Episode Transcript
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Dr. Sugerman (00:00):
Hey everybody,
welcome back to Vetsplanation,
where we discuss importanttopics related to veterinary
medicine.
I'm your host, Dr.
Sugerman, or you can call meSuggs.
And today we're talking about areally serious issue that's
going to be happening now thatwe're getting into summertime
and that pretty much all petparents should be aware of.
That's heatstroke.
So let's talk about whatheatstroke is first.
(00:21):
Heatstroke is a really seriouscondition that can occur in pets
when their body temperaturerises above the normal range.
So normal range really quicklyis usually about 98.5 to 102.5
for our pets.
And It's usually due toprolonged exposure to high
temperatures or humidity, oreven the fact that they just
(00:43):
can't get rid of their heatreally effectively like we can.
So it's important to note thatdogs and cats are particularly
susceptible to heatstrokebecause they don't sweat like we
do.
They really rely on panting inorder to be able to cool down.
Which isn't always enough whenwe get into these really hot
weather days.
So who is at risk forheatstroke?
(01:05):
Any animal is at risk for havingheatstroke.
Any animal, any age.
There are some pets though thatare at higher risk for
heatstroke.
The first group we usually talkabout is called the
brachycephalic pets.
This usually means that theseare pets who have a short muzzle
or a short nose.
Think about the most common onesare going to be bulldogs or
(01:27):
Frenchies, French bulldogs,pugs, even for our cats, the
Persian cats.
And they get a special syndromethat's called brachycephalic
syndrome.
That's where the tissue in theirthroat actually swells, which
causes them not to be able tobreathe very well.
Which also increases the amountof heat in their body being
generated by all their cells intheir body, and that can lead to
(01:51):
death, unfortunately.
Also, overweight pets andelderly pets are at risk because
they have to use more of theirmuscles to be able to pant,
which also means that they'regenerating more heat, the more
muscles that they use.
Patients who suffer from heartdisease because their heart is
being overworked while they'retrying to get rid of all this
heat.
Plus dogs who have laryngealparalysis or collapsing trachea.
(02:15):
I've already talked aboutcollapsing trachea in episode 6,
I think.
So you can go back and listen tothat.
This is where their airways justcannot open enough for heat to
be able to escape.
Also, some thick coated dogs anddark coated dogs are at high
risk as well.
(02:35):
The dark coated dogs, theyabsorb more of the heat because
of the color of their fur, whilethe thick coated dogs usually
have the heat trapped under allof that fur.
So let's talk about how theycommonly get heatstroke.
The most common cause ofheatstroke is going to be
exposure to high temperatures.
This usually happens when dogsare locked in cars, even with
(02:58):
the windows cracked a littlebit, it still heats up pretty
quickly in there.
Or cats who climb into the dryerwithout the pet parent knowing
and turn it on.
It can be from being outsideduring the summer with no shade
or no water.
It can also happen when our petsare exercised in a new
environment that their body'sjust not used to yet.
(03:20):
We in Washington had some reallycold days and then suddenly it
was 90 degrees one day.
That's not a good time toexercise them because their body
has not acclimated to that yet.
Same thing for if you move ortake them into a new environment
on vacation or something, itactually takes about 60 days for
their body to get used to thatnew environment.
(03:40):
So we don't want to take themout and exercise them vigorously
during those time periods.
Even if it's not 100 degrees atthat place, even if it's only 80
degrees and it's in a new placethat dog's not used to, that can
lead to heat stroke.
So what are some of the signsthat our pets are suffering from
heat stroke?
Some common clinical signs aregoing to be that they'll have
(04:03):
excessive panting, they'll bedrooling quite a lot, and
they'll have a really rapidheart rate.
So if you take their elbow andput it down towards their chest,
wherever their elbow hits theirchest.
That's essentially where theirheart is.
You should be able to feel inthat area and feel their heart
to be able to see if it'sbeating really quickly.
(04:23):
The best way to take a heartbeatis put your hand on their chest
and then count for a minute.
Their heart rate, depending onlike how big or small your dog
is.
Smaller dogs tend to have ahigher heart rate.
Bigger dogs have a lower heartrate.
