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Border Collie died from Water Hose play!


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:rolleyes:

 

We met a couple this weekend who lost their 5 year old BC last Spring. After offering our condolences, they said it was sudden and horrible. It seems that the dog loved "attacking" the water hose and going after it time after time. Well, they always thought it was very funny and cute and they "played" this game with him on hot spring and summer days.

 

One day, the dog got lethargic and tired after about 20-30 minutes of this type of play, and the couple thought the dog was just tired. So they put him in his crate to rest, but then heard the dog having coughing/seizures and was having trouble getting breaths. So they called the 24 hr. vet, then rushed him there, and the dog died that same day. The vet said his lungs were 75% filled with water.

 

Arrggh!! How awful! We let Cody play with the water sprinkler and hose and we didn't even think of the hard shot of water filling his lungs! I guess we can't do this anymore.

 

Any thoughts?

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I actually had heard of something like this, and I hose off a lot of animals.

 

I've taught my kids it's ok to let the stream of water into the animal's mouth across their jaws...not aimed back into the mouth. That way the can grab a sip, get cooled off, and wash the sweat or mud off their faces and still let them play. Just don't aim it IN.

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Oh my... How TERRIBLE! I have a water hose fanatic and during the summer, not a day goes by that we don't play with the water hose. I am, however, famous around the house for bringing in a hot, tired dog who doesn't have a drop of water on him. I have noticed that when other people (particularly kids) play with him, they think it's fun to spray the hose down his throat. :rolleyes: I hate it, and anyone who does this is never allowed to spray the hose for my dog again.

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I almost lost Freya last June after she was swimming in a lake. She consumed massive amounts of water and I never even realized it. (When she was grabbing the toy she would plunge her head in and gulp water.) Her lungs were fine, but she went into shock and I made it to the vet with seconds to spare. After spending nearly a week in the ICU and burning through my savings she came home. We did test her for everything, and I do mean everything, so we are as close to certain as you can be with medicine that it was the water consumption that made her so sick. She has never been quite the same since. Now she wears a life vest while swimming and only gets to fetch toys in the lake that don't make her gulp water.

 

There was a story about a woman dying after drinking a lot of water as part of a radio contest. It can and does happen.

 

A BC I used to own loved to bite the hose. We always limited his play time because he would get water in his lungs and start to cough after a few minutes.

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Mine don't like the hose at all, but do like to fetch when they are swimming. I changed from throwing balls to flat toys that don't require them to have their mouths open so much. As stupid as this sounds, I never considered the fact that they could get water in their lungs while doing this!

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Guest WoobiesMom

That's so sad! I had not heard about the water getting into the lungs but while researching bloat after Rush died, I learned that allowing them to gulp large amounts of water can cause the stomach to twist.

 

Geez! When did playing in the sprinkler/pond/ocean become fatal? :rolleyes:

 

I felt this way when I found out all the dangers in balloons, hot dogs and marshmallows for kids!

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I never thought of that but it makes a lot of sence. I will watch out for that even though Black Jack doesn't like streams of water out of the hose yet.

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if they were getting water in their lungs wouldn't coughing be a sign to stop them? I dont see how the dog could fill up his lungs 75% with water without showing signs like coughing.

 

Its called a land drowning or dry drowning or secondary drowning. This is what we call it when a kid in the pool has nearly drowned and death is caused by chemical changes in the lungs. If there is a little bit of water in the lungs that shouldn't be there the lungs will actually pull water from else where in the body and continue to fill after initial signs of coughing are over and every thing seems fine. Its very sad. I will reconsider how Chesney and I play with the hose now. I never thought of this happening.

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My Riley, Ashe and Meg love the hose game. Riley is the worst in gulping the water, so we try to keep the stream moving back and forth or upand down or shooting out in random pulses. If anybody starts coughing the game stops until they are recovered.

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Water intoxication is what it's called when people/animals drink so much water that the sodium balance is disturbed. The brain begins to swell at that point...its pretty awful.

 

I've had 2 dogs get sick from swimming in the bay. The first swam with us for hours - in and out of the water - never thought a thing of it and we'd done it many times. Like Freya he swallows water, but I thought it was "ok" because he'd vomit occassionally. Unfortunately he aspirated some of the bay water into his lungs at one point and by that night couldn't breath unless he was standing. We went to the ER clinic, got antibiotics and steroids, then I spent the longest night ever lying next to him as he tried to sleep standing up with his head propped on the coffee table :rolleyes: He's fine now, but it has changed my impression of how much "fun" I'll let my guys have in the water..

