[Folsomsdogs]

I have a 24month old male lab that was diagnosed EIC affected. He has had 3 episodes thus far. The first one being last fall and the latest two were with in a week of each other this past week. I believe I have found his trigger and going to do everything possible to get around it without making him a family pet. Just in case he does have another episode what is the best way to make his recovery quick as possible. The last episode was his longest recovery time yet and lasted just over 20 min. I just want to make him comfortable as possible if it ever happens again. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

I have been around two dogs with EIC that have had episodes its really scary. We took them to shade of the truck tried to keep them cool, they both recovered quickly.

 

[Jacob Hawkes]

What works for mine is rubbing him down with ice & squirting ice cold water in his mouth with an injector (Obviously not having the needle on it.). It revived him fairly well the last time he had an episode. What I noticed was pressure with high humidity/high temps (It has to be both.) is his trigger. In his case, I can work around his issue. He hasn't had an episode in a year or 2.

 

[Hunt'EmUp]

Get them in the shade and get them calm. Alcohol or cold water on the pads, cools them pretty quickly. If you figure out the trigger you can usually stop the collapse. I got a few friends who run theirs in events, they have to watch out for the triggers, and they'll sometimes pull them from certain portions but overall the dogs do fine.

 

[Pigpen]

I believe I have found his trigger and going to do everything possible to get around it without making him a family pet.

So I guess you got your results back. What do you think triggers it? Will it be something were you can still run him?

 

[Folsomsdogs]

So I guess you got your results back. What do you think triggers it? Will it be something were you can still run him?

Heat/humidity. I believe duck season, early spring/late fall tests will be fine.

 

[M&K's Retrievers]

Heat/humidity. I believe duck season, early spring/late fall tests will be fine.

And what happens if he has an episode while in the water? Think you can get to him in time?

 

[fishnfetch]

And what happens if he has an episode while in the water? Think you can get to him in time?

My affected blf has never had an in water episode but the thought of it scares the heck out of me. Over the years she has had quite a few episodes, she is 8 and back then nobody knew what it was, and the common denominator for all of them is heat. Once she starts to get even a little wobbly, I've never had any luck stopping a full blown collapse, even stopping the activity and trying to calm/cool her down. As someone stated above, cooling seems to be the best route to quickest recovery.

 

[MikeBoley]

I have an affected male. I still hu.t him some because he loves it so much. He has had several episodes. I have found that putting the dog in the cab of the truck with max ac on is best. Ac removes the humidity.

 

[Folsomsdogs]

And what happens if he has an episode while in the water? Think you can get to him in time?

Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind. We have adapted to his condition though with no open water swims, a lot of down the shore work and usually we will do all water work from our tech pond (so he is never to far from a bank). This dog is just too good to lay him up and he would be miserable. Thanks for your concern though...

 

[Clayton Evans]

I also have a affected dog who has only had three episodes as I quickly learned what brought them on. Heat , Humidity,pressure. The pressure was causing stress which raised his anxiety level which caused him to overheat. That didn't have a test on the first episode he had and I thought it was heat stroke and just poured all the cold water I had on him and 15-20 minutes later he was OK. We went on together and got his MH so it can be done.
Clay

 

[luvmylabs23139]

And what happens if he has an episode while in the water? Think you can get to him in time?

They are all different. For ours, Buddy, water is his safe zone. Heat and humidity are not an issue. Excitement over Daddy home, my husband travels MOn-Fri, can cause a collapse with more than a few land retrieves with Dad but never in water. I will say that he is never in water in which Mom can't get to him, but Mom is still a current certified lifeguard.

 

[Billie]

I also have a affected dog who has only had three episodes as I quickly learned what brought them on. Heat , Humidity,pressure. The pressure was causing stress which raised his anxiety level which caused him to overheat. That didn't have a test on the first episode he had and I thought it was heat stroke and just poured all the cold water I had on him and 15-20 minutes later he was OK. We went on together and got his MH so it can be done.
Clay

I can almost ditto this same post. My girl, too, got her MH . It was careful on my part because always made sure we had water in the scenario (training) or water I could dip her in when we were working. In her case, caution was the best part of valor- some dogs, I understand cant even get one retrieve or they go down.

 

[frontier]

They are all different. For ours, Buddy, water is his safe zone. Heat and humidity are not an issue. Excitement over Daddy home, my husband travels MOn-Fri, can cause a collapse with more than a few land retrieves with Dad but never in water. I will say that he is never in water in which Mom can't get to him, but Mom is still a current certified lifeguard.

You always have to be careful with water with an EIC affected dog. I know an owner that couldn't reach their EIC affected dog in time on even a shorter swim, and the dog drown during a collapse episode.

None of my EIC affected dogs from the past could continue field training and had different triggers.

 

[Bridget Bodine]

knock wood , a client of mine is well on her way to her MH title. Training and trialing are not triggers though....happy bumpers, running w the golf cart and upland hunting have triggered her.