Ice cubes to cool down

I give my dogs ice cubes when it's hot and just last week I put ice cubes in their water when it was so miserable outside. Would love to hear this disputed.
This is a permitted crosspost:

I occasionally throw some ice into water bowls on a hot day, or even let
them chew on a few ice cubes now and then when it is hot. I may re-think
this! I personally only know of three Siberians over the years who died of
bloat in my circle of acquaintances, but something to keep in mind when it
is hot.

< Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 19:16:56 +0000

Hello Everyone,
I am writing this in hopes that some may learn from what I just went
through. We went to the Steel Valley Cluster this past weekend.

After showing we went back to our site/set up and got the dogs in their
crates to cool off.
After being back about 30min. I noticed Baran was low on water. I took a
hand full of ice from my cooler and put it in his bucket with more water....
We all then started to get all the dogs Ex'ed and food ready for them.

After checking the dogs and thinking they were cooled off enough we fed
everyone. As we were walking around picking out the feed dishes from the
crates, one of my friends stated that Baran seamed like he was choking. I we
nt over and check on him and he was dry heaving and was real drolly.
I got him out of the crate to check him over I noticed he had not eaten, he
was in some what distress. I checked him over from head to toe and did not
notice anything. I walked him around for about a min. when I noticed that he
was starting to Bloat. I did everything I was taught to do in this case. I
was not able to get him to burp, and we gave him Phasezime.

We jumped on the golf cart to take him down to the Show vet to find out that
he did not have a bloat kit, He referred us to the clinic that was to be on
call, but we found out that the clinic was closed.
After finding another clinic that was open we rushed Baran to that
one. We call ahead and let them know that we were on our way. They were set
up and waiting on us and got Baran stable very fast. After Baran was stable
and out of distress we transported Baran to AVREC were he went into surgery
to ma ke sure no damage was done to any of his vital organs. I am very happy
to say that Baran is doing great, there was not damage to any vital organs,
and he still loves his food.

In surgery the doctor found that Baran's stomach was in its normal anatomic
position. The Doctor and I went over the events of what happened up to the
point of Baran's Bloating. When I told him about the ice water he asked why
I gave him ice water, and have I always did this. I told him my history
behind this practice and his reply was "You have been very lucky for the
past 15 years."
The ice water I gave Baran cause 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 not reason for them to have ice/ice water. Normal water (room Tem
p.), or cooling with cold towels on the inter thigh. This is the best way to
help cool a dog.

I felt the need to share this with everyone, in the hopes that some may
learn from what I went through, I do not wish this on anyone. Baran is home
now doing fine. He does not like the fact that he has to be walked on lead
in the yard to keep him from running. He hates not being able to go out and
rough house it with the others, but is doing great. So please if you do use
ice and ice water, beware as what could happen.
Sorry so long and excuse the mispellings...

What an interesting read. I have never heard of anything but positive advice regarding ice cubes!

Though, my dog does tend to use it to chase around the floor.

So does mine. She gets an icecube a couple of times every day, depending on the heat. She chases it, crunches it and eats it without any problems. We are not planning to stop her from getting icecubes. To us it seems to be a "healthy water snack", a supplement to any other food snacks, which also can be fattening and unhealthy.

Oh no! Kingston adores ice cubes. They're his favorite treat!

We puree veggies and pour them into ice cube trays for cool treats. Will have to watch for signs, but so far nothing has happened.

That is scary! Cupcake loves chasing ice cubes around the kitchen floor.

that is a scary story, but its something we have never given any of our dogs

I've been doing research, and I can't find any reputable source that says ice cubes are dangerous. In fact, most websites I've found are recommending ice cubes for cooling down pets (including the California Veterinary Association).

First of all I am very gald to hear that Baron was OK.

Personnally I crush ice cubes down a little in the blender before putting them in water bowls but have also heard nothing of them causing bloat, HOWEVER, in the summer I feed my dogs early in the morning in case the heat puts them off their feed, could be they have had a chance to digest the bulk of their feed before the ice water, usually given early afternoon, has a chance to affect things?? My lot's favourite way to cool down is under the hosepipe!!

This story reminds me of what happened last summer with Oliver. We ended up having to rush to the ER. We had gone to the park on a hot summer evening where Oliver loves to get in the pond and swim. The problem is that he also loves to eat anything floating by, sticks, mulch, leaves....its like a game to him. I try to discourage him from doing that, but its tough. In the process he obviously swallowed a lot of pond water. I fed him when I got home and a few minutes later he started acting really weird...listless, droopy, and then started peeing in the house and having problems breathing. I got totally scared and took him to the ER where they rushed him in upon seeing the condition he was in. They x-rayed him and found that his stomach had bloated to 3 times its normal size. Luckily, it didnt twist. They gave him drops in his eye to make him vomit and watched him for a while afterwards. He vomited some pond debris and his food. The vet said the combination of the water he ingested coupled with the fact that it had been a hot summer and there were probably different micro-organisms that were thriving and then feeding him after had caused him to have bloat.

It was really scary and I try to be very careful now about ponds and lakes. I really dont like him to swim but he loves it so its hard to keep him out. I just keep an eagle eye to make sure he isnt drinking the water and eating the debris. I also never feed him immediately after we get home- I wait a few hours.

I guess I'm not surprised to hear of this.

I have never given my dogs ice cubes or chopped ice, and I don't plan to. This is just me, but I think they could crack a tooth or choke on an ice cube. And I know feeding them cold food from the refrigerator can cause cramping in the digestive system if they have colitis, etc.

Gosh Holly....what a scary experience. I've always given mine ice cubes. But I got this earlier this evening and told hubby we just need to be careful not to overdo it with the ice cubes. It makes sense that if a dog is overheated and you let him ingest a bowl full of ice cubes it would cause problems. I do know of someone who lost their Cavalier to bloat. Very unusual in Cavaliers...but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Harvey loved ice cubes and one day we got in lots of trouble from a vet nurse friend of ours about how terrible it is for their tummies and was very annoyed that we were so irresponsible!! So Harvey doesn't get anymore ice cubes now...

Would it be a bad idea to freeze a "giant" ice cube that they could more play with when it's hot out that way they wouldn't be able to ingest it because it would be too big?