Royal Canin: My #ScienceHappens Pet Emergency Story

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know about my love for my dogs. I’ve shared photos of them and talk about their silly personalities because they’re basically like my little children. Royal Canin has kindly sponsored today’s post as part of their amazing #ScienceHappens project and I’m so happy and grateful to be able to share my past experiences with doggie emergencies and I’m really excited to share one story in particular so read on!

Pet Emergencies Are Best Left to the Experts

About a year or so ago, we made the mistake of going out to a movie and leaving our dogs with my boyfriend’s brother. Not that he hates dogs, but he’s really forgetful and that’s what brings me to that time my dog almost died of heat exhaustion.

Sakura, who we mostly just called Saki or Sox for short, is a very temperamental dog on the best of days. She’s emotional when you leave, clingy when you arrive home, and she tends to be depressed when you’re gone until you get back. She’s the most adorable dog ever, obviously, but because of her high strung personality, she tends to overheat really easily.

At the time, it was the peak of summer on a really hot day. The water in the dogs’ water bowl had all but evaporated when my boyfriend’s brother took it upon himself to let her out to go to the bathroom. Which was a totally nice thing until he completely forgot about her and left her out there in the heat with no water.

We arrived home to find her in the backyard, completely covered in mud and basically hyperventilating. Saki is a Brussel Griffon and this kind of breed is known for their very flat nose and face, but this can also make it difficult for them to breathe if they are under stress and that is exactly what happened. It looked as though she tried to cool herself in the mud to no avail.

My boyfriend completely panicked so we tried to cool her body temperature down by putting her in a cold bath. That seemed to work a little bit, but still did not completely solve the issue so we did what anyone who loves their dog would do: we took her to the emergency vet.

♥ Chime In Your Pet Experiences! Use #ScienceHappens with @RoyalCanin ♥

Our emergency vet clinic is almost 20 minutes away from our house so we actually loaded up a baby bottle to try to get her to drink some water on the way. Once we got to the vet, they took over and put her on an IV.

Long story short, she ended up being fine, but they said we were really lucky. Any longer and she definitely would’ve sustained organ damage or even died there in the sun. We could’ve waited it out at home in the bath, but I would rather leave something like this to the professionals, especially when your dog is in immediate danger or under extreme stress.

Our poor Sakura has always been a kind of difficult dog. She was a rescue dog we got from a previous family who didn’t want her anymore and we suspect they physically abused her as a puppy due to her high strung tendencies. She often has accidents in the house, but it’s mostly due to old age, and we’ve had her checked out at the vet to make sure!

When issues like this occur, whether it’s a bout of prolonged diarrhea or something more serious, I definitely think you should leave it to the professionals. Science is the best way to help your dog in times of need. Vet techs will be able to properly assess and treat your dog when time is of the essence and it really can be the difference between life or death for them which is something I’ll never mess around with.

Overall, I think it’s so important to take care of your pets and give them the kind of love, care and support that you would give any friend or family member. After all, they love you unconditionally and without limit so why wouldn’t you?

What Royal Canin Experts Advise:

• When your dog has symptoms of an upset stomach (diarrhea, bad flatulence), it’s important to take him to your veterinarian so they can get to the bottom of their GI issue and prevent any more accidents at home. A wagging tail equals a happy dog!
• Science is the best way to look at every issue your dog may have. For more pet health nutrition information, go to http://www.mypetreference.com/#!search/ask the vet

Have You Had Any Doggie Emergencies or Potty Training Debacles?

I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

The post Pet Emergencies Are Best Left to the Experts // That Time My Dog Almost Died of Heat Exhaustion appeared first on Storybook Apothecary.