border collie collapse

[KrisK]

Yesterday was humid but not overly hot. Sport played in the morning, got in the kiddie pool, generally was having fun. In the afternoon, he was in his crate inside for about 3 hours. I took him for a walk on leash - we had walked about 1 km when he staggered, fell over, got up, staggered again, got up and staggered once more. I checked his gums right away - they were white. I am now having flashbacks to Jazz's death in 2010 from hemangio. I called a neighbour who drove me home and I went to the emergency vet right away.

By the time we got there (25 minute drive) Sport had recovered nicely. I had bloodwork done - nothing showed up. It was a costly trip but I was really worried.

I started looking through the Board archives and now wonder if Sport might have a mild case of BCC....although the walk we took was not strenous by any stretch of the imagination...

I've called the previous owners but they have not called back yet...I did ask if he had health issues before I took him home and was told no.

Needless to say, I'll be monitoring him, especially this week which is supposed to be hot and humid.

 

 

[Eileen Stein]

I doubt that BCC is the explanation, Kris. I have never heard of a case of BCC in which symptoms didn't manifest within a very short time after activity (1/2 hour max), and didn't resolve within a half hour or so after that. So the episode was too late to be attributable to the morning exercise, and I wouldn't expect a 1k leashed walk on a not overly hot day in Ontario to bring on a BCC attack. But I'm less sure on this second point, so if anyone else has experience or knowledge of a BCC episode that followed such light exercise, I hope they will post.

 

Very good idea to keep an eye on him in the near future in any case, of course.

[Liz P]

Dogs that aren't used to exercising in warm weather can collapse due to heat stress at surprisingly low temperatures, especially when it's humid. We generally see our first heat stroke cases of the year when it's in the 50s and 60s. As dogs adjust to the warmer spring temps, heat stroke case load goes down (aside from the dogs left in hot cars).

[bcnewe2]

Dew did something similar in AR. the humidity was high but temps were bearable considering we were pretty conditioned. Turned out she had worms (don't remember what kind) and that added with the heat stress put her over the edge. Wormed her and she was fine the rest of the summer.

 

Scary thing to watch and feel helpless.

[Mdaniels]

Any chance you have very recently applied a topical flea/tick/heart worm preventative?

[ness_bc]

My young BC has BCC and yes she had had collapse episodes with relatively light exercise but then she has been coming off restricted activity and is out of condition so that has made things worse. Most seem to involve much more intense activity though although it doesn't take much. Couple of minutes of play.

 

I have posted elsewhere video of one of her more extreme collapse episodes.

 

Worth monitoring though and keeping a close eye to see if there is a pattern of episodes.

[KrisK]

Mdaniels - no he had not been treated.

 

So far, no other episodes so I'm hoping it was just one of those 'weird' things....but will be watching him carefully.