DENVER, Colorado: You're probably thinking, "Hey, this is one of the hottest summers ever!" Butch the Bulldog is out by the front porch panting like there's no tomorrow, so you pour some water into his bowl and he laps it up like it was the best thing on earth. And in this kind of sweltering summer heat, maybe it is.

Yet just a few months ago - in late March (and even early April), the entire North American continent was shivering in an unexpected cold wave. What's up with all the freak weather?

Global Warming is such a hot topic these days. Perhaps you can thank director David Guggenheim and Al Gore for their massive Academy Award-winning awareness campaign on the issue of global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

Since its initial 2006 Memorial Day screening, the documentary has been bagging awards left and right (with 2 Oscars and 16 other awards). Meanwhile, the movie's message of climate change has successfully made its way into pop culture- it's woven itself nicely into an episode of The O.C., worked into sketches on The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and G4's X-Play and even inspired an NFL Network host to nickname a San Francisco 49er after the movie.

Further driving the point home was last weekend's Live Earth. Marketed as the largest global entertainment event in history, its organizers reported more than 30 million videos streamed on MSN by eight million people, on top of those who watched the TV coverage and those who actually watched any of the seven concerts held last 07 July 2007 in various venues all over the world.

And so "talking about the weather"- which used to be a reference to idle small-talk- all of a sudden became such an important issue. And with that, something prompts us to ask: "Where can we find the most environmentally pet-friendly places for our pets?"

A while ago the Purina Pet Institute released a study on the Pet-Healthiest Cities. After considering certain criteria - from vet-to-pet ratios, environmental factors, presence of animal-assistance programs, existing legislation, and so much more, the report has identified its own Top Ten.

At the very top of the list is Denver, Colorado. Environmentally, it boasts the lowest flea population of any city. It also ranks high on watershed quality, which according to Aine McCarthy, executive director of the Purina Pet Institute, contributes greatly to pet health. "Watershed quality may seem like a small point," McCarthy told USA Today Magazine. "But drinking water is the main source of hydration your pet receives, so if that quality is poor, it can affect a pet's health."

In addition, Denver also offers excellent access to veterinary specialists and emergency clinics. It also has one of the best vet-to-pet ratios, as well as the most number of American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)-accredited hospitals and veterinary professionals (compared to the other cities in the report).

Oakland, California ranked as the second-healthiest city for pets, partly because it has 17 dog parks. This means that since you have more exercise space available for pets, chances are better that the pet obesity rate is lower than average.

Cats and dogs in San Francisco, California have bragging rights to really clean lungs. In addition to its access to fresh ocean breezes, the city also has the lowest cigarette usage in the study, and boasts zero annual ozone alert days. San Francisco's large number of dog parks only helps make its pet population even more healthy.

Other environmentally-friendly cities worth mentioning are Portland, Oregon - which also has low cigarette usage among the population, and Salt Lake City, Utah - which only has six ozone alerts a year, plus one of the lowest flea populations anywhere.

According to Pet Love Shack, while it is important to understand the environmental elements that affect a pet's health, there are many things individual pet owners can do to help improve their pet's health.

The simple act of /blog/2007/07/10/ten-reasons-to-desex-your-puppy/de-sexing (spaying and neutering), giving your pet enough exercise, preventative care can "literally add, or detract healthy years from a pet's life", according to Dan Christian, DVM, of the Purina Pet Institute.

Hand in hand with our involvement on taking positive action on climate change issues, is our responsibility to make life a little better for our pets.