Hey fellas,
Had a close call with my pup yesterday and just wanted to raise awareness of what we went through so maybe it’ll save another pooch.
We took our lab swimming at the lake yesterday, just like we have dozens of times before. We always throw a ball out for him to get and we play fetch.
Everything was normal for the 2 hours we were out. We threw the ball for an hour and then put it away for a bit to give him a break (he’s a machine) and then after 20 or so mins we started throwing the ball again.
Usually he pukes up a bunch of water during the fetch and I didn’t think much of it, he consumes a lot while going for the ball. Yesterday he didn’t throw up once.
Here he is waiting for me to throw the ball again.
We loaded up the boat and headed to the launch and he started to go downhill. When we were at the launch and I was getting the truck/trailer he threw up all the water and peed in the water. When it came time to get in the truck he wouldn’t jump in and I just thought he was gassed from swimming for 2 hours.
On the way back up to the house we noticed something was wrong. He was super lethargic and very wobbly. I had to pull him out of the truck and when I set him down his back legs weren’t quite working 100% and he was almost falling over.
He then threw up again and it was just foam, and he walked all uncoordinated to the back stairs and wouldn’t go up. I picked him up and carried him into the house and then he wouldn’t stand up and was struggling to breathe.
At first I thought it was EIC, but he supposed to be clear since his parents were both tested and clear. Then my wife said maybe it’s water intoxication so I googled that and sure enough, he had every single symptom listed. The biggest thing that tipped me off for that was his eyes. The pupils were dilated all the way out and he basically had no cornea, his eyes were glossy and black.
This is him at the house. Lethargic, salivating like crazy and puking up foam.
We called the vet in Lethbridge and rushed him there. On the way he wasn’t getting worse, and as we got closer he started to stand up in the truck. The vet put him on an IV with electrolytes and sedation meds. They took some x-rays to look for water in his lungs which there was none. After about an hour they said that he was doing much better and we could take him home if we wanted but stay close to a vet in case he develops Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome later on.
It was a sleepless night but he is doing much better, he even ate a leftover filet mignon this morning and wants me to throw his toys for him.
Basically water intoxication is where the dog ingests so much water that the cells in the body start to swell up. During this process the amount of electrolytes in the body plummet and the symptoms start to happen fast. It can cause brain swelling which can be fatal.
There is lots of resources out there to Google, and if you own a dog I would suggest taking the 5 minutes to read an article or two on it.
Here is the one is googled that listed every symptom he had.
https://www.centennialanimalhospital...oxication/amp/
I hope someone else reading this can learn from my mistake of putting him in this situation. It’s totally preventable.
Here he is this morning wanting to play again
Water Intoxication in Dogs
Linear Mode
