No More Ice Cubes :(
For 3 years, Fozzie's favorite snack of choice has been ice cubes. He stands by the freezer for his after eating snack. For the past few weeks, we've rarely been giving them to him as he cracks into them, eats a piece and then pukes. He's smart enough to then leave the rest of it behind. It's so strange. So I've been waiting longer after his meals to give them to him. I was brave and gave him one yesterday. He took it to his "place", crunched in, and then sat there licking his lips. I sat with him while he stared at the remainder and got up. He didn't get sick this time. There's absolutely no difference in water type or size of the cubes than before. This just seems so strange to all of a sudden be happening. Any thoughts? |
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| My parents' old sheepie Maggie used to LOVE LOVE LOVE ice cubes. Favorite thing in the world. And she could tolerate them for a long time too (like years), until all of a sudden she'd throw them up. It never stopped. We just had to stop giving them to her. I don't know why it happened, though. |
| Stacy...I am cross posting with permission..
This is something all dog owners should know. Even with the smallest breeds need to remember never to give dogs iced or very cold water. This was posted on another board with permission to cross post in the hopes of saving another dog from having to go through this awful experience. After showing we went back to our site/set up and got the dogs in their crates to cool off. After being back about 30min. I noticed **** was low on water. I took a hand full of ