before 8 AM or after 6 PM - never on hot pavement during peak hours
- Freeze bone broth in ice cube trays for afternoon cooling enrichment treats
- Keep at least one room cool during peak afternoon heat (1–5 PM)
- Check gums weekly - they should be moist and pink, never dry or pale
- Weigh your pet monthly - weight loss in summer can indicate inadequate food and fluid intake
- For dogs on joint supplements - do not reduce during summer; joint inflammation can increase with thermal stress and reduced exercise
- For cats specifically - add a daily vitality supplement to support immune and skin resilience through summer allergen season
- Never walk dogs on hot pavement - if you can't hold your hand there for 5 seconds, your dog shouldn't be walking on it
- Never leave pets in a parked car, even for 5 minutes, in summer - car interiors reach lethal temperatures within minutes
- Never reduce water availability to prevent more frequent urination - more frequent urination is healthy in summer, not a problem to solve
- Never assume a quiet, resting pet is a fine pet in summer - reduced activity is often the first sign of heat stress, not normal laziness
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