Dogs Don’t Die Just in Hot Cars—Exertional Heat-Related Illness (Heatstroke) Is a Greater Threat to UK Dogs

Hall, Emily J.; Carter, Anne J.; O’Neill, Dan G.

Abstract

Heat-related illness will affect increasing numbers of dogs as global temperatures rise unless e↵ective mitigation strategies are implemented. This study aimed to identify the key triggers of heat-related illness in dogs and investigate canine risk factors for the most common triggers in UK dogs. Using the VetCompassTM programme, de-identified electronic patient records of 905,543 dogs under primary veterinary care in 2016 were reviewed to identify 1259 heat-related illness events from 1222 dogs. Exertional heat-related illness was the predominant trigger (74.2% of events), followed by environmental (12.9%) and vehicular confinement (5.2%). Canine and human risk factors appear similar; young male dogs had greater odds of exertional heat-related illness, older dogs and dogs with respiratory compromise had the greatest odds of environmental heat-related illness. Brachycephalic dogs had greater odds of all three types of heat-related illness compared with mesocephalic dogs. The odds of death following vehicular heat-related illness (OR 1.47, p = 0.492) was similar to that of exertional heat-related illness. In the UK, exertional heat-related illness affects more dogs, and kills more dogs, than confinement in a hot vehicle. Campaigns to raise public awareness about heat-related illness in dogs need to highlight that dogs don’t die just in hot cars.

Citation

Hall, E. J., Carter, A. J., & O’Neill, D. G. (2020). Dogs Don’t Die Just in Hot Cars—Exertional Heat-Related Illness (Heatstroke) Is a Greater Threat to UK Dogs. Animals, 10(8), 1324. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081324

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 28, 2020
• Publication Date: Jul 31, 2020
• Deposit Date: Aug 10, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 20, 2020
• Journal: Animals
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 1324
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081324
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1376433
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081324
• Related Public URLs: https://researchonline.rvc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12745/
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Dataset available at: https://researchonline.rvc.ac.uk/id/eprint/12745/