Heat Stroke in Pets
OK, the summer came, and I'm sure we will see a plenty of animals suffered from overheating in our emergency veterinary hospital. This is definitely a sad part of warm season, as a heat stroke is an absolute medical emergency with a bad prognosis. The worst part of it is to know that the vast majority of deaths due to heat stroke is preventable.
Since many people on this forum have pets, I would like to give you some basic information about keeping your pet safe and cool.
The heat stroke is a raise of the animal's body temperature due to the high outside temperatures. Animals can not sweat, thus, they overheat very quickly. Risk is especially high for fluffy dogs, short-nosed dogs, geriatric animals, and babies.
The rise of temperature leads to denaturation of the body’s proteins and multi-organ failure, so the mortality is very high. I work in the field of emergency veterinary medicine for years, and can not remember any animal surviving a severe heat stroke, although some of them spent days in ICU on ventilator.
As you can guess, heat stroke is easier to prevent than to treat.
So remember some rules, which are pretty simple but may be life-saving for your pet.
1. NEVER, NEVER EVER leave your animal in a car, even with open windows, in a hot day! In fact, this is the leading cause of heat stroke. The temperature in your car in the full sun may reach 120 degrees, no living thing can survive there.
2. Always be sure your animal has a protection from direct sunlight and plenty of water. I can recall several cases of severe heat stroke in animals in high risk after they were left at home without AC or fan in a hot day.
3. Avoid spending long time outside in hot weather.
The symptoms of heat stroke include: raise of body temperature, rapid shallow breathing, tachycardia, lethargy, respiratory distress, vomiting, and diarrhea. That must be an alarming sign for you. Contact the local emergency veterinary hospital or your veterinarian immediately. I recommend calling ER vet, because they have more experience with such cases, have more equipment, and may be staffed with critical care specialists. The biggest ER animal hospital in RI is Ocean State Veterinary Specialists in East Greenwich, and their phone number is (401) 886-6787. Follow the direction given you by a receptionist or a technician. It is crucial to get your pet to the hospital ASAP, but you can start with cooling him down right away. DO NOT apply ice or give ice bath! That will lead to constriction of blood vessels and cool skin, not the body inside. Rather, get an animal to the car or room with AC, and give him COOL bath, or apply cool towels over his head and chest. Do not spend too much time on first aid; remember that getting your pet seen by the vet is more important.
The prognosis depends on the general condition of your pet, duration of heat exposure, severity of dehydration, promptness of medical treatment, and more. As I mentioned, the condition is difficult to treat, and many patients do not survive. So the best thing we can do for our animals is to prevent them from overheating.
Please be careful, stay safe and have a long pleasant summer!
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Originally Posted by Rob Boudrie
