Post by orpheous87 on Apr 14, 2013 16:07:23 GMT
Today, we walked with Benson and Oscar as usual.
Benson, after his operation, was wearing his muzzle but was off lead (as advised by the vets). We walked up to the school field as usual and threw balls for the dogs. Lynn removed Benson's muzzle so that he could play fetch too. As it was quite warm (despite the wind), we didn't really throw the balls for long. Ellie was knackered after about 10 minutes, which is a lot sooner than normal, and just stopped running. So we walked around the edge of the field and then came off. Lynn had put Benson's muzzle back on to stop him from picking anything else up.
As we came off the field, Benson slowed right down and seemed to be staggering quite a bit. Obviously we were all a bit concerned, but we knew he hadn't picked anything up to cause another problem like last time. It did occur to us that he'd maybe pulled something internally, so Lynn called her husband to come and pick the two of them up.
I got a text later on to say that they thought it must have been dehydration as he stopped staggering after about 20 minutes and had a very long drink when they got back. I'm not sure if she called the vets though - I think I would have done if he were my dog, just to be on the safe side.
What I'm wondering is, is staggering/being unsteady a classic sign of dehydration? I know about the skin elasticity test, but what are the other signs of dehydration?
I didn't think it was warm enough for the dogs to get dehydrated like that, especially as it wasn't sunny, but I guess I could be wrong?
It wasn't until after Lynn sent me the message that I thought about the muzzle - it's a Baskerville type, so he can open his mouth and pant, but he can't hang his tongue out as much so would this affect how effective panting would be?
Needless to say, we will be taking water with us next week!
Benson, after his operation, was wearing his muzzle but was off lead (as advised by the vets). We walked up to the school field as usual and threw balls for the dogs. Lynn removed Benson's muzzle so that he could play fetch too. As it was quite warm (despite the wind), we didn't really throw the balls for long. Ellie was knackered after about 10 minutes, which is a lot sooner than normal, and just stopped running. So we walked around the edge of the field and then came off. Lynn had put Benson's muzzle back on to stop him from picking anything else up.
As we came off the field, Benson slowed right down and seemed to be staggering quite a bit. Obviously we were all a bit concerned, but we knew he hadn't picked anything up to cause another problem like last time. It did occur to us that he'd maybe pulled something internally, so Lynn called her husband to come and pick the two of them up.
I got a text later on to say that they thought it must have been dehydration as he stopped staggering after about 20 minutes and had a very long drink when they got back. I'm not sure if she called the vets though - I think I would have done if he were my dog, just to be on the safe side.
What I'm wondering is, is staggering/being unsteady a classic sign of dehydration? I know about the skin elasticity test, but what are the other signs of dehydration?
I didn't think it was warm enough for the dogs to get dehydrated like that, especially as it wasn't sunny, but I guess I could be wrong?
It wasn't until after Lynn sent me the message that I thought about the muzzle - it's a Baskerville type, so he can open his mouth and pant, but he can't hang his tongue out as much so would this affect how effective panting would be?
Needless to say, we will be taking water with us next week!