Would You Like Ice in Your Dog Sir?

It’s getting warm here now, the temp is in the high twenties (Centigrade) with nearly 100% humidity and soon it’ll be climbing to the mid to high thirties

This means that whenever we take Kylie for a walk we must be careful of heat exhaustion - as you know Huskies were bred for cooler climes. However, she was born and bred here in South China so has acclimatized, her coat is nowhere near as thick as more northern Huskies and we do take plenty of water when we go out.

But the warming weather got me to thinking…

How do you tell if your dog is starting to overheat?

After a little research I came across an article on The Dog Blog which spelt out nicely the signs of heat exhaustion. To quote:

Watch for signs of heatstroke, such as heavy panting; excessive salivating; staggered walking; muscle tremors; seizures; glazed eyes; noticeably darker tongue and gums; vomiting; or bloody diarrhea.

Now maybe you dog isn’t showing these advanced symptoms but you still think she’s too hot so what is the best way to cool her down?

I hear many people say put some ice in her water, in fact Susan wanted to give ice to Kylie when she got hot. But this is probably one of the biggest mistakes you can make and could even prove fatal.

Going back to the previous article I noticed that the writer had an Afghan hound who he gave iced water to to help cool it down.

However the dog started going into bloat and needed emergency treatment to save it’s life. Whilst at the vet the owner was discussing the cause with the vet and had this to say about this experience (Baran is the Afghan in question):

The ice water I gave Baran caused a violent Muscle spasm in his stomach which caused the bloating.

Even though I figured his temp was down enough to feed and give him this ice water his internal temp was still high. Dr. Vogf stated that giving dogs ice to chew or ice water is a big NO, NO; there should be NO reason for them to ever have ice/ice water.

Normal water (roomTemp.), or cooling with cold towels on the inter thigh. This is the best way to help cool a dog.

So do take Dr Vogf’s words to heart and refrain from giving your dog iced water - it could save his life.

Speak to you soon,

Stuart.