After a trip to a lake, a dog lost its life due to water poisoning: these are the symptoms and causes
One of the greatest pleasures of having a dog is spending time in nature, in the open air, in a meadow or also at the seaside, so that these wonderful creatures can give free rein to their boundless energy.
However, even in the most carefree moments, dangers are lurking and there are some serious health risks for our four-legged friends that are largely ignored.
A similar incident happened to Jen Walsh and her family who, unfortunately, lost their faithful companion due to an avoidable accident.
The episode took place when the Walsh family went to the lake one day for a day of fun and leisure together with their inseparable Schnauzer puppy dog named Hanz. The latter spent almost an hour in the water playing "Fetch" with a stick and bringing it back to his owner every time it was thrown into the water.
At first, the puppy was lively and energetic as usual, but after a while his behavior became very strange, he started to show signs of fatigue and started urinating uncontrollably.
The Walsh family immediately took Hanz to the veterinarian but despite the timeliness of their intervention, there was nothing they could do to save their puppy dog.
Only later did the truth emerge as to what had really happened to their puppy dog. It was confirmed that Hanz had lost his life due to water intoxication known as hyponatremia.
This is a fairly common condition among dogs and cats, which leads to unintentionally taking in or consuming excessive amounts of liquid, with a sudden drop in sodium levels.
What happens is that the cells in the dog or cat's body fill up with water and swell, including those of the brain. When this happens it is inevitable that the body will collapse due to severe swelling of the brain.
Such an eventuality is not very frequent but not so rare either, as dogs, especially, are not always aware of how much water they have to drink or are drinking.
The greatest danger is precisely for small dogs that do not have sufficient body mass to absorb liquids and expel them naturally before they reach toxic levels in their body.
This can happen for example when the puppies play in the garden with the water hose or at the seaside, or lake as what happened to Hanz.
The symptoms are usually very visible such as loss of appetite, frequent and uncontrolled urination, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, swelling, dilated pupils, and difficulty breathing.
The incident was reported by the Walsh family on social media and in a short time received about 80 thousand shares.
Their aim is to make dog owners aware of this insidious danger and to prevent fatal accidents similar to what happened to their beloved Hanz from occurring.
