You guys are awesome!
It was comforting to know that we weren't
really sitting alone at the E-vet.
Here is what happened:
Danke was fine when I came home from work last night (5pm). Jumping and running around like her normal exuberant self.
I was grilling, so the back door was open, and she was going in and out.
Even in my own yard, I like to keep a close eye on her. She's never shown any inclination to escape the yard, but I worry about other animals, and just generally, I like to keep my girl close.
I spotted her over in the corner of the yard, with her head hanging down, and I thought she might have been eating poop (she does that sporadically. Nasty dog.)
I called her, and she acted like she didn't even hear me. That's VERY out of character for her, she ALWAYS comes when called. So I walked over to her, and noticed that she'd vomited a small amount of yellow bile. This was at 6:30pm.
She hadn't had dinner yet, and it was a little past her normal dinner time, so the yellow bile wasn't particularly alarming. I figured she just needed to eat.
When I told her to go inside to her crate for dinner, she took a step forward and collapsed, and didn't seem able to get back up.
---This was the big, uh oh.---
I carried her inside and put her next to her water dish on the kitchen floor.
She lapped at her water, and then was able to walk to her crate.
I checked her gums, and they were
very pale and tacky, and the
loose skin on her neck had no elasticity. The skin on the rest of her body was uncharacteristically taut.
So, we rushed her to the emergency vet.
The ride in the AC perked her up a little bit, but her gums were still very pale and she was still very unsteady on her feet.
The E-vet X-rayed her to rule out bloat and did a full blood panel to rule out any disease or organ failure. It also doubled as a pre-Op panel, in case surgery was indicated by any results.
In the end, it was heat stroke.
She had perked up enough after an hour at the vet's office that they were willing to send her home with no IV, but I opted for sub-coetaneous fluids, to be on the safe side.
I've seen people AND animals rushed to the ER after heat stroke, who then perked up, only to later collapse and die after being released.
Their outward appearance had improved, but their internal temperature continued to slowly rise until the brain shut down.
She got a bag of fluids, and we took her and her camel hump home.
By the time we got there, she was perfectly fine.
Ate her dinner with gusto, and romped around the backyard chasing flies like nothing had ever happened.
I did have to get up earlier than normal for her to pee. Gee, I wonder why!
This morning she was her normal self, nice healthy pink gums, full of energy.
In the future, I need to make sure she stays adequately hydrated. Just like humans, it's the hydrating we do BEFORE a workout that makes the difference, not the water we drink during or after.
She wasn't well hydrated enough (she DOESN'T drink much water, of her own choosing, it's there) through the week, so Sunday was a drain on her resources.
I suspect she never fully recovered from the heat and exertion on Sunday, and it caught up to her yesterday evening, which is when the temperatures are always the highest.
I will definitely become an obsessive gum-checker.
I have already begun pouring 2 cups of water over her food (she is raw fed- I wouldn't recommend doing this with kibble) at every meal to encourage more water intake.
We are also going to be measuring exactly how much water she takes in, so we can gauge her hydration levels in the future.
As a final measure, I may begin feeding twice a day, despite HER preference to only eat once.
Eating properly is as much a component of hydration as drinking is. It may be too hard on the body to eat only once in a 24 hour period.
If anything, I'll just separate a very small portion of her nightly meal and give it in the morning with water.
Sadly, I knew all of this before any of this occurred, but I never really thought about how it applied to my DOG. I never gave serious thought to a heat injury in a perfectly healthy dog, who has access to water at all times.
Just like some Soldiers, though, my dog apparently lacks the good sense to hydrate herself adequately. I guess I have to implement the same hydration maintenance for the dog that I do for my Joes.
It was
VERY scary for both of us.
To suddenly see my athletic, healthy 1.5 year old GSD collapse and become weak-limbed and dull-eyed is NOT an experience I wish to relive.
Re: Healing vibes for Danke
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