Heat Stroke in Pets When the temperatures are high, dogs try to regulate their body heat by panting. However, if they are exposed to long periods of heat, they lose this ability of regulating their body temperature and are likely going to develop heat stroke. This will easily kill them. Signs of heat stroke in a dog include: Heavy and difficulty in panting. It worsens as the temperatures rises. Dog appears lethargic and uncoordinated. Excessive drooling. Inflamed gums that appear dark red Vomiting or diarrhoea. The following measures can be taken to avoid your dog getting heat stress or stroke: Make sure your dog has free access to water at all times. Avoid taking your dog for walks when the sun is at its hottest period. Avoid over exertion your dog during walks, running or training, Never leave your dog in a car or hot areas where there is little or no ventilation. Dogs experiencing heat stroke need urgent care to lower their body temperature. Urgent action on the following measures will increase their chances of survival. Move your dog to a shade and provide small amounts of cool water. Ran cool waters over the body until their panting returns to normal. Avoid pouring water around the head to avoid the risk of inhaling water into the lungs. Heat stroke is a matter of emergency, call and rushes your dog to the veterinarian for heat stroke treatment while you are instituting these first aid measures.

Reasons why your pet might be losing weight Weight loss refers to unintended loss of body weight. Pet owners should be concerned when their pet starts losing weight after years of maintain the same weight. Sudden or gradual weight loss is a sign that something is not well with your pet. Here are the things to look out for when your pet is losing weight: Proper nutrition for your pets is an essential component of their health and should be well managed throughout their life. Poor diet is where the food is deficient of macro and micro elements, for example, Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc etc, vitamin-D and proteins. Your pet starts losing weight when these nutritional needs are not met on a regular basis. Apart from weight loss, other symptoms of poor diet include stunted growth, frequent infections, rickets, allergies, fur loss and behavioural problems. Diet related behavioural issues in pets may include nervousness where the dog is overly submissive or aggression with no apparent provocation. Weight loss in your per can be caused by decreased or insufficient food intake due to  the systemic or dental diseases. Systemic disease might be from bacterial, viral or protozoal origin. Systemic disease will cause poor or no appetite leading to acute or chronic weight loss in your pet. Kidney or gastrointestinal diseases will cause wasting of muscles and loss of proteins resulting to weight loss. Diabetes seen mostly in cats will cause weight loss despite the cat having a ravenous appetite. Uncommon disease, like hyperthyroidism seen in cats, where they are active and have good appetite, but they still lose weight. Dental problems, especially seen with the geriatric patients will have pain or difficulties in eating. Bad breath, red gums and tooth discolouration are signs that your pet has dental problems. Cancer, certainly causes weight loss, this is especially seen in pets that are not in restricted diet. Other signs that might indicate that your pet may be having cancer are poor appetite, wounds that never heal, bumps and lumps, difficulties in urinating and defecating, lack of energy, coughing and changes in behaviour. Serious health issues or even death may occur if worm infestation is left untreated. Worms can either be round, tape or hook-worms will cause loss of appetite, diarrhoea, lethargy, coughing and loss of weight. Inconsistent deworming schedule or poor choice of dewormers will contribute to increased worm burden in your pet. Dogs and cats may start losing weight when they are stressed. Cats are easily stressed by small things like having a new person at home, loud or noisy environment and a dirty litter box. Dogs get stressed from loud environment like fireworks, anxiety after being separated from their owner and social anxiety, where the dog was not socialised when they were young and go through a lot of stress when they are exposed to people or other dogs. The Andys Veterinary Hospital. Ngong Road, Nairobi.