 

The second dog didn't swallow water, but was apparently exposed to a toxin in the water. She survived the initial bout, had a pretty good year, but was never quite the same again. Within 2 years she died of gastric cancer. None of the humans were in the water that day.....

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When my last BC started to swim she would always try to eat the splashes in front of her. Then after a few minutes she would get out and throw up a lot of water. I don't know if it was in her lungs or stomach.

 

you can't throw up from your lungs - you cough. If she's coughing, she's clearing her lungs. If its a small amount, most healthy animals can clear their lungs just fine.

 

The problem with violent vomiting is that the vomiter (human or dog) can inadvertantly gasp for air during it and inhale stomach contents into the lungs.

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The water isn't physically entering the lungs from the hose or the lake (from gulping), it's entering the lungs from the dog's blood stream (because the dog has ingested excessive amounts of water). It's the same concept of someone in congestive heart failure where the heart is not pumping efficiently and fluid builds up and collects in body tissues and the lungs.

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The water isn't physically entering the lungs from the hose or the lake (from gulping), it's entering the lungs from the dog's blood stream (because the dog has ingested excessive amounts of water). It's the same concept of someone in congestive heart failure where the heart is not pumping efficiently and fluid builds up and collects in body tissues and the lungs.

 

It is not the same as congestive heart failure at all. Very generic explanations but ..

 

CHF involves the hearts inability to pump properly, and depending on which side of the heart is involved you get various problems. You get edema, dependent (legs and hands, sometimes abdomen) or pulmonary- fluid build up in the lungs. CHF is treated with medicines to help the heart pump more correctly (usually slower, and more strong) and diuretics to help the kidneys pull of the fluid. This obviously is about "water" in the wrong place, but it's all whole nother kettle of fish too...

 

Water intoxication, which upsets the water/sodium balance, which causes fluid to collect in the tissues. Treatment involves addressing the electrolyte balance - you might like reading http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/aa070703a.htm You would never give a CHF patient salt, they dont' need it, and it would usually result in their blood pressure going up, further compromising their heart, and making the fluid retention worse.

 

It takes a tremendous amount of water to cause water intoxication, and most dogs with problems from swimming are likely to have aspiration problems - instead of swallowing/vomiting water they end up with in the lungs instead. This in great amounts, will drown, or in small amounts, leave the dog succeptible to pneumonia from the moist, usually bacteria laden water.

 

I am not a vet, but I do work in human med and have masters in science.

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It is not the same as congestive heart failure at all. Very generic explanations but ..

 

CHF involves the hearts inability to pump properly, and depending on which side of the heart is involved you get various problems. You get edema, dependent (legs and hands, sometimes abdomen) or pulmonary- fluid build up in the lungs. CHF is treated with medicines to help the heart pump more correctly (usually slower, and more strong) and diuretics to help the kidneys pull of the fluid. This obviously is about "water" in the wrong place, but it's all whole nother kettle of fish too...

 

Water intoxication, which upsets the water/sodium balance, which causes fluid to collect in the tissues. Treatment involves addressing the electrolyte balance - you might like reading http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/nutrition/a/aa070703a.htm You would never give a CHF patient salt, they dont' need it, and it would usually result in their blood pressure going up, further compromising their heart, and making the fluid retention worse.

 

Well, I wasn't suggesting that you would treat the two the same way or even that the etiology was the same. I was saying that the concept is the same, i.e., the body is fluid-overloaded and that causes fluid to collect in the tissues and lungs.

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No matter how it is all explained this is darn scary! Phoenix and Sitka love hose play! Phoenix will run from the side of the hose stream and bite at it as he jumps, and also come full force straight on at it biting all the way. Sitka, bites at the stream when I point it to the ground, and claws at it, but both dogs are getting a mouth full of water.

Well we will definately adjust our hose play, that's for sure...

Phoenix will also bite at the minnows swimming around his legs in the water, and once actually came up with a 5 inch Blue Gill! I don't know who was more suprised the fish or Phoenix! :rolleyes:

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