Smoke and fine particle pollution from Canadian wildfires has prompted another Code Orange day across all of North Carolina.
Officials with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality said that means there will be unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups, like older adults, younger children and those with respiratory conditions like asthma, and those people should limit prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.
Dr. Dan Dombrowski is the Chief Veterinarian for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. He said that the particulates in the air can impact pets, too.
“They have to deal with it just like we do and their lungs and the way they breathe and their systems, for mammals are just like ours,” he said, “And, so, anything that's, you know, a problem for us is potentially a problem for them to.”

He recommends limiting their time outdoors and making sure they aren’t doing a lot of running and jumping until the air clears.
“Today's not a good day to run your dog around a lot outside,” Dombrowski said, “If you can kind of keep them inside, give them a day or two. Hopefully this will clear up before too long.”
He added that pets can have respiratory problems, too.
“A dog or a cat that's already got respiratory issues, like, feline asthma is relatively common or is a thing; dogs can have asthma, horses even, you know, not just pets. But even things like horses get respiratory issues as well. So, keeping an eye on them I think is really important,” Dombrowski said.