Common Poisoning for pets There are many ways your pet can get poisoned by ingesting things commonly found around homes. Other times pet owners unknowingly give food substances to their pets that are poisonous.  Here are the most common pet poisons that come to our hospital. House hold cleaning products Ingestion of soaps may not be toxic but may cause vomiting and diarrhoea associated with gastrointestinal irritation. House hold bleaches contain hypochlorite or sulphuric compounds are toxic and will cause hyper salivation, abdominal pains, vomiting, coughing and dyspnoea. Garbage intoxication This comes from ingestion of spoiled food and compost. This is common with dogs and organisms implicated food poisoning includes E.coli, salmonella spp, staphylococcus, streptococcus among others. Signs of poisoning includes vomiting, diarrhoea (may be bloody), fever and endotoxic shock. Incidence of food poisoning happens especially during t the festive season and the owner may provide the history of the dog scourging in the garbage. Chocolate poisoning This comes from ingestion of chocolate cakes, bars or cocoa powder. Chocolates have an active ingredient known as theobromine which dogs and cats cannot process it out from their body resulting to poisoning. Chocolate poisoning is seen during the holiday seasons or celebrations. Signs include vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle tremors confusion, seizures and sometimes death. Ethylene Gycol intoxication This commonly found in car coolants, solvents and rust removers. Dog just needs about 4 mls per kg and cats 1.5 ml/kg to cause neurological, cardio-respiratory and renal disease. Pets usually have history of exposure and pet owner’s report that the pet is walking like it is drunk. Other signs include anorexia, lethargy, seizures and vomiting. Acetaminophen/Paracetamol Toxicosis Paracetamol poisoning happens when the owner may have administered this over the counter medication to their pet or the pet accidentally swallowed the tablets that had been dropped on the floor. Cats are more affected than dogs by damage to their RBC, while dogs may suffer hepatic necrosis. Signs of poisoning in cats develop within 1 to 2 hours of ingestions and include progressive depression, vomiting, dark coloured urine and abdominal pain. Aspirin toxicosis Aspirin poisoning is more severe in cats than in dogs. Cats lack glucuronly transferase, an enzyme which is necessary for breaking down and excretion of aspirin. Toxic dose in cats is 25 mg/kg and signs of poisoning include depression, anorexia weakness and death. These signs develop within 4 to 6 hours of ingestion. Marijuana and Hashish Toxicosis. Marijuana and Hashish oils contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which interacts with neurotransmitters and dogs get more affected than cats. Pets usually gain exposure through ingestion of left over’s baked goods containing marijuana, or from ingesting the butts of marijuana cigarettes. Signs of poisoning are visible within 30 minutes to an hour after ingestion. These signs will include dullness, lethargy, dilated pupils vomiting, tremors and acute aggression. Anticoagulant rodenticide Toxicosis This happens when the owner has placed some rat baits, and the pet was poisoned primarily by ingestion of the bait or secondarily from consuming a poisoned rat. Some of the signs of poisoning will manifest clinically days and even up to weeks after consumption of the rodenticides. Acaricide poisoning They include Amitraz, Organophosphates and pyrethrins which are insecticides used in flea and Tick control. Poisoning occurs when the pet accidentally licks the acaricide or through the skin after the pet has been washed. Cats appear to be more predisposed to having severe signs of pyrethroid, organophosphate and amitraz poisoning. Amitraz should never be used on cats. Others Mushroom poisoning; some species of mushrooms cause death in pets especially the ones that grow in the wild. The owner may be able to provide history of exposure, and signs of poisoning include abdominal pain, weakness, diarrhoea, depression, hallucinations, seizures, vomiting and death. Snake bite/Spider sting envenomation: Seen in dry and arid areas and the common bites come from puff adders and cobras. The toxicity of envenomation depends upon the species of snakes and the amount of venom injected.  Boom slang envenomation, while it is not usually lethal to an adult human, may be lethal to a dog or cat. Cats are more sensitive to spider bites (Black widow spiders), than dogs and signs may include hyper salivation, severe pain and paralysis. Treatment It is important to seek medical help from your veterinarian as soon you have noticed unusual behaviour from your pet or you suspect that you pet could have consumed a poisonous substance. The Andys Veterinary Hospital.