Upset tummy in warm weather

[WetBandits]

Every time the temperature creeps over 20C, my dog gets the runs, sometimes vomits, goes off his food and generally seems out of sorts.

I keep him indoors when it’s hot (it’s cool in the house and he has a cooling mat to lie on if he wants to), provide plenty of water for him and offer bland foods to settle his tummy, but was just wondering if this is common?! It seems to be every time the weather warms up. He’s 4 years old, flead and wormed monthly, short-coated, very fit and has no other health issues. He didn’t eat his breakfast until 4pm today because he just didn’t fancy it, usually he digs in as soon as I put it down.

My lurcher goes off his food in hot weather, sometimes barely eating anything for 2-3 days, but apart from a loose poo on day 1 doesn't really do much else. I think the not eating may be his own self preservation, though. I don't worry too much as by the 3rd or 4th night he eats again and is back to normal. Drinks well throughout.

Our vets advised us to buy our dogs cooling coats for the next heatwave as one of ours gets like this in the heat (coats can be bought from Amazon). He said there was a noticeable difference in demeanour between the dogs who were wearing them and those who weren’t, so they really did seem to make a difference. We haven’t tried it yet as they’re still fine around 20 degrees but will do when it really heats up.

What breed is he? Are you doing as much as possible to try and keep him cool? Lots of dogs do struggle in the heat and humidity plays a big part as well.

I would be doing a combination of the following:

Early morning/evening walks only
Swimming if that's what he enjoys
Paddling pool in a shaded spot in the garden
Frozen chews/treats to help cool him down
Ice cubes in his water bowl (but only if you're sure he's not suffering from heatstroke)

I also wouldn't leave his food down all day - dogs aren't really free-feeders so if he doesn't want it (which is fine) remove it and give it back next meal time.

He’s a street dog (from a hotter country than the UK!) but he’s similar in build to a whippet.

He loves swimming so have been taking him for evening swims. Have tried a paddling pool but he hated that 😂 he does have the occasional ice cube in his water bowl which he enjoys.

I didn’t leave his food down all day as he’s raw fed so kept putting it back in the fridge and re-offering it and he eventually took it at 4pm.

No it is not common at these temperatures. Maybe when it gets a very hot but 20 degrees most healthy dogs should be ok with it. Especially if a dog from abroad. It can take dogs a while to acclimatise to increased weather though but quite extreme to be vomiting

Has it been very hot with you?

For us the temps have been lowish 20's which most young healthy dogs should be able to deal with pretty well.

Do you think they could have picked up a bug whilst swimming?

He’s been like this every time the weather gets a little warmer every year we’ve had him!

It was 21 degrees yesterday and he had runny poo in the morning and didn’t want to eat anything. No vomiting yesterday.

Last year when we had the crazy heatwave it was awful, he wasn’t himself for days!

I didn’t leave his food down all day as he’s raw fed so kept putting it back in the fridge and re-offering it and he eventually took it at 4pm.

I wouldn't keep re-offering it - if he doesn't eat it at breakfast then that's it until dinner.

Could he be getting hot at night? I have a fan in the kitchen for my dog at night, before he had it, if he got hot there would be a mess in the kitchen in the morning.