A rechargeable alternative to the rice sock

One drawback to the rice sock is that it needs to be microwaved to work. About thirty seconds heats it up to doggie body temperature and you’re in business. 

But what if you don’t have access to a microwave? Maybe you don’t own one, or are travelling, camping or staying somewhere where you can’t heat your rice sock. Or maybe your house has lost power due to a storm.

We’ve had a couple of instances with our diabetic dog Parker when we couldn’t use our rice sock. So we did some research and found a great alternative. We love it so much we’ve ditched the rice sock in favour of our new discovery.

We bought rechargeable hand warmers from Amazon. They’re the size of a hotel bar of soap and designed to slide into winter gloves or mittens. Being from Canada, we’re familiar with all sorts of portable heating devices.

Why we love them more than the rice sock

They were not expensive

They were about $16 CDN for a pair.

We always have a backup

Because they’re designed for mittens or gloves, they come in pairs. So we always have a second one ready if the battery runs out of juice in the one we’re using. 

They have several settings‍‍

We can set the temperature so it’s not too hot for Parker’s ears, but also not so tepid that it’s ineffective.

They have a smooth surface

Because they’re designed to sit next to your hands inside of a mitten or glove, there are not sharp or scratchy surfaces that could irritate your dog.

Two things we don’t like

One thing we don’t like is that the indicator lights are very small. It’s hard to see when they are on, which leads to the other issue... 

It’s easy to accidentally leave them on. They have no auto shutoff so will run out of battery if you forget to turn them off.

Portability in your paws

After a couple of stinky episodes when we over-zapped our rice sock, and after being stuck without power for a couple of days following a big storm, we’ve switched to using the rechargeable hand warmers full time to prepare Parker’s ear for a blood test. They’re not perfect but are low cost, quick, and easy to use.