are putting Australian dogs and cats at growing risk
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On a 25°C afternoon, suburban asphalt can exceed 50°C.
Dogs cross that surface barefoot, with paw pads centimetres from the heat.
RSPCA Australia lists burns among the injuries that rising air temperatures bring to pets.[2]
Heat, disaster and disease now converge on household pets, and the evidence shows where the risk concentrates.
The Australian Veterinary Association links climate change to more droughts, heatwaves, bushfires and floods.
It says heat stress commonly affects pets.[7]
Heatstroke, a life-threatening rise in body temperature, can cause rapid multi-organ failure and death in pets.
RSPCA Australia calls it an emergency that demands immediate veterinary attention.
The organisation says the risk is increasing as heatwaves grow more frequent and prolonged.[8]
A study in the Australian Veterinary Journal analysed two decades of New South Wales veterinary data.
Dog mortality risk rose 0.6% for each degree of daily maximum temperature above 25°C.
Extreme heat days above 32°C, the 95th percentile of regional daily maximum temperatures, carried a 9.5% higher risk.[1]
Public holidays and Sundays carried higher mortality risk even after the analysis controlled for temperature.
Sundays showed nearly double the risk of other days of the week. The authors say veterinary public health policy and key messaging about heat deaths in dogs should use these findings.[1]
Individual risk varies with age, body condition, health and breed. RSPCA Australia identifies obese dogs and brachycephalic (flat-faced) breeds such as pugs and bulldogs as high-risk.
Both groups have a reduced capacity to regulate body temperature.[2]
Humidity amplifies heat. RSPCA Australia lists warm, humid weather, poor airflow and scarce shade among the main heatstroke risk factors. Heatstroke can still develop in cooler weather when several of those factors combine.[8]
Parts of northern Australia have already recorded such conditions. RSPCA Australia’s 2020 research report documents record humidity, rainfall and flood risk in some northern regions during 2019. It draws that finding from the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement.[2]
Agriculture Victoria says heat load builds when overnight temperatures stay above 25°C across consecutive hot days. Its guidance covers pets and livestock. It urges planning for days above 36°C in dry heat, or lower when humid.[3]
Cities add a structural hazard. The urban heat island effect, where built-up areas run hotter than surrounding land, raises heat illness risk for city animals. RSPCA Australia flags that risk in its research report.[2]
Vectors are organisms such as mosquitoes and ticks that carry disease. The Australian Veterinary Association says warmer temperatures and rain events that aid vector breeding have increased several diseases. Some diseases have also shifted geographically.[7]
Researchers writing in The Conversation expect heat and floods to aid the spread of parasites and illness. They name tick-borne disease, flea infestations and heartworm as likely consequences for pets. The authors conclude that pets will need human help to cope.[4]
RSPCA Australia notes suggestions that shifting humidity and temperature in Queensland sustain heavy flea burdens. It expects higher risk from heartworm, a mosquito-borne parasite of dogs. It also expects more irritation and allergies from arthropods such as fleas, ticks and mites.[2]
Evidence remains thin. In 2020, RSPCA Australia found a general lack of peer-reviewed literature that systematically assesses climate-related welfare risks to animals. It says further research must establish the range and extent of those risks.[2]
Extreme weather can displace pets. RSPCA Australia warned in 2020 that owners may delay evacuating when pets lack accommodation. It tied that concern to South Australia and Western Australia, where evacuation centres excluded pets other than assistance animals.[2]
In February 2026, RSPCA WA and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services urged households to plan for pets. The call followed a string of Western Australian bushfires. RSPCA WA’s chief operating officer said community evacuation centres generally exclude animals other than recognised assistance animals.[5]
Australian emergency arrangements assign formal roles to response agencies, but individual pet owners ultimately retain responsibility for their animals. A survey of Townsville residents in the Australian Journal of Emergency Management found most pet owners uncertain or underprepared.
The authors frame this as shared responsibility and urge households to plan ahead for their pets.[9]
Disaster specialist James Sawyer wrote in 2024 that animal evacuation planning stays informal without legislation. Resources then rely on volunteers, and authority is largely absent. He described the planning and resourcing gap for evacuating people with animals as huge.[10]
El Niño is a warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean that shifts weather patterns across Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology says all models forecast warmth peaking around November or December and persisting into autumn 2027.
Most models show monthly peaks above +3.0°C on the Relative Niño3.4 index, higher than any since 1950.[6]
Agriculture Victoria says responsibility for preparing animals for heat events rests with owners and carers. Victorian guidance limits unattended time in a vehicle to 10 minutes on days above 28°C. At 28°C or above, dogs riding on metal ute trays need an insulating layer beneath them.[3]
RSPCA Australia advises giving pets free access to water and cool areas. Cats may need confinement indoors when outdoor conditions turn too hot. Rabbits, guinea pigs and other caged animals need a cool, shaded, ventilated spot indoors, such as a laundry.[8]
Signs of heatstroke vary by species but may include lethargy, fast breathing, shaking and collapse. RSPCA Australia directs owners who suspect heatstroke to seek veterinary attention immediately. Very young animals regulate body temperature poorly, and very old animals often carry conditions that limit cooling.[8]
Veterinary data and animal welfare bodies show that climate change already endangers Australian pets. Heat, humidity, hot pavements and spreading parasites each raise the risk, and research gaps still limit the picture.
Responsibility rests largely with owners, and evacuation rules in Western Australia leave households to arrange their own shelter. One disaster specialist argues that legislation would close the planning gap and give agencies a clear mandate.
The El Niño summer will test those arrangements. Accountability depends on whether lawmakers, agencies and veterinarians share the duty that owners already carry.
Owners can act now by planning for heat, smoke, flood and evacuation before summer peaks.
1. Feeling the heat: associations among daily ambient temperatures, extreme heat days and risk mortality in Australian dogs from New South Wales (1997-2017). Peer-reviewed Australian Veterinary Journal analysis of 20 years of New South Wales veterinary data linking heat to dog mortality.
2. The Impact of Climate Change on the Welfare of Animals in Australia (RSPCA Australia, 2020). Animal welfare organisation review of heat, disaster and disease risks to companion animals, farm animals and wildlife.
3. Caring for animals during extreme heat (Agriculture Victoria). Government guidance on heat load, overnight temperatures and the care of pets and livestock, last updated in July 2026.
4. How climate change will affect your pet and how to help them cope (The Conversation, 2023). Researcher commentary on climate-related welfare risks to pets, including parasites and disease.
5. Suburban bushfires prompt urgent call for pet emergency plans (RSPCA WA, 2 February 2026). Western Australian animal welfare and fire agencies explain why households need their own pet evacuation plans.
6. Southern Hemisphere monitoring: Pacific, Indian and Southern Ocean regions (Bureau of Meteorology). National weather agency monitoring of El Niño conditions, with model forecasts of a peak around November or December.
7. Climate change and animal health, welfare and production (Australian Veterinary Association policy, 2022). Professional veterinary policy linking climate change to heat stress, extreme events and vector-borne disease.
8. What can I do to protect my companion animals from heatstroke? (RSPCA Knowledgebase). Animal welfare guidance on heatstroke signs, risk factors and prevention across companion species.
9. Promoting owner responsibility for pets in disasters (Gurtner and Parison, Australian Journal of Emergency Management). Survey of Townsville residents examining pet disaster planning and where legal and policy responsibility sits.
10. Closing the planning gap: evacuating people and animals (Sawyer, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, April 2024). Opinion piece on the legislative and resourcing gap in evacuating people with their animals.
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