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Near Death Experience. Dog Aspirated a ton of water. Be careful

8.1K views 27 replies 18 participants last post by  Sundown49 aka Otey B  
#1 ·
Just wanted see if anybody has experienced this before because I have not.

My Male Black Lab Blake almost died yesterday morning due to inhaling too much water during our duck/goose hunt. The water level is about thigh deep (not deep enough for the dog to swim but too deep for him to really be able to run) and right at his neck level. He had retrieved several ducks and then the goose flight started. Had two real long goose retrieve (200 yards by the time he caught them) and when he got back with it I could tell he was worn out from fighting the geese and trying to keep his head above of water. Well I noticed something just wasn't right with him. He started acting dizzy and drooling real bad and being extremely lethargic. My first thought was he was getting hypothermia from being in the water for too long making those retrieves back to back so I immediately rushed out of there and got him to the vet. When I got him to the truck he threw up a bunch of water and goose feathers. By the time I got him in the truck and headed to the vet he was wheezing and trembling real bad and his eye were bloodshot and starting to roll back. I am in panic mode at this point. He throws up a bunch of water one more time in the truck and finally we get to the vet. Body Temperature was ok so they ruled out Hypothermia and decided to x ray him because he may have flipped his stomach. Fortunately, that was not the case and the x rays showed lots and lots of water in his lungs and stomach.

Anyway, dog is doing fine now and we got him on some antibiotics to keep pneumonia from setting in but I was a wreck after that little episode. Never had this happen before so I really didn't know how to handle it. I guess it's just a little reminder that things can go from real good to real bad quick.

Anybody ever had this before?
 
#4 ·
Yeah I hadn't ever had an issue with it but I can see how it happened. Dog was worn slam out from trudging through the water for extended amount of time. Water level was right at neck/bottom of chin level, goose was very large, heavy and fighting back. So as he is panting and has his mouth open with the goose in it holding his head down, he takes in a lot of water.

Dog needs to learn to breath in his nose and out his mouth when carrying birds.
 
#12 ·
Great looking pup,

You obviously did the right thing, stopped the hunt , got your pup the help he needed at the time, and now you'll have many more GREAT hunts and days with your pup.
 
#14 ·
this is the same scenario where the guy drank so much eggnog in a short period time he almost drowned due to aspiration. glad your dog is OK.
 
#16 ·
I don't know if its the same thing or not, but I work in a prison and we have a big mental until. We have to limit water intake on some guys because they will drink water until they become drunk. Yes drunk of to much water intake. I had never seen it before here, its one of the craziest things I have ever seen. The doc here call it water intox. Glad the pups alright, he is a good look guy.
 
#17 ·
I don't know if its the same thing or not, but I work in a prison and we have a big mental until. We have to limit water intake on some guys because they will drink water until they become drunk. Yes drunk of to much water intake. I had never seen it before here, its one of the craziest things I have ever seen. The doc here call it water intox. Glad the pups alright, he is a good look guy.
Water intoxication has also occurred with dogs, typically in dogs that are playing/retrieving in the water and that swallow a lot of water in the process. The dog doesn't need to aspirate water into the lungs for water intoxication to occur. The large amount of water swallowed by the dog in a short time overwhelms the kidneys' ability to remove the excess. Excess water dilutes the blood, and some of the excess water in the blood moves into the body's cells by osmosis, causing the cells to swell and disrupting processes within them. Based on what I read, the effects of water intoxication are primarily related to uptake of excess water by cells in the nervous system, especially brain cells.

Sometime within the past year or two some accounts of water intoxication in dogs circulated around the internet. The symptoms of water intoxication sound like those your dog exhibited: http://valleyvet.net/pet-information/summer-safety/dehydration-vs-water-toxicity/

Did your vet do any bloodwork? With water intoxication there'd typically be reduced levels of electrolytes like sodium in the blood. Another name for the condition is hyponatermia, which refers to the low sodium level in the blood.

Very scary indeed. Glad you were able to take quick action and that your dog is recovering!
 
#20 ·
My partner has swallowed too much water twice. The first time it was salt water and I assumed that if I kept an eye on him near the coast we could prevent it from happening again. But... The next time was in fresh water. The first symptom was pure water from his bowels, followed by hours lethargy. He was fine both times but I keep a much closer eye on him and if I suspect he is swallowing to much (as evidenced by the sounds he makes returning with a bird) I park him.
 
#21 ·
Glad your dog is alright. Will you be hunting that area again? If you think it was the water depth, as you described it, I would be a bit uneasy about hunting him there. I wonder is such another experiece like that could cause a dog to get a fear of water. Anyone ever heard of that? Not trying to be sarcastic either. Don't have much duck hunting experience and would hate to put my dog through something like that.
 
#22 ·
That's a good question. I think the water level had something to do with it but not a whole lot. Some dogs swallow more water than others. This dog is one that does just that. I think it had more to do with the fact that he is young, his first season and handling geese takes time to perfect. He retrieved several ducks with no issues but you could see he was struggling with the geese. Some of this was my fault for getting him in that situation. I should have not let him go after that second one without taking a break and calming down. Two back to back 200 yard retrieves on fighting geese in water like that is tough. You could tell by the way he was fighting it the second one was what did him in.

I can promise you this, I will continue to hunt this dog because he has more desire and drive than any other dog I have seen (even though he was pretty much drowning, he kept pushing on) BUT I will be wayyyy more cautious and pay more attention to the dog and how he is handling the situation at hand. Good thing for him is, our goose season goes out this week so he won't have to worry about them again until next year.
 
#23 ·
He appears to have bounced back just fine. He caught this squirrel yesterday afternoon when we went on our daily run. Been chasing them things since he was a pup and he finally caught one. He carried that thing around for the next hour like he was the man. Dogs are hilarious.

 
#24 ·
I have an 18 month old black lab and this is one of my worst nightmares.

How do you tell if a dog has ingested water into his lungs vs. just drinking too much water? 2 weeks ago we went hunting and my dog drank so much water she vomited a couple days later. After an anti-nausea injection and anti-nausea pills she seems to be ok.

Does it take an xray to tell if the water is in the lungs or can a vet tell by just listening with a stethoscope?

And does it just come out of the lungs naturally over time?

Parker
 
#25 · (Edited)
X ray is a 100 percent best way to tell but not always necessary the best I can tell you is to just watch them, being bloated and seeing any of the symptoms described earlier is definitely something to be concerned about. Wheezing means water in the lungs and yes they can tell by listening to them breath if there is a lot in the lungs. It came out naturally with my dog. He threw up a couple of times. The vet put him on an antibiotic to prevent pneumonia from setting in.

I don't feed before hunts so he has an empty stomach but the vet said when this happens they are at an extreme risk of stomach flip because they become so bloated so fast. Just be careful and pay close attention.

Vet said if I had not got him to the truck and brought him in he would have probably gone into shock. His gums didn't turn blue but were not their normal color.
 
#28 ·
my Maxx dog would fill up with water when retrieving geese. He would make a retrieve and look like he was pregnant. Then he would throw up and go right back after his next retrieve. Finally just wouldn't let him retrieve a goose in water. good looking dog Cody.