Don’t let your dog die from heat stroke
Tens of thousands of dogs suffer from heat stroke every year in the UK.
Prevention is the best approach, but owners should know what to do if their dog becomes overheated.
Many dogs die after overheating. First aid/cooling by owners can improve a dog’s chance of recovering from heat stroke massively.
The cooling needs to be done carefully for optimal effect: it isn’t just a case of chucking a bucket of cold water over an overheated dog.
Here are the 6 key steps owners should take if they think their dog is suffering from heatstroke.
1 Telephone your vet so to arrange for your dog to be seen as an emergency
2 Take your dog away from the heat source into a cool environment
3 Cool your pet down quickly in the correct way. Use lukewarm water: cold water or ice will cause constriction of the superficial blood vessels in the skin, which paradoxically may result in a reduced ability for the dog to lose body heat through convection.
4 As well as standing the dog in water, or hosing down with water, cover the animal with towels soaked in lukewarm water
5 Place the damp dog in an airstream of some kind to maximise heat loss by convection and radiation e.g. vets often use standing fans to help to cool dogs down.
6 For owners in practice when dealing with an overheated pet, this may mean pouring buckets of water or a hose over a dog, then draping them with soaked towels while driving them to the vet, with the car windows partially open to create a breeze
Intensive care by vets reduces the mortality rate
As well as continuing the cooling process while monitoring the core body temperature (it’s important not to over-chill affected dogs), vets need to take additional measures, including putting dogs on intravenous fluids to maintain the blood pressure. This helps the body to keep the blood flowing around the body, which is essential to cool down overheated internal tissues.
Some overheated dogs seem to make an initial recovery, only to deteriorate and die from internal organ damage the following day. Thorough and intensive veterinary intervention significantly reduces this risk.
Here is a link to the full Daily Telegraph article this information is from.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pets/news-features/treat-dog-heatstroke/
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