Be careful with your animals in this weather

Jinxi

In kk park today and a little yorkie ran out chasing ducks on the ice on the duck pond and froze/drowned.
I/m feeling physically sick over it. The poor owner was trying to fish him out with some help but it was too late.
Be very careful around lakes etc please

anniehoo

Ah thats just awful the poor thing and the poor owner trying to rescue it. Alot of people have died that way and i know it goes against all our instincts to save your dog when something like that happens, but dont risk your own life either. My friend went after her dog a few weeks ago on a frozen lake, the ice cracked but luckily she got back to shore and so did her dog. Coudlve ended very differently.

doctor evil

Just a shout out to dog walkers:

Please don't let your dog/s chase the birds or wildlife as they are under a lot of stress as it is. It takes energy to escape a dog that the bird can put to better use.

dollydishmop

One more thing to add, with the super sub-zero temps we're all experiencing, and the icy ground

Currently one of my JRTs is nursing what we (me + vet) can only conclude is frost-bite damage to one of her pads. Half the pad is missing and it looks like it just tore off.

So keep an eye on their pads, and watch out for any pale or pink areas developing.

An Iditarod musher in Canada whom I contacted for advice has recommended rubbing her pads with zinc ointment (closest I can get is Zinc & Castor Oil) and perhaps looking into using booties on her once the pad is healed to prevent it happening again.

Watching all my others dogs' feet like a hawk after walks now.

tk123

OMG thats heartbreaking about the poor dog it must have been awful to see it happening

amacachi

My neighbour took his sister's JRT pup for a walk the other day and it ran straight onto a pond and fell through the non-frozen part in the middle. Luckily managed to get through the ice and fetched him out. The pup was fine thankfully. My neighbour on the other hand had to walk for 10 minutes in -3 temperatures with frozen footpaths and 3 layers of wet clothes. :pac:

gossipgal08

No something I need to worry about Thank God. Cat wont leave the rads

Jinxi

It was unspeakably horrific. My dog was just sitting there shaking and whining(ten minutes later she was trying to climb a tree to chase a squirell).
I had such horrible dreams last night. But I'm sure its nothing compared to the owners.
I never thought dogs could get frost-bite:eek:. Been freaked out about bringing the dog out for a walk all day!

Zapperzy

Does anyone know just how big a threat frostbite actually is? For a 40min to an hour walk in the snow would I need to cover my dog's feet (small terrier)? I don't have any booties and won't be able to get any short notice, but I could make up some makeshift booties using old socks and material. I brush the snow off his feet after walks but is the damage already done during the walk?

lrushe

Zapperzy wrote: »

Does anyone know just how big a threat frostbite actually is? For a 40min to an hour walk in the snow would I need to cover my dog's feet (small terrier)? I don't have any booties and won't be able to get any short notice, but I could make up some makeshift booties using old socks and material. I brush the snow off his feet after walks but is the damage already done during the walk?

Put a good coating of Vaseline on your dogs feet and they should be fine for the a 40 min walk.

john t

I met 3 children all under 15yrs old today while walking my dog in the park, they had a pug, chiwawaa, miniture chiwawaa,both chiwawaa breeds were shivering in cold and no coats or doggie jumpers on them, i told them all their dogs should have sum clothing on them and was told that dogs are too small for clothes on sale.. not nice too see dogs walking in frozen park and shivering... so any dog/ pet should be kept warm and fed warm meals if outside....

lrushe

Poor little dogs, we had to make a little path way out the back just so my Chihuahua can go out for a pee, the snow is up to her chin!!!

Zapperzy

lrushe wrote: »

Put a good coating of Vaseline on your dogs feet and they should be fine for the a 40 min walk.

