The dog days of summer are taking a toll on our four-legged friends.
The Humane Society of North Texas says it is seeing more animals surrendered for adoption, and many of them are coming in with heat-related illnesses. To make matters worse, shelter workers say adoptions are down as well.
"When it gets really hot like this, people do not want to go out and do anything more than what they have to do," says Peggy Brown, with the Humane Society of North Texas.
"So we have a double whammy of lots of animals coming in and very few of them being adopted," says Brown.
Veterinarians like Dr. Tim Morton, DVM with Family Pet Care, say they are seeing an increase in heat-related illnesses and injuries, too.
Issues range from paw injury to heat stroke, and the relentless triple digit days make vulnerable animals more likely to succumb to other illnesses.
"There's a variety of things we see that the animal was able to compensate yet for these temperatures, never getting any relief, even in the morning time," says Dr. Morton.
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Dr. Morton says signs of distress can range from panting and lethargy to collapsing and vomitting. He says there is a small window of time when treatment can prevent brain damage and organ failure, so help should be sought immediately.
Fort Worth animal control says it is has received heat related animal cruelty calls this summer.
