A scary night....

Pigma Micron pen, graphite and markers in A5 sketchbook
Click on image to enlarge

After the unbearably hot day yesterday, we did end up getting a storm that hung around for nearly 3½ hours. Luckily for us, we didn't get the worst of it but poor Cody panted with anxiety for all that time. He seemed to settle after the storm moved on but, about an hour later, he let me know he wanted outside. However his behaviour was anything but normal.

He raced outside, pushed his face into the wet grass, raced back inside, and began frantically trying to rub himself all over the tiled floor. I picked him up and noticed his face was red and very hot under his furry coat and his nose felt dry and very hot too. He was extremely restless and panting again. The heat radiating from his body had me quite concerned so I took his temperature and it was 104.6°F! I immediately googled it and was quite frightened to read that this temperature meant a high fever and was quite dangerous in dogs. The normal temperature range for dogs is between 101°F to 102°F. All Cody's symptoms pointed towards heat-stroke, which made sense, given the terrible heat of the day and his continual panting for 3½ hours. He had become severely dehydrated though there had been no obvious sign until he started behaving erratically.

Cody's body was a mass of angry red splotches which were also very hot to the touch. He refused to drink water and even turned his nose up at ice-cubes. I was worried sick! It was midnight so I wet a towel and wrapped him in it making sure that I was continually moving the towel around so that his arm-pits and face were being soothed with fresh coolness. After 15 minutes, his temperature had dropped to 103.3°F which was a good sign so we (Brad & I) repeated the wet towel treatment for a while and eventually managed to get it down to 101°F. I was so relieved but I can tell you that I had very little sleep after that ordeal. I kept waking every half hour to make sure he wasn't over-heating again.

Now that I know Cody can be effected in this way, I will be keeping a very close eye on him during our hot, humid summer days, particularly when they are followed by a storm. He is doing much better today though a little worn out from the ordeal.

I was very grateful to be able to 'google' help which was invaluable to me in this particular instance.

On a positive note, Michelle came over today and we did a little more re-organising. My new studio area is pretty much set up apart from a couple of cosmetic details. I hope to share some pics with you tomorrow.

Love, light and peace