HEATSTROKE . What I didn’t know might have ( and almost did) kill my dog.  What I know now might save someone else’s dog. This is what I want to share.

I knew it would be too hot the day of our scheduled hunt at the club.  I knew I would need to carry extra water for Stryker.  I knew that dogs don’t feel the breeze; they don’t sweat like we do.  They only cool off through their feet and tongue.  I’ve been told to think about how I would feel with a full body windbreaker on!  I also knew my dog wouldn’t quit because he was overheating, I would have to make that decision for him.

With all this in mind (I didn’t want to disappoint my friends) we went ahead with our hunt.  It was 65° when we started at 10am.  The chukkar were planted in pairs (I thought that would cut the number of flushes in half.)  We had extra water with us.

After several flushes with multiple misses by the gunners, having to track down singles and one very long retrieve, Stryker was one pair from finishing. I had been giving him water and he seemed okay and was quartering in front of us when he located the last pair. One of the birds got up and started running, Stryker took one step and collapsed.

I began putting water on his feet and ears while the other two hunters stood over him to provide some shade. After a few minutes Stryker threw up twice and I was really scared.  Guilt engulfed me, “How could I have been so stupid as to let this happen?”

After 15 minutes of putting water on his feet and ears ( to try to cool him off) he still couldn’t stand and his eyes were red and almost vacant looking. I picked him up and carried him out of the field back to the car which took 20 minutes. We put him on the tailgate, made some shade and I put icepacks on his chest and back legs while still keeping his feet and ears wet. His panting was reduced but he threw up two more times. I put him in my pickup and drove back to the clubhouse where we found a garden house and hosed him down and laid him in the grass. He wasn’t panting but couldn’t pick up his head and was listless.

Another hunter brought us some Pedialyte and suggested we give some to Stryker. We gave it very slowly and did not force it.  After about 20 minutes he picked up his head. Everyone told me I should take him to the vet right away but no one could tell me why. I put him in the cab of my pickup, turned on the A/C and headed for home, a 90 minute drive.  On the way home, I called Erica for her input.  Much to my surprise she gave the same advice, take him to a vet.

My local vet was not open (holiday evening) so I took Stryker to the local emergency vet clinic.  Fortunately the vet was very knowledgeable and was able to stabilize Stryker’s condition, putting him on fluids and keeping him overnight.  Thankfully keeping him overnight on IV’s, bringing his temperature back to normal slowly got him out of danger.  In the morning I transferred him to my regular vet who kept him on fluids and watched him for the day.

So that’s the story of what I knew and what I did.  Here’s what I didn’t know, but I sure know now!  The reason you need to take your dog to a vet right away is: Only a vet can do some of the things necessary to properly evaluate and help the dog.

A dog’s normal temp is between 101.5 and 102. If the temperature rises above 104.5 , organ systems are damaged and can shut down. Dehydration causes stress on the liver which can then shut down the kidneys as the blood becomes too thick. The normal blood clotting proteins break down at high temperatures so the dogs blood won’t clot and they can bleed to death internally.  This can only be measured by a blood test.  Normal clotting is between 70-90 seconds, Stryker’s blood test showed his clotting time was over 300 seconds. In a second clotting test, normal was between 17 and 25 seconds, Stryker was at 95 seconds. Another sign of poor clotting is looking for petechia ( little blood vessel breaks on gums and edges of his ears). This can and should be looked for in the field but can be looked at more throughly at the vets.

Stryker’s temperature when it was taken at the vet was 97.8 which was way too cold, which caused additional body stress. Apparently you can bring the temperature down too fast and drop below the normal temp. The vet explained that when you are reducing body temperature, you need to stop when the temp reduces to 103° so you don’t overshoot like I did.  (Probably not a good idea to ride home damp with the A/C on.)

Things I’d do differently in the future (besides not going if the weather was going to be too hot).  (1)  I’d have a thermometer in my vest (believe me there is one in my vest right now!) and I’d check his actual body temperature.  (2)  I’d realize this was an emergency and call the clubhouse to bring a vehicle out to get us.  (3) I would have set the chukkar as singles, since my gunners probably would have hit more on the first flush!  The extra adrenaline of a multiple birds flushing didn’t help anyone.  It might have even contributed to how quickly Stryker overheated, since an adrenaline rush quickly raises the body temperature.  (4) I would place damp cool towels under his front legs and around the groin area.  While dogs don’t sweat to cool off, they do bring the warm blood to the surface just under the skin.  Thus cooling the skin will cool the blood before it goes back deep in the body.  (5) I would take into consideration the actual temperature of the ground.  It had been hot for several days and the overnight lows were only dropping to the mid fifties.  So the actual ground temperature may have been a major factor in how this played out, since it is what the dog’s feet are touching!  (anybody thinking about designing “cool-pack” boots?)

It looks like I dodged the bullet with Stryker as they expect a full recovery with no additional problems. It took him 4 full days to bring his energy level back to near normal, and the sparkle back to his eyes.  It took over a week for his blood clotting factors to returned to normal.  I was told not to even think about hunting him for 3 weeks.  (There went the remainder of our club season.)

It’s been 3 weeks now and he seems none the worse for the wear, but perhaps I’ll never know if I set him up for some other problems down the road. I’ve read that dogs who have had heatstroke previously are at a higher risk for having it again.

I hope my sharing this story with you will give you some information (I didn’t have) so that you can avoid putting your dog at risk for heatstroke.  I didn’t trust my instincts and hunted my dog because I didn’t want to disappoint someone.  Simply know:  “a dog getting too warm hunting”  and heatstroke are NOT in the same category!  Heatstroke can be (and often is) FATAL!

Here is a link to an excellent article on the subject

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1375

“Stryker Mike” from California