07/06/2025
Today is a sad day. I hope my streak of bad news will end here. On Monday my mother was taken to the hospital with a stroke, yesterday a neighbor accidentally injured himself on our property and had an operation. Today my Pepsi graduate died. This summer will be hot and everyone needs to prepare to protect our pets from overheating. We chose a house in the mountains, where the air is clean, there is a forest and coolness from the stream behind the house. We are well prepared - the dog enclosures are under the roof and in the shade of the trees, we have cooling mats, a pool for dogs, but still, during the hottest time of the day, I take all the dogs to the cool basement, where they will sleep until the evening. But what to do if your dog does overheat? You have very little time to save your pet! You need to put him on the cold floor so that the blood flows to the head and there is no cerebral shock. And apply ice to the pads of the paws and stomach. You can wrap the dog in wet towels and, if he is conscious, give him water to drink. As for medications, I recommend always having Dexamethasone in ampoules in your first aid kit - it will help with allergic edema and heat stroke. Monitor your pet’s temperature, because if it stays above 42 degrees for more than 15 minutes, brain death may occur! Therefore, it is better not to take risks and not walk your Chow Chow in the heat, and even on a relatively cool day, it is better to play it safe and put a cooling vest on your dog. Please remember that the body temperature of a Chow Chow can increase due to increased activity and emotional overload! How do your dogs tolerate the heat? What do they do to cool down?