The following was sent to me and thought I others would find it useful.



Sierra County Animal Rescue Society
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DID YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD NOT POUR COLD WATER ON AN OVERHEATED DOG OR PUT A WET TOWEL ON THEIR BACK ‼️
HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULD DO…
Animal lovers, never make the mistake of throwing cold water on an overheated dog or putting a wet towel on his back. You will see the opposite effect.
Due to the cold, the veins contract and due to the high temperature (above 42 degrees), the proteins in the blood clot, which makes the blood thick and viscous.
Due to the combination of the two, the heart can no longer get the blood and the organs fail one by one due to lack of oxygen.
The result is a very slow but very painful death.
If you try to help an overheated dog in this way, he will still die.
First give lukewarm water to drink, then cool the soles of the feet and chest/lower abdomen with a damp towel.
Then put the dog in the shade on a damp towel!!
Sharing is highly desirable because again and again we see images of overheated dogs getting out of a car with water poured on their backs

Thanks for posting this

This advice seems to run counter to what I have been told by vets in the past, and also seems contradictory. Can anyone confirm it?

I use a spray bottle to cool my outdoor cat. He seems to like it. It is a mist.


That is good to know about an over heated dog. Did not know that.

https://www.preventivevet.com/...ion-in-dogs-and-cats

I have a lab that is a shadow chaser and one day she overheated. I treated her kind of like we treated people when they overheated with the exception of an IV, cool water rub out of the sun, water for her to drink, etc. The spray bottle to cool a cat is a great idea and would help a dog too.

I'm not saying the info in the op is incorrect, but on these 90 degree days, when our two labs get too hot from running around in the yard, they jump in the cold spring fed stream going through our property. Then they run around some more. Just being overheated isn't the same as heat exhaustion or stroke though.

stlhead, your profile email is not working.

That is pretty solid advice. Being with the sf guys while deployed we had to know how to treat dogs. If you want the clinical practice guidelines let me know

We give our dog cool water, an air conditioned location and ice cubes to chew if she wants. Also have a few snowballs in the freezer from last winter and sometimes she likes to chew one when she’s hot.

I’ve got a friend who’s a veterinarian. He is also a recently retired Army officer. If anyone would know proper protocol for an overheated dog it’s him. He retired from JBSA and the Military Working Dog Hospital and Training Center. Sometimes it gets hot in Texas

He’s coming up for a few days for CFD

Very good advice.

It starts with prevention, a Lab will often retrieve until it develops heat stroke. A similar would be any good out in hot weather.

Limit activity, then have water breaks. The best breaks have clean water to drink & cool water to swim in.