DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Keeping your pets safe and cool during a heat wave is also important.

Experts recommend planning walks for times of day when the temperature drops to avoid burning your pet's paws.

Shirley Stanley, board member of the Decatur and Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation, also said to avoid leaving pets in a hot car, even if it's for a quick run into the grocery store.

"The temperature could be 20 degrees higher when you come back to the car, and it incrementally rises. An animal left in this temperature for a half hour, you come back to a car that's 125 degrees inside, that's deadly for an animal," Stanley said.

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