Finally, a little relief from the heat

Published 10:47 pm Thursday, July 30, 2009

Elvis sprawled out on the bathroom floor of his Mukilteo home, the coolest place he could find.

He was hot and miserable.

Natasha Lomas and her daughter Gwen, 4, felt bad for the family cat who has been enduring the heat wave that has baked Snohomish County this week.

So on Thursday, Elvis got his first shave.

“Oh, I think you are going to be so happy,” Natasha told Elvis after catching a glimpse of her newly shorn gray and white feline at A Pet Spa grooming shop south of Everett.

In a sweltering week when daily electricity and water consumption reached record highs for summer usage, pet owners also are looking to find relief for their four-legged friends.

Temperatures reached the 90s in many parts of the county Thursday, but Granite Falls was the hot spot once again, hitting 103 degrees. It was followed by Snohomish, which topped out at 98 degrees and Lake Stevens, which hit 97. Everett and Arlington both recorded highs of 90 degrees.

The National Weather Service in Seattle predicts continued cooling with temperatures in the upper 70s to mid-80s today.

Although King County reported its first heat-related death Thursday, a man in his 60s who also had heart disease, clinics and hospitals in Snohomish County reported that they haven’t seen an unusual number of people with heat-related health problems.

However, stagnant air and rising pollution levels has caused poor air quality.

Karen Clark, a nurse at Sky Valley Family Medicine in Sultan, said she has heard from patients with lung problems, such as emphysema, who are having breathing problems and had to use more medication.

Clark, who is also a volunteer for the Sultan Fire Department, said that when she first heard about the approaching heat wave, she reviewed water rescue technique and how to treat heat emergencies, but no such calls have come in.

“So far, so good,” she said. “I think people know what they should do: stay in cool places. They’re being smart about the whole heat issue.”

Some people haven’t been so careful with their pets.

Everett animal control officers have responded to about 100 reports of dogs being left in cars since last weekend, said Bud Wessman, director of the city’s animal services program.

“That’s the No. 1 rule: Don’t leave your dog, cat, bird or whatever in the car because you are basically leaving them in an oven,” Wessman said.

Dogs left on leashes should have access to shade and fresh water throughout the day, Wessman said.

The heat has made for brisk business for groomers.

“We’ve been really busy this week,” said Yvonne Johnson, owner of A Pet Spa. “It has been kind of crazy.”

“If we didn’t vacuum after every single dog, we would be swimming in hair, especially this week,” said Shauna Mallory, a groomer at the shop.

The key to a close cut is to make sure there is enough hair for insulation and to prevent sunburn, groomers said.

“It seems like everyone wants their dogs cut shorter than normal,” said Bridget Crow, a groomer.

There was enough fur to fill a grocery bag by the time Tia, a black standard poodle, was finished with her session.

Ditto for Moose, a domestic longhair cat, who was given a lion’s mane coif. More than two inches of hair were taken off much of his body with the exception of a tuft on the tip of his tail and around the ankles to complement the round mane around his head.

“It’s all about the heat and making the pets comfortable,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, in another weather-related development, a lightning storm has ignited approximately 30 more fires on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, officials said Thursday evening. The fires are as small as one tree and up to 2 acres.

Ten of the fires are in the Darrington Ranger District, within Skagit and Snohomish Counties and eight in Skykomish Ranger District, which takes in land in Snohomish and King Counties.

Reporter Sharon Salyer contributed to this story.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.