The wildfire smoke not only causes breathing problems for us humans, but Dr. Moshe Oz at the Rose Valley Veterinary Hospital in West Kelowna says he's seeing an increase in pets that are suffering.
"We're seeing at least two or three coughing dogs or cats everyday - it's way more". He says this is an increase from an average of one or two a week.
He says the smoke can cause allergic reactions and asthma in animals - and is extremely hard on older pets that have underlying medical conditions.
"I was here for the whole weekend with a few elderly dogs and cats that started to cough, and they had heart disease before, which made it way worse", he says.
Dr. Oz says keeping your dogs or cats indoors will help - but if they've developed a nasty cough - medications will likely be needed.
"Sometimes the smoke can have microscopic particles that can sink into the lungs and create problems there." He says medications won't stop coughing completely, but should make your pet more comfortable.