Publications by authors named "Sian Beard"
Background: Dogs are exposed to increasing environmental risk for developing heat-related illness (HRI), with 2022 recorded as the hottest year to date in the UK and most of Europe.
Methods: This study used VetCompass data to report the incidence risk, event fatality rate and canine risk factors for HRI in dogs presenting to Vets Now emergency care practices in the UK during 2022.
Results: From the clinical records of 167,751 dogs under care at Vets Now emergency clinics in 2022, 384 HRI events were identified.
Article Synopsis
- Exercise is a major cause of heat-related illness (HRI) in dogs, responsible for 74% of cases treated in the UK; there is limited research on effective cooling methods for affected dogs.
- The study monitored temperature changes in dogs after canicross events, evaluating various cooling practices and ambient conditions, finding that many dogs still increased in temperature shortly after exercise.
- Results suggest that cold-water immersion effectively cools hyperthermic dogs, emphasizing the importance of cooling dogs before transportation to prevent further temperature increases.
The management of heat-related illness (HRI) in dogs has received limited attention in the veterinary literature, especially regarding effective cooling methods. Guidelines published in 2016 for prehospital management of dogs with HRI advised "cool first, transport second", and recommended using cold-water immersion and evaporative cooling (water application with air movement) as the optimal approaches to reduce the patient's temperature. The current retrospective cross-sectional observation study analysed electronic patient records from the VetCompass programme to describe the cooling methods used in dogs with HRI presented to primary care veterinary practices during 2016-2018.
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