Nicki
Moderator
This was posted on a breeder list, but with permission to share with everyone.
This incident involved a Siberian Husky - but I know I and many others have given ice cubes and frozen kongs to our Cavaliers on hot days - Cavaliers are not generally prone to bloat {although Sadly I am aware of one elderly Cavalier who died from this condition } but it's not something I would want to risk - and please share this with anyone you know with deep chested breeds
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 {july 2007}
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 seemed like he was choking. I went 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 make 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 caused 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 no reason for them to have ice/ice water.
Normal water (room Temp.), 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…
This incident involved a Siberian Husky - but I know I and many others have given ice cubes and frozen kongs to our Cavaliers on hot days - Cavaliers are not generally prone to bloat {although Sadly I am aware of one elderly Cavalier who died from this condition } but it's not something I would want to risk - and please share this with anyone you know with deep chested breeds
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 {july 2007}
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 seemed like he was choking. I went 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 make 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 caused 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 no reason for them to have ice/ice water.
Normal water (room Temp.), 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…