Help Loki's Sick!

Hi,

The past few days here in Vancouver its been Hot hot hot... it's lokis 1st time having to deal with such hot temps, and hes been seeming weak n low energy. I would assume it's just the heaat but today his eye has been producing lots of sleep/gunk out of the tear gland, and its colored green.
He has also within the past hr or so puked a cpl times... is this normal?
is it a cold? should i take him to the vet right away? or should it pass?

any response is much appreciated

tks much, peace

 

Well that is a tough call...My dogs have also been very mellow and my Pekingese has been especially droopy and she vomited once today. It has also been scorching hot here. Im pretty positive it is just the heat affecting my dogs. They have not even wanted to go out at play time the past few days. You know your dog better than anyone if she really seems to be ill then definitely take her to the vet.

 

tks much for the reply.
He seems to be doing alot better now that the sun has gone down, and has even wanted to play a bit. I think it was probably just the heat.

good luck staying cool :y_the_best:

 

Everyone should watch their dogs very carefully when its hot. With the sole exception of the Chinese Hairless, dogs cannot sweat to cool off and can only cool off through their tongue by panting. The symptoms you descibe do sound heat related but DO NOT tanke those symptoms lightly. Heat stroke can be fatal.
Here is a good site to read up on heat problems in dogs:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/hs.html

 

Excellent page, Dukesdad. I am going to print it out and keep it. One thing I read when I was looking before the canoe trip mentioned that you should use cool water to cool them off - but NOT cold water. If the dog is overheated and you use very cold water, it could shock them.

My vet also recommended putting ice packs in their arm pits.


Jamiya

 

Jamiya,
Did you actually manage to take your girls in a canoe? If so how did you manage to keep them IN the canoe. There is no way either of my boys would sit still with water all around. LOL.

 

No, we decided to board them. When we got there, I was thinking we should have only boarded Nala and taken Bonnie with us. But that may have been selfish - they had a blast running around with the other doggies this weekend. I don't think sitting in a canoe would be their style.

So many people on the river had dogs with them, though! There were several with little bitty dogs in life vests - the owners would hold the handle at the top of the vest (so the dog is dangling down like a lunchbox) and dip them in the water where they'd swim like mad - but of course they couldn't actually GO anywhere!

There was one guy with a gorgeous brindle pit. And where we stopped for lunch there was a guy with a yellow lab who was retrieving his tennis ball from the water - over and over and over....

None of those people were from our group, though. Only one from our group brought their dog - an adorable little Welsh terrier who we saw last year at about this time when she was just a teeny tiny puppy. She had a blast in the canoe, but she's only 15 pounds so she's a lot easier to handle than your guys or mine!

I missed my dogs terribly, though, and it never did rain even though it was predicted for Friday and Sunday. That was actually the deciding factor in leaving them home - the thought of wet muddy dogs on a camping trip was not exciting!

I am going to work with them and try them in a boat at some point and maybe I will be able to bring at least one of them next year. I missed cuddling with Bonnie!


Jamiya