Can Spaniels suffer from the cold

[Suz]

Hi

Was over at my dads today, he had taken him out shooting today and suddenly he came back carrying his sprocker as he had started to slow down, and then stopped and went all wobbly on his legs. Had been out about 1.5hours. He then wrapped him in his coat had to carry him 3/4 mile home. Dad was really worried, Jet looked so down and poorly, got him indoors and wrapped him in a towel and dried him off near the fire. Took a while and he seemed to pick up gradually. It seems as if his body temp had dropped really low as I felt inside him gums and they were really cold, as were his ears. it has really scared my dad. Edited to add: once he was in I gave him a couple of his dog treat biscuits which he ate and some cheese. Currently they are now warm and he seems normal again.
He did something similar a while back but not as severe just got wet and tired and at end of day refused to do anymore but was still able to walk home. He was shivering but was dried off and was fine. Whereas this time he wasn't shivering.
He weighs about 14.5kg, is this too thin for a sprocker, would bulking him up help. He is an indoor dog, not kennelled. He does have a coat that he wears between drives but doesn't wear it while shooting and brushing in case he gets caught up. Are there coats he could wear?

Any advice would be great.

[marley]

Jack Pyke do a neoprene dog vest, have a look on that well know auction site, it might help?

[Miff]

Suz, this happened to one of my retrievers a couple of years ago. It sounds like a hypoglycemic attack which is when the blood sugar levels get too low and the dog is working on empty. Vets,please correct me if I am wrong. I found the best thing to do was to have some sweet digestive biscuits on hand (in bag or pocket) and give the dogs one while waiting for a drive to finish. They probably get a couple of biscuits in the morning one in the afternoon also at lunch time. This keeps the levels normal. They need it when you think of how hard they have to work sometimes and if its wet and cold as well that is an extra drain. Drying off at the end of the day with a towel and putting a coat on if its very cold and wet helps too. I used the double towelling coats for the retrievers and now Mighty Mouse has a nice danish Design one (told about these on this forum). Hope this helps.

[Springfield Pointers]

Dogs can sometimes just "run out of juice" and will not be able to continue. Sometimes there is no sign of it coming as the dog will just keep going until it just can't anymore. I have in the past found that a sports drink like Gatorade or similar instead of water aids a quick recovery. If it happens often you need to have a look at the dogs diet/nutrition.

[winniebob]

I'm replying here Suz but it's absolutely not advice only a couple of things that have sprung to my mind. Firstly with the weight.....without seeing the dog ie size etc it would be difficult to know if he was underweight - I guess a check over from the vet this coming week where his size etc could be assessed would give you more guidance on this. Secondly could this perhaps be worth having his blood sugar checked - I have a friend whose dog does this and there is a medical problem of diabetes lying behind it. On the point he is an indoor dog and I would imagine he had got very wet and cold today then that wouldn't help especially if he was expending a lot of energy working.
Like I say I was replying only with a couple of suggestions to consider as I'm sure others will be along shortly that have either some experience of similar or Vicky?

Edited for a typo

[Liam]

I had one of my ESS a couple of years ago suffer the same symptoms after picking some duck in freezing water (not frozen, I'd never send a dog onto ice) bought him in the house towel dried him, laid him by the fire and gave him some of his dog grub and warm milk. Within an hour he was up and about and all good.

So in short I would say that yes 100% dogs can suffer from the cold

[Rascal]

Was it cold the last time this happened and how many times has it happened previously? There is a condition known as Exercise induced Collapse in dogs mainly effects Labs though but is becoming more common in Springers. As the others have said Vets for blood tests and body weight check and take it from there...

Pleased he's ok again now very worrying to watch though.

Rascal

[Suz]

Thanks for the replies, really appreciated. It wasn't as cold last time as it was today. Also last time he had done a whole day and was able to get home by himself, he just took himself of and laid down and took a bit of convincing to move. Once he was indoors he was shivering and tired, until he was dried off. Other than that never happened before, he was 2.5 years old.

[Suz]

I'm replying here Suz but it's absolutely not advice only a couple of things that have sprung to my mind. Firstly with the weight.....without seeing the dog ie size etc it would be difficult to know if he was underweight

Couple of pics so you can see what you think. Gonna pass on everything to mum and dad tomorrow.

[billatwoodside]

Good looking dog!!! No weight problem there!!