Health IQ: Extreme weather and pets, IVF and sunshine

Heat, wildfires and your pet

When scorching heat waves team up with dangerous wildfire smoke, it’s like a tag team of health hazards for our pets. And experts are warning pet owners it may be a recipe for disaster if the right precautions aren’t taken.

Wildfire smoke and extreme heat can pose a serious health risk to dogs and cats, just like it does to humans, explained Dr. Ron Worb, the chief veterinarian at the Anderson Animal Hospital and Wellness Center in Winnipeg.

“There’s a lot of irritants in the air from wildfires, and then you add in hot weather, that is definitely a recipe for potential disaster,” he warned.

But there are ways to mitigate the risks.

Experts that Global News spoke with said pet owners should first check Health Canada’s Air Quality Health Index, which shows regions with high pollutant levels.

If the air quality is poor or the weather is too hot, you should keep your pet indoors as much as possible, especially during peak sun hours.

While running and playing are important for dogs, mental stimulation can be just as tiring, experts said.

Read more on how to entertain your pets inside if the heat and wildfire smoke is too much to bear.

Human eggs collected in summer, as opposed to the fall, may be linked to a higher likelihood of successful fertility treatment, new research out of Australia shows.

The study, published Wednesday in Human Reproduction, looked at outcomes from frozen embryo transfers over an eight-year period and discovered that the time of year when eggs are collected from a person’s ovaries during fertility treatment may be impacted by the season and duration of sunshine.

The researchers found that if the egg had been collected in summer as opposed to the fall, the odds of having a successful embryo transfer and live birth were 30 per cent higher regardless of when the embryo was implanted in the womb.

People who had eggs collected on sunnier days experienced a 28-per cent boost in their chances of achieving a live birth, according to the study.

Read more here about how summer and sunshine may impact fertility treatment.

New guidelines have been introduced to tackle the challenging question of whether Canadians undergoing medical assistance in dying (MAiD) should have the option to donate their organs to someone they choose after death.

The guidelines, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on June 26, aim to provide guidance on organ donation and MAiD. But some experts are concerned about how to balance who a patient wants to donate their organ to versus who needs one.

Until the recent release of the new guidelines, Canadians were limited to the option of “living donation” when selecting the recipient for an organ. This is when a person donates an organ or a portion of it to another person while both parties are still alive. Typically, this involves organs that the donor can safely live without, such as a segment of the liver or one of their kidneys.

In most cases involving an organ donor who has died, organs are provided to those most in need, rather than someone selected by the donor before death.

Also included in the guidance is that both the donor and organ recipient must meet eligibility criteria: being on the current waiting list for a transplant or meeting criteria to be put on that list.

Bioethicist Udo Schuklenk, who also holds the Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics, told Global News the eligibility aspect is understandable as a clinician, but he doesn’t think it should apply.

He said medical officials will need to “just bite the bullet” and say the organ would be given to somebody who may not be in the greatest need.