Dog heat stroke symptoms
Many peoples like to take their dogs along with them when doing outdoor exercise such as jogging or riding bike especially in the summer season. Even though it is nice to have your pets near you all the time everywhere you go but you must be really careful and make sure that you do not over heat them because your dog can get heat stroke and die.
Dogs especially long hair breeds need time to cool down the heat inside their body because they do not have sweat glands like humans so external source like water is crucial in helping the cooling process. Dogs main cooling system is their nose, tongue and paw pads.
What is the causes of heat stroke?
Heat stroke occur when a dog lose ability to control or regulate its body temperature. Dogs lower their body temperature by panting and if it cannot get rid of the heat fast enough the heat stroke occur.
Dog heat stroke symptoms
Dog heat stroke treatment
If your dog body temperature raise above 105 fahrenheit and started to show signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion then you must quickly move your pet to cool and shady place and apply water to important part of the body such as head, neck and chest area. Blowing him with cool wind can help speeding up the evaporation process.
Never apply ice when your dog is having heat stroke because it can constricts blood flow and reduce efficiency of lowering the body temperature. Try giving water with ice cubes instead and take your pets to a veterinarian as soon as possible for further effective treatment.
Be aware that body temperature over 106 degree can permanently damage your dog liver, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, heart and brain so immediate action is very important.
Prevention of heat stroke in dogs
Avoid exposure in hot weather and shorten exercise period. Just because it’s hot outside doesn’t mean that you should stop your pets from getting exercise and the best time to take your dogs out for exercise is in the early morning and late evening because the weather is cool and your dog won’t get heat stroke easily.