So big dogs, like if it's 80,I'm not terribly surprised.
But for our small dogs, they canget up to 130, 140, even 150
(04:46):
sometimes.
And that's still going to besomething that's more normal for
our smaller dog.
But it shouldn't be up in likethe two hundreds for pretty much
anybody.
So if you start seeing thosesigns.
There can be vomiting, diarrhea,and also bloody diarrhea or
bloody urine too.
They can be very lethargic,meaning that they're just tired
,they don't want to do anything.
(05:07):
And collapse is another big one.
So if you have a thermometer,you can take their temperature
rectally.
A normal temperature for ourpets is going to be between like
98.5 and 102.5 like I said.
And he stroke typically occursat 105, even though the first
stages of heat stroke actuallydo happen when their temperature
(05:27):
is normal.
So don't be surprised if you seeall these clinical signs, and
their temperature is normal atfirst.
It takes up until like true heatstroke is going to be at 105,
but they may start showing signsbefore that.
So what steps should you take ifyou suspect that your pet has
had heat stroke?
If your pet's showing signs ofheat stroke or any other
person's pet is showing signs ofheat stroke, it's important to
(05:50):
get them out of that hotenvironment immediately.
You want to move them to somereally cool or shaded area and
give them access to water.
You can also run cool water overthem.
That helps lower their bodytemperature as well.
And It has been found thatlowering their body temperature
before they even get into theclinic has shown significant
(06:10):
improvements in their outcome,and the organs are less likely
to be affected.
So one study showed that if thepets were cooled before coming
into the hospital, there wasonly about 19 percent of them
that died versus 49 percent thatwere not cooled prior to coming
to the hospital.
So it's a significantimprovement.
So you can cool them down reallyquickly, literally just wash
(06:31):
them down with water veryquickly, dry them off really
quickly with a towel.
And put them into the car andget them to the hospital.
Don't put that towel over themthough.
Putting towels over them, evenwet towels actually traps in all
of that heat.
Because we're trapping all theheat between their skin and that
wet towel.
So don't put towels over them.
(06:51):
Just cool them down, dry themoff very quickly, get them in
the car.
You can put the air conditioningon in there because then it
makes a very cool environmentand helps to cool them down as
well.
But it is very critical, even ifyou do cool them down with
water, that you still seekveterinary attention as soon as
possible because heat stroke canlead to very serious organ
damage and death if it's nottreated.
(07:13):
And you may not see those signsinitially, but if you start
seeing those signs and then youbring them in, it might be too
late.
So definitely bring them inimmediately.
And how do we diagnose it?
So unfortunately, this is onethat it really is based off of
the history that you give us.
There are lots of things thatcan cause the body temperature
to be elevated.
And so we have to know, was thispet exposed to a hot
(07:37):
environment?
It's really important to behonest with us about this
because everyone makes amistake.
We understand that things don'thappen on purpose.
Cats get put in dryers all thetime because they crawl into all
the clothes because it's niceand warm.
You close the door, turn it on,and they get stuck in there.
Dogs, you think that you're in areally nice, cool environment.
(07:58):
You've parked by a tree thinkingit's gonna be nice and shady,
and unfortunately it's just notshady enough and they get
heatstroke.
We understand those things, wejust want you to bring them in.
If a pet comes in with atemperature of above 105, it's
impossible for us to know isthat from a fever or is this
from heatstroke.
There's no test that I can do tosay one or the other.
(08:19):
So we do need to know in yourhistory what that pet was doing
at that time.
Because we treat fevers andhyperthermia, which means high
body temperature, verydifferently.
So we need to know.
We still usually perform thingslike blood work and checking on
how well that pet is clotting.
It actually does affect the waythat they clot their blood in
(08:41):
multiple different organs.
We're looking at all of thoseorgans on that blood work as
well.
How is heat stroke treated inpets?
So treatment for heatstroke inpets usually involves lowering
the body temperature quicklywith supportive care, but we
also need to make sure we don'tlower it too much.
This goes the same for whenyou're at home trying to lower
their body temperature.
