Dog Daycare Dehydration Issues
Understanding Dog Dehydration Symptoms and Treatment
You must learn how to identify health related symptoms that could lead to an emergency before they actually do. One major problem with Dogs Daycare is insuring that the dogs remain adequately hydrated through out the day, this is especially important in hotter climates or with those Dog Daycares that utilize an outside play area. You must be able to recognize the early symptoms of dehydration before it is allowed progress to a more serious condition such as heat exhaustion or even heat stroke which can be fatal.
Dogs lose fluid in a variety of ways such as breathing, panting, evaporation through their paw pads and other body surfaces and elimination. Hard play such as that in a Dog Daycare environment will increase the rate at which fluids loss occurs with a drop in fluid of as little as 4-5% resulting in visible signs of dehydration. Look closely at the following symptoms and tests and ensure that you commit them to memory.
Dog Dehydration Symptoms
The Mouth, Gums and Nose will be Dry
Increased heart rate
Lethargy
Loss of appetite
Eyes will appear sunken into the eye sockets
The skin will lose it’s elasticity (The skin Turgor Test)
Skin Turgor is defined as the skin's degree of resistance to changing shape and is determined by the bodies hydration and age. Skin with normal Turgor will rapidly return to its normal position when pinched and released, while skin with decreased Turgor will return to is normal position very slowly or remain elevated. Decreased skin Turgor is a late sign of dehydration and is most often associated with moderate to severe dehydration, meaning fluid loss of 10% or more.
Launch in external player Properly Hydrated Dogs
(Skin snaps back into position)
To check this you simply pinch a fold of skin above in the middle of the shoulder blades on the dogs back, if the dog is hydrated when you release the fold it will pop back into place, as dehydration progresses the skin will move back into place more slowly with severe cases of dehydration the skin may not return to it original position at all.
A Delay in capillary refill time.
Proper Capillary Refill (Color Returns Immediatelynstantaneously)
Launch in external player
The easiest way to check this is to lift your dogs lip and look at his gums they should be pink, now gently press your finger nail into the gum line until the area around it appears white, remove your finger and it should return to pink almost immiediately. In cases of dehydration it can take 5 seconds or more for the gums to retain their normal coloring. Delayed capillary response can also be a symptom of the animal being in shock.
Dog Dehydration First Aid
The first step in dealing with a dehydrated dog is to ensure that the dog is provided with ample water and drinks it. In dogs with mild dehydration that refuse to drink, you can use a sports bottle filled with a mixed electrolyte solution such as Stress-Dex Electrolyte Powder to squeeze fluid into the cheek pouch.
The loss of fluids associated with dehydration involves more than just a loss of water it also involves a loss of electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium and chloride. In a dog that is severely dehydrated water may not be enough to offset the effects of dehydration. Treatment with fluids such as Ringers Lactate either intravenously or subcutaneously may be required. This is generally given at 3cc per pound of body weight per hour or as directed by your veterinarian.
Another way of preventing dehydration in the dog daycare environment is to add a small amount of Stress-Dex Electrolyte Powder to the group water supply and
always ensure that you have a cool down time after strenuously playing with the dogs. This cool down period gives them the chance to gear down and drink water, it also provides you the opportunity to observe everyone in the play areas and insure that they are not showing symptoms of dehydration.
If ever you are in doubt as to the health of a dog in your care or you feel that it may be suffering heat exhaustion or heat stroke, begin first aid procedures and get the dog to a veterinarian where they can begin more advanced life saving steps.
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