A "Normal" Trip to the Store? Not Hardly!

It was a normal Thursday afternoon, a sunny clear day with a 107 degree temperature. I had a two hour break in the middle of the day and I thought I would take that opportunity to run to Petco, 15 minutes from my home. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to get Glacier, my newfie mix, out of the house, so I took him with me. I parked, picked up a few things, let Glacier visit a bit and then headed home.

I pulled out of the parking lot and noticed traffic was backed up a bit on my normal route, so I decided to try and take the back way home. I pulled up to the red light, I was in the left lane against the median and had four lanes of traffic to the right of me. As I was waiting for the light to turn to green, I noticed that the rotation of the light skipped us. It not only skipped us once, but four times. Now I had been in the car stuck in traffic for about 10 minutes, which is not terrible, but on the third skip of the light my air conditioning began to blow out hot air and it is still 107 outside. I rolled the windows down because it felt like it was 120 degrees in the car. I looked over at Glacier and he is panting extremely hard now. I look around the car for a bottle of water which is sometimes on the floorboard left over from all our hikes and walks - the typical "I will bring it in later". Unfortunately, this time I had taken all the bottles in the house. No water. I look around and the traffic is still not moving and I am boxed in. I am beginning to get very nervous about Glacier, I look over again and his head has dropped, eyes squinty, a little sunk in and now strings of drool are coming out of his mouth. I raised his lip, and pushed on his gums until the spot I was pushing on turned white, when I released my finger, his gums turned back to pink very slowly. I knew he was in trouble. I looked to my left, the median was a hill that was too high for me to drive over. The only way out was to the right. I began to lay on my horn, wanting the attention of the cars around me. I also began to rock my car back and forth, I did not care that I looked like a crazy person, I was. I waved at everyone to move their cars. If I could just get one person to try and move, the traffic in the far right lane was getting through on right hand turns. I had to get to that lane. The lady next to me looked at Glacier and I think she figured out what was happening. She also began to inch her way back, then before I knew it, other cars were inching back creating a domino effect, three lanes made a spot for me to cut across and I was on my way. Once I got the car moving the air kicked back in, I put all the vents on Glacier and in a second we were home. I gave him water and patted him down with cool cloths. I turned on the living room fan and he laid on the tile floor. He was ok.

I wanted to share this because I never dreamed a short car ride could be so dangerous. I know people that live up north and deal with extreme winter weather take precautions when they travel. It never occurred to me that our summers, especially this one, is just as extreme. A twenty minute trip to the store could have been very tragic due to a red light. From now on, when my dogs go anywhere with me, I will always have water for them to drink and a spray bottle to mist them. I also knew what to look for in Glacier as far as dehydration. This is how I knew he was in trouble. He did not vomit, if he had we would have went straight to the vet. Please learn from my experience!


What you need to know about dehydration:

Dogs lose fluid through: breathing, panting, elimination, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, evaporation through the feet and other body surfaces.

Dogs replenish fluid by drinking water or other liquids and by eating moist foods. A relatively small drop in body fluid (4-5%) can result in visible signs of dehydration.

Signs of dehydration:

1. The skin loses elasticity as it loses moisture. This can be somewhat misleading since younger and fatter dogs will have more elasticity than older, thinner dogs. It is important to have an idea of what your dog's skin looks and feels like on a normal basis. Pinch a little skin between your thumb and forefinger on your dog's back. When you release it, it should pop back into place immediately. (You can try this on the back of your own hand as an example) As the tissue under the skin loses moisture, the skin moves back more slowly. In extreme cases, the skin doesn't pop back.
2. The eyes appear sunken and lack moisture.
3. The mouth appears dry, the gums and nose are dry.
4. Delayed capillary refill time. Pull up your dog's lip and look at his gums. Place your index finger firmly against the gums so that they appear white. Remove your finger and see how quickly the blood returns to the gums (they will become pink in that area again). This is called capillary refill time. If you do this when everything is normal, you will have a basis upon which to compare. The gums of a normal dog refill immediately, the gums of a dehydrated dog could take 3 seconds or so to return to their pink state.

If your dog shows visible symptoms of dehydration, he may need a trip to the vet for immediate replenishment of fluids. In serious cases, your veterinarian may administer fluids under the skin or directly into the blood stream.