How heat stroke can kill your dog

By Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM | March 27th, 2014




I once received a call from my client telling me that she just came back from work and met her dog dead sobbing seriously. As it is my tradition I told her not to touch the dog that I will be there to see and determine the possible cause. On arrival I saw 2 dogs in a wire cage in the middle of the yard, one dead and one very weak but still breathing very slowly with plenty salivation. On more inquiry I discovered that the dogs were caged in that wire cage and left at the corner of the fence but when a neighbor was doing his laundry moved the cage to the middle of the compound away from any form of shade. They remained there from around 10am till 6pm which means that they were under the hot sun for a prolonged period which led to the death of the black dog leaving the light colored dog in a terrible condition. I had to explain to the owner the cause of death.

Heat stroke is one of the commonest dog killer in my own record and the unfortunate thing is that it’s most often too late to save the dog. Nigeria is located in the tropical region of the world with abundant sunlight meaning higher temperature most period of the day compared to our temperate counterparts like the US or Canada. The tendency for heat stroke in Nigerian can be explained by this location of the country.

Nigerians in the metropolis are usually ‘hardworkers’ and have the tendency to leave their dogs in the car under hot sun to attend a meeting, buy some few things in the nearby shop or just to keep the dog away from biting or scaring people only to come back and meet a dead dog. Some Nigerians have even forgotten their children in the car talk more of their dogs so it has been an attitude that calls for big worry.

Some people give their dog a bath and simply tie him under the sun and go into the house to watch ‘season movies’ only to come back and meet a dead dog. I have heard and seen so many cases and it calls for concern and awareness to be made to dog owners.

Dogs do not have sweat glands all over the body like we humans to regulate their body temperature. The means at which they achieve the regulation is by panting, looking for a cool place to hide, drinking plenty water and dilation of blood vessels in their ear. Sometimes they dig the ground for a cooler place to lie.

Constant elevation of the dog’s body temperature above normal without regulation by sufficient means to bring it down back to normal for a prolonged length of time can ultimately lead to heat stroke. In some cases you meet the dog panting and very weak and in some cases you meet a dead dog. Death occurs mainly due to possible failure of vital organs of the body.

In the temperate world the presentation of heat stroke might be different but in Nigeria it is usually sudden death.

Having read this article you now know how heat stroke can kill your dog whether trained or not, beautiful or otherwise so avoid making these mistakes to save your dog because you have put a lot in that animal.

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    Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM

    Founder of Fairvet Animal Clinic Ltd since 2011, studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He is well experienced in small animal, large animal & poultry medicine, and also skilled at zoo medicine. He loves animals and builds both professional and personal relationship with pet owners in order to sustain a good interaction with pet and animal owners, coupled with His great skills in programming; he brought about www.fairvet.com which he personally built from scratch.



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