(09:01):
If they get up down to 103, andthen you're checking it with
your thermometer, then you needto stop all that cooling stuff
that you're doing, because ifthey go too far, it actually can
be detrimental the other way.
So even though their bodytemperature normally is at 102.5
we want to stop at 103.
And then we want to give themthings like IV fluids to help
(09:22):
support their body.
They're already very dehydratedby the time they come in there
because they've lost so muchwater.
We want to give them oxygentherapy to help their brain
because the brain can be reallyaffected as well.
And then medications that we mayneed are going to be things like
controlling seizures orantibiotics.
Just things to try to helpsupport their body through this.
And in some cases, pets do needto be hospitalized for
(09:45):
monitoring.
It depends on just how bad theywere, how hot they were, what
clinical signs that we'reseeing.
This may be that they're only inthe hospital for 12 to 24 hours,
making sure all their bloodworklooks okay, and we don't see any
other clinical signs and sendingthem home.
Versus this could be that westart seeing really bad clinical
(10:05):
signs and they're in thehospital for days or a week.
They may need things like plasmatransfusions or blood
transfusions, depending on howbad it is.
And then also, they may be anoxygen for a while as well.
If their brain starts to swell,then we need to bring down all
that brain swelling.
So it really depends on how hotthey were and just like what
(10:26):
clinical signs they have as tohow long they end up being in
the hospital.
Alright, how do we prevent heatstroke?
One, just never leaving your petin the car unattended.
We don't know how hot it gets inthere.
We've seen all of those videosof people who've gone into a car
and sat in a car and seeing howthey responded to it and seeing
(10:48):
that it can not take very longbefore that car becomes
extremely hot.
You can avoid strenuous exerciseon hot and humid days.
So that way they don't overheatbecause they can't get rid of
enough heat, giving your petaccess to shade and water when
they're outside.
And then offering your pet likefrequent water breaks if you are
(11:09):
exercising them, going for hikesand stuff, making sure to like
constantly offer them water.
Avoid walks during the hottesttimes of the day, try to do it
in the mornings when it's not sohot.
And then keeping your petindoors when there's going to be
times where it's going to bereally hot or really humid.
As you can see, this is superimportant for just trying to
(11:30):
make sure that our pets are safeand healthy and they don't get
heat stroke.
So if you can just remember someof those things.
If it's a really hot day, don'tbring them outside, keep them
indoors.
If it's going to be reallyhumid, same thing.
Keep them inside, keep themindoors.
If you do see signs of heatstroke, like they're panting
really excessively.
(11:51):
They are really lethargic, notwanting to move.
You start seeing any sort oflike bloody diarrhea during that
time, anything like that, coolthem off.
If you can, take the temperaturefirst.
It's really helpful for us toknow what their temperature was
in the beginning.
Cool them off immediately, bringthem into the hospital, and
start having their blood workran so that way we know where we
are and decide if we need tokeep them in the hospital for
(12:13):
longer.
Alright, so my fun animal factfor today, I thought that I
would do one that's based onexercise since this is something
similar for heat stroke.
So I was going to talk aboutjust the fastest animals.
So the fastest land animal weprobably already know is going
to be the cheetah, right?
It can run up to speeds of about75 miles per hour.
(12:34):
But, the fastest bird is goingto be the peregrine falcon.
My son did a whole study on thisor a whole report on this.
He loved the peregrine falcon.
They have a diving speed of upto 242 miles per hour.
Super crazy.
Then the fastest animal who hashorizontal flight.
So this is diving speed forperegrine falcon, ones that have
(12:57):
just horizontal flight.
That's going to be the Brazilianfree tailed bat, which can reach
speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
The sailfish and the blackmarlin are going to be the two
fastest sea animals.
They can swim up to 22 miles perhour.
Luckily they're in the water, sohopefully they don't get
(13:17):
heatstroke.
Okay guys, if you have anyquestions.
As always, feel free to emailme.
That's going to be all fortoday's episode of
Vetsplanation.
Thank you for listening.
And if you have any questions ortopics you want me to cover,
please contact me.
My email address is Suggs, S U GG S vetsplanationpodcast.com.
So until next time, keep yourpets healthy and safe.
(13:40):
Thank you guys.