Poor Tempe (BCC/overheating)

[Mark Billadeau]

I honestly doubt that her dog has this (it was 80+ degrees yesterday after weeks of 50-65 and the sun was overhead, I think the pup just got hot) but I can't find anything that would help differentiate between a hot dog and a EIC dog. I'd like to help her feel better.

Review the information here: Border Collie Collapse

 

How can I tell BCC from heat exhaustion / heat stroke?A commonly asked question is how to differentiate BCC episodes from recurrent heat exhaustion or heat stroke. For years, dogs with episodes of BCC have been labeled as "heat intolerant" because collapse is most likely to occur in hot weather. Dogs with BCC certainly are hot after exercise but their body temperatures are not higher than normal dogs performing the same exercise so it is not simply overheating causing collapse. Also it is important to recognize that the collapse episodes we see in dogs with BCC are very different from those associated with actual heat stroke. Heat stroke severe enough to cause mentation changes, gait abnormalities and collapse in a dog will be life-threatening and often fatal. Recovery, if it does occur, is slow and prolonged (hours to days) even with intensive treatment. Laboratory evaluation reveals a dramatic increase in the muscle enzyme CK and many affected dogs develop acute kidney failure. More than 80% of dogs collapsed due to heat stroke exhibit mentation changes that are severe, progressive and persistent (for hours to days). Damage to blood vessel walls leads to widespread clot formation, damage to multiple organs, low platelet numbers and often widespread bleeding. In contrast, dogs with BCC-related collapse episodes show no laboratory abnormalities and recover quickly returning to normal within 5 to 30 minutes. Besides the severity of collapse episodes, the recurrent nature of BCC-related episodes and the fact that collapse can occur even on days with moderate or cool ambient temperatures helps to distinguish BCC from heat-related illness.

[rushdoggie]

So if a dog recovered quickly you would suspect BCC? What if the dog showed mild symptoms and was removed to shade immediately...wouldn't a dog that was just too hot cool down and be ok (provided he was cooled down before he really got into trouble)? Or does overheating always cause symptoms that last for hours?

 

 

Would checking the dogs core temp (knowing what her baseline is) a good way to see whats happening, and if the temp had spiked up a little its likely overheating, and it it hasn't it might be BCC?

[Mark Billadeau]

Exercise increases body temp.; the temp increase is the same for normal and BCC dogs.

Dogs which REALLY have heat exhaustion / heat stroke have even higher temp increases (defintion of heat exhaustion / heat stroke) and it takes longer to recover.

 

Mild symptoms and fast recovery could simply be due to getting hot (but not heat exhaustion / heat stroke), out of condition, or BCC.

[Mdaniels]

I didn't want to copy too many quotes, but contrary to what I read here, the study group at U of M told me last fall that there are generally not as many issues in colder weather than there are in warmer weather with BCC. I asked this because my dogs episodes abruptly stopped when the weather cooled down.

[2 Devils]

Tempe's first episode was on a 70 degree day, no humidity and the only thing that was different was a new frisbee which got her extremely excited. I think exciteability plays a part in the episodes. She was over the top happy being an idiot. I only threw the frisbee a handful of times. She seemed fine. We went inside and within minutes she was collapsing. I thought she was overheeated so did things to cool her down. Within 10 minutes she was back to normal - walking, trotting, mentally, etc... she was still panting heavily but all her faculties were back.

 

In contrast I took her out to play frisbee a couple days ago and it was almost 80 degrees and seemed quite warm. I threw the frisbee about 15 times and other than breathing extremely heavy she did not have an episode.