Thanks, will try that tommorow.

john t

Well these small dogs off lead in a park with a river and a valley wheir totally out of their eliment and i reckon with kids off school parents just want them out of the house and they take indoor dogs out in bad/ wrong weather type for these breeds..adults should make sure kids mind dogs but small non restricted dogs are allowed be walked by minors...

magentas

lrushe wrote: »

Put a good coating of Vaseline on your dogs feet and they should be fine for the a 40 min walk.

great to know this, I would never have thought of a dog getting frostbite:o
at least I'm aware of it now and will do this before long walks

OP what an awful story, so sorry to hear about their loss and in such a tragic way, must have been dreadful to witness that:(

dollydishmop

Apologies, did not mean to freak folks out regarding the frost bite.

I think in our case it was a freak combination of things that combined and caused the frost burn...wet feet, icy paths/puddles and her particular tendency to stand in one spot staring into the distance for ages at a time :rolleyes:

I'm told it is highly unlikely at these temps, the temps need to be much lower for the risk of frostbite to be higher...but my dog seems to have proved that it is possibleevenin an Irish winter, and its just something to keep an eye out for.

After it happened, I checked all her feet and noticed pink areas and spots developing on her other feet, where previously her whole pad would have been black...and I can only assume this is an early indicator of the pad surface being affected and degraded by frost burn.
A week on, and the pink spots have gone back to black now:)

The best advice I can offer is to make sure their feet are dry when you take them out, and keep them moving ...and dry their feet off when you come back indoors.

I picked up a tub of Sudocrem to rub on her feet, the zinc in it (15%) is supposed to be great for preventing stuff like this from happening again.

Vaseline as a barrier is also a great suggestion, its what we would always use it inside horse's feet to stop the snow balling up inside the hoof when on exercise.

dvet

anniehoo wrote: »

Ah thats just awful the poor thing and the poor owner trying to rescue it. Alot of people have died that way and i know it goes against all our instincts to save your dog when something like that happens, but dont risk your own life either. My friend went after her dog a few weeks ago on a frozen lake, the ice cracked but luckily she got back to shore and so did her dog. Coudlve ended very differently.

+1

Just saw a clip on sky news that police in england have found the bodies of a woman and her dog in a frozen river.... They had gone missing after the woman took her dog for a walk.

Who knows how long ago they even fell in... What a horrible death for the 2 of them!

Zapperzy

dvet wrote: »

+1

Just saw a clip on sky news that police in england have found the bodies of a woman and her dog in a frozen river.... They had gone missing after the woman took her dog for a walk.

Who knows how long ago they even fell in... What a horrible death for the 2 of them!

Thats awful. The dog must have gone in and gotten into difficulty and she must have gone in after him. I agree it would be a hard thing to just watch your dog drown and not at least try and save him by jumping in after him.

Moral of the story is don't allow your dog near lakes or rivers in this weather.

Asphyxia

That is so sad I would be devastated if that happened to my little fella

seamus

Zapperzy wrote: »

Moral of the story is don't allow your dog near lakes or rivers in this weather.

even better, just keep your dog on the lead if you're anywhere near water or ditches. Snowy fields are fine and great craic for the dog, but otherwise a lead gives you the control to keep the dog away from danger that it might not be able to see. It will also allow you to pull it to safety if it does get into bother.

return guide

Was out walking my two dogs (yorkie x and Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier) when nice woman came over and advised me to only walk them for 10 minutes because of frost bite. She mentioned that especially in dogs who have hair around their toes and ankles the snow collects in balls and makes them more prone. Better safe than sorry.

blackbox

My koi pond has frozen before, but this is the first time that I had fish die due to ice. Nine found so far - also dozens of dead frogs.

doctor evil

blackbox wrote: »

My koi pond has frozen before, but this is the first time that I had fish die due to ice. Nine found so far - also dozens of dead frogs.

That's rough, was the pond frozen all the way through?

blackbox

doctor evil wrote: »

That's rough, was the pond frozen all the way through?

No - There was about six inches of snow/ice on the surface. The pond is about a meter deep in the middle. I think it was most likely due to a build up of gases. It could have been lack of oxygen, but I don't think they need much oxygen when it's very cold. I don't know if I have any survivors, and probably won't know for sure until April or May when they become active. If there are survivors, I reckon they will be tiddlers. My biggest one was more than 400mm and more than 20 years old.

.