A typical symptom of heatstroke is panting, drooling, staggering, and not being able to walk straight. Take action immediately! It is important to start cooling your dog at home before rushing to the vet! Many owners go to the vet immediately, which is time wasting and often costs the dog its life. We had a talk with vet Andrea Pallós about the development of heatstroke and how to treat it at home.

Daytime temperatures have been consistently above 35 degrees Celsius for the last two weeks. The almost unbearable heat wears out dogs as well as humans.

“In the past few days, it has happened often to the dogs arriving for vaccination to reach a temperature of 39-40 degrees Celsius just by walking down the street and arriving in the clinic. They do not get heat stroke at this point, but they are on the verge and we need to cool them down. Unfortunately, we can only save about half of the dogs with heat stroke, maybe 60 percent, so the focus is on prevention” – said Andrea Pallós, a veterinarian in Sóskút.

She mentioned two scary examples from the last few days. An owner took his pointer out into the field at 6am. After 15-20 minutes of brisk running, the dog collapsed and they could not help him anymore. The other incident happened at night. A Transylvanian Hound was taken out to guard corn. It must have been 28-29 degrees outside at night. No wonder his body overheated while he was hunting the wild boars, and they could not cool him down on the spot. He was unable to lose the heat and unfortunately, he died as a result. “Dogs die in a totally senseless way” – she added.

This new situation, the unprecedented heat, will be less and less an excuse, as we have already had a taste of it in recent years. Andrea Pallós blames owners for not being able to think through the situation properly because they are not prepared. “The typical symptoms of heatstroke are panting, drooling, staggering, that means the dog cannot walk straight. We must act immediately! It is important to start cooling the dog at home before rushing to the vet. Many owners run straight to the vet, which is a waste of time and often costs the dog its life. Because by the time the owner finds out which vet is open, by the time they get there, wait, etc., they should have cooled the animal at home. Overheating can cause organs to start to deteriorate and circulation to stop” – said the vet.

“The most important thing is to give first aid as soon as symptoms of heatstroke are detected” – summarized Dr Pallós. Start by cooling the animal with cool water, but not ice-cold! We can do it with wet wipes. If water is nearby, the dog will get in itself, which we should allow them. However, if you put wet towels on longhaired dogs, they will not cool down. We must brush them down thoroughly so that their fur wets through and their bodies are exposed to the cool water. In dogs with such a large coat, the soles of the feet and the ears should be cooled with a wet cloth, as they can release heat there.

Andrea Pallós said that even vets themselves start cooling dogs with heatstroke. They can also give cold infusions and special medicines to bring down the internal temperature.

“I had a phone call today. Fortunately, the owner did not leave, but gave the dog first aid as instructed and then took him to a clinic. This dog has survived” – said the vet.

Piroska Komondi, Professional Leader of the Baráthegyi Guide Dog School said that no heatstroke happened in the life of the foundation yet. “To cool rooms and cars that are too hot, we use air conditioning, which of course should not be set too cold and blown on the dogs, because they can catch cold just like humans, even if the fur protects them somewhat” – she said.

Andrea Pallós added that dogs can get cold due to the air conditioning, but she has never encountered this before, and a little cough is not a big problem. “It’s better if one in a thousand dogs catches cold due to the air-conditioner than to lose hundreds due to heatstroke” – she said.

On the initial picture, you can see our dog Darázs. The pics are illustrations (none of dogs got heatstroke)