# Heatstroke in dogs



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

*PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IT IS NOT ONLY IN LOCKED CARS THAT DOGS SUFFER FROM THE HEAT*


_"Today we have had to put our 2 year old dog down, she had been fine all day, playing with the kids like normal in the garden, water fights etc, then out of no where she took a turn for the worse, being sick and then collapsed.

Turns out it was heat stroke and even though we got her to the vets in 10 minutes, it was too late, she had brain damage and her organs had shut down.

The vet said its all too common and on hot days, the dogs are best kept indoors, no matter how much they like then sun and the garden.

Wanted to share this story so others can be extra careful with their dogs in the summer."_


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## In 2 bikes (Apr 18, 2013)

Sad news..

Thanks for the tips.. I especially wasn't aware about the 'iced' water thing.


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## Ronnie_Yook (May 9, 2012)

siobhanwf said:


> *PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IT IS NOT ONLY IN LOCKED CARS THAT DOGS SUFFER FROM THE HEAT*
> 
> 
> _"Today we have had to put our 2 year old dog down, she had been fine all day, playing with the kids like normal in the garden, water fights etc, then out of no where she took a turn for the worse, being sick and then collapsed.
> ...


Hello siobhanwf,

I am sure I speak for all canine lovers in the expatforum, in that we share in your very sad loss. 

We have been fortunate to have several canines in our family, and they are all family members. We migrated over here from the frozen wastelands of Scotland, with a pony, long-haired cat, and a 90 kilo Irish Wolfhound!

Before we came down here we explored and researched as many Irish Wolfhound owners who lived in 'warmer' countries... Owners in Argentina were one of those, and we gleaned a lot from them.

Regarding heat in Portugal, and although we regularly 'stripped' the wiry coat of our wee wolfie for the summer, he did suffer, especially when we had the heatwaves in the 40 deg C during 2003 and 2004.

The best thing we did for him...and possibly a life-saver was in the use of towels soaked in cold water, and put over the dog...like a wet blanket, and access to a fan.

Apart from that, and depending on breed of dog, keep their coats short in summer, house them in the coolest shadiest area, with access to copious good potable cool water, exercise during dawn and/or dusk (cooler) and lots of TLC.

Hopes this helps any expatforum animal lovers out there.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Let's also remember it's not just dogs that can suffer from heatstroke..... Any animal, including the human animal can also suffer from it........ I nearly died of it about 20 years ago when I was in the Zambezi Valley of Mozambique (in December) and believe me, it hits you without warning and like a train!


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Ronnie_Yook said:


> Hello siobhanwf,
> 
> I am sure I speak for all canine lovers in the expatforum, in that we share in your very sad loss.



Hi Ronnie, Thank you so much for the sympathy but thankfully it was not one of our three boxers that suffered but a friend`s Mastiff in the UK

Teatowels wet are a really good idea. However I have purchased wet coats for all three of our dogs which have helped greatly.


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