[Dailydrool] MOMPERSON ALMOST HAS A TRAGEDY

[Beverly Szaton]

We have temps in the hundreds here, as do a lot of you, and we have been
extremely careful letting the boys out, I set a timer for 5 minutes. Llewis
is our sunhog, but even he has been coming to the door before the 5 minutes
is up.

So John let Conley outside and I let Llewis out and the timer was set and
it was time to eat so I called them in early and Conley was....wow, how can
I describe this-- his heart rate and breathing rate were a mile a second,
his tongue to his feet, his eyes glassy... I gave him ice and even though I
could not believe that being out that short amount of time-- what three or
four minutes?--could do this, watched with horror while the thermometer
climbed to............ONE OH FIVE PLUS

At which point we jerked him off his feet and threw him into the shower and
began soaking him down with lukewarm/cool water, hitting the ears, the back
of head and neck, throat, belly and rectum for what seemed like hours and
still the temp did not go below 104 so at that point I called the Vet who
reminded me of rubbing alcohol and so John got a bottle of Nigel's rubbing
alcohol and he dumped it on Conleys ears, the back of his neck, his tummy,
his chest-- everywhere that there are BIG BLOOD VESSELS but especially the
back of the head and neck, and the ears. (Those lovely long ears have HUGE
veins so nicely close to the surface)!!

We also got out the frozen veggies and packed him, always keeping the cool
water going and FINALLY after about 15 minutes, the temp fell to 102 plus
some at which point we got him out, just barely toweled him and he is now
in his crate with two fans going.

THE MORAL OF THIS STORY IS TO WATCH THE WEATHER!!! I am not stupid. I
didn't leave him out. Either he did something like run around, (literally)
or he is very sensitive to the heat. Whichever it is, I had something
happen that should not have, and we came perilously close to having a
tragedy. I consider myself an experienced dog person. Mother nature just
soundly chastised me.

Keep your pups inside. Know what the signs of overheating are. KNOW WHERE
YOUR THERMOMETER IS and how to use it and don't be shy about it. Luckily,
because of Nigel, we had the thermometer with his equipment, and we have 8
or 9 bottles of rubbing alcohol which I use to sterilize the catheters and
syringes. I knew where everything was. For once.
Normal temp for a dog is 101-102.5
You can order a thermometer that registers the temp in a matter of seconds.
I recommend them.
Know where your first aid stuff is and how to use it.

I'm gonna go now. I don't have any wine but I'm thinking Scotch might be
nice...

MomPerson to (Thank heavens!)COnley, Llewis and Nigel.
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