With a brief cold snap happening today and tomorrow, it’s a good time to remember to keep your pets safe.

Dr. Mark Peters is a veterinarian with the Jefferson Veterinary Clinic, and he says when there are below freezing temperatures, frostbite isn’t a real threat to animals, but always be on the lookout to protect them from the cold.

“You’ve got to take into consideration the type of pet you have and whether or not they’ve acclimated to the climate and what they can do. But you don’t want to go out for a five mile walk on a morning like this and expect them to be healthy because it can definitely have some consequences.” 

Below freezing temperatures can also cause refreezing of ice and Dr. Peters talks about monitoring pets if they are around de-icing materials.

“What you don’t want is for an animal to consume those, because they can get poisoned by that salt if they consume some of that stuff, so you’ve got to be careful on that end too. As well as getting it on their paws and causing abrasions, burns and things like that.”

The National Weather Service anticipates a daytime high of 20 degrees for today and two degrees above zero for the overnight low temperature.