The bitter windchills can affect more than just your family's health.

Your pets can feel the bite of the cold just as much as you can, so it's best to keep them in.

"If it's too dang cold for you, it's too dang cold for them," says Edna Jackson, owner of Tails to Tell Animal Shelter, "so if you can only stay out for ten minutes, that's the length of time they should stay out too."

Jackson says the rule should be that if the mercury hits -12, the pets shouldn't be out, at least for a long period of time.

"Their feet freeze. They don't have boots like you and I have on. Even if you do put boots on them, they're still not the warmest of warm."

Unfortunately, Jackson says their shelter receives too many calls of animals left to fend for themselves in the bitter cold.

 

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