Overheated Pooch - Lingering Effects

[Guest JonJon1981]

Hey, everyone. I've got an 8 year old retired greyhound that's the love of my life. I took him hiking on Saturday morning. We went out early and the temp never got above 80 degrees, but it was fully exposed to the sun. We also stopped multiple times for water and recovery, but by the time we got to the car, he seemed somewhat overheated. He never lost consciousness or seemed in distress other than heavy panting and an elevated heart rate. When we got to the car, I poured the rest of our water on him and cranked the AC down and then took him home and put him in the tub and sprayed more cold water on him. He seemed fully recovered within 30 minutes or so.

 

However, since then, he seems slightly lethargic and not sure on his feet, when going down stairs or changing flooring type. He's never had problems with these before and usually I actually have to slow him down a bit on stairs. I've pushed and rubbed all of his joints and back to make sure he's not in any pain, I checked his paw pads, and everything seems fine. His appetite is unchanged and he seems happy. I'm just concerned with the new issues with floors/stairs and the slight lethargy. I was hoping someone might be able to weigh in and let me know if this is something to worry about or if it may just be lingering exhaustion or something.

 

I looked online and saw some folks say ataxia can come from heat exhaustion but he doesn't have any other symptoms, not falling down or head tilting or anything like that.

 

Thanks for the help.

[NeylasMom]

I would get him into your vet for an exam, blood work, and urinalysis. Hard to say what's going on. Maybe he has something going on that made him more sensitive to the heat rather than this being heat related like you suspect.

 

But heat related issues are nothing to mess around with. Untreated (especially if he suffered an incident of rhabdomyolysis) they can cause organ damage, muscle pain, etc. Has his urine been normal (no orange, brown or red tint to it)?

 

Having said all of that, if it was simple overheating and you did indeed bring his body temp back down quickly he should be okay. The fact that he's not is cause for concern imo. My male greyhound overheated twice. In both cases I noticed early and immediately got him cooled down and he recovered fine, no vet care needed, but it was recommended to limit his exercise (leash walks only, short at first) for some time afterward, I want to say 6-8 weeks.

 

You will probably want to start carrying a thermometer with you so you can check his temperature if you suspect he's overheating. You also want to monitor it as you cool him and stop when it reaches 103 as you can also cause harm overcooling. Finally, if you hike, having fresh hydrogen peroxide in the car may be a good idea as I have read its a good option for cooling them quickly if you don't have running water (by pouring it on them). The challenge is it goes bad quickly, even unopened, but its cheap.

Edited July 17, 2017 by NeylasMom

[Guest JonJon1981]

Thanks, both his urine and poop are fine, same color, consistency and frequency.

Also, thanks for the tips.

Edited July 17, 2017 by JonJon1981

[XTRAWLD]

Odd, but something could be coincidental. Is he eating and drinking ok? My first thought is dehydration. How fast does his skin/fur go back to normal if you grab a scruff of it?

[Guest JonJon1981]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. He's eating and drinking fine and his skin goes back to normal pretty much immediately. I was thinking dehydration or exhaustion from the hike itself, but I'd expect to see some improvement by now. The weird thing to me is that he doesn't seem in pain at all and seems fine standing, etc.. He just seems a little slower than usual and scared of going down stairs. I'm trying to get an appointment with my vet to make sure he's okay.

[robinw]

How do his pads look? They can burn easily on hard surfaces. It doesn't take that high a temperature to cause damage.

[greysmom]

Make sure you check his feet and in between his toes carefully for any fox tails or small cuts/pokes. If he's rubbing his head at all I would have a vet look at his eyes. The fox tail seeds are really insidious. Also check him over again for ticks.

[3greytjoys]

How is your Greyhound doing now?