S
StarRidgeAcres
Guest
Hi,
I generally only post on the miniature horse and photo forums but I just wanted to share this in the hopes that by me telling what happened it may keep it from happening to someone else.
We hire a neighbor girl (17 yr old) to pet sit our horses and dogs when we go to shows. We've never had a reason to doubt her or be concerned over the level of care our animals were receiving. She even volunteers at the local no-kill shelter and helps my husband on adoption days at Petsmart.
We received a call from her about 1pm on Saturday saying that Diego (a chihuahua mix we adopted from a shelter in January of this year) was sick and not doing well. She said he was outside on a lead and she had checked on them all 30 minutes prior and everyone was fine - including Diego. I finally asked her if he was already gone and she said "I think so." I told her to hose him off in the slight chance that he was still alive to try and lower his body temp in case it was heat stroke. She said she'd already done that. I told her to put him in the car and head to our vets office. I called the vet and explained the details I knew.
She called me as soon as she got to the office (about 20 minutes later) and I heard the vet say something and she said "12 hours! That's not possible!" I don't know for sure what this was about but I can guess. We hung up and the vet called me about 30 minutes later.
He said Diego was gone and had been dead at least 2-3 hours. I asked if he was sure and he said yes. I asked was his internal body temp was and he said "our instruments only register up to 109.5 and it rocketed up there immediately so it was probably much higher."
This girl obviously left our dogs out in the sun for an extended period of time and little Diego didn't survive.
Please, please, please double check on those you have caring for your treasured furry loved ones when you're not around. Arrange to have another friend or relative stop by unannouced to check on things, leave very clear, strict guidelines about how long your pets can be out and how much water they should have.
We loved our Little D.
Diego
He didn't deserve to die laying in the hot sun.
I generally only post on the miniature horse and photo forums but I just wanted to share this in the hopes that by me telling what happened it may keep it from happening to someone else.
We hire a neighbor girl (17 yr old) to pet sit our horses and dogs when we go to shows. We've never had a reason to doubt her or be concerned over the level of care our animals were receiving. She even volunteers at the local no-kill shelter and helps my husband on adoption days at Petsmart.
We received a call from her about 1pm on Saturday saying that Diego (a chihuahua mix we adopted from a shelter in January of this year) was sick and not doing well. She said he was outside on a lead and she had checked on them all 30 minutes prior and everyone was fine - including Diego. I finally asked her if he was already gone and she said "I think so." I told her to hose him off in the slight chance that he was still alive to try and lower his body temp in case it was heat stroke. She said she'd already done that. I told her to put him in the car and head to our vets office. I called the vet and explained the details I knew.
She called me as soon as she got to the office (about 20 minutes later) and I heard the vet say something and she said "12 hours! That's not possible!" I don't know for sure what this was about but I can guess. We hung up and the vet called me about 30 minutes later.
He said Diego was gone and had been dead at least 2-3 hours. I asked if he was sure and he said yes. I asked was his internal body temp was and he said "our instruments only register up to 109.5 and it rocketed up there immediately so it was probably much higher."
This girl obviously left our dogs out in the sun for an extended period of time and little Diego didn't survive.
Please, please, please double check on those you have caring for your treasured furry loved ones when you're not around. Arrange to have another friend or relative stop by unannouced to check on things, leave very clear, strict guidelines about how long your pets can be out and how much water they should have.
We loved our Little D.
Diego
He didn't deserve to die laying in the hot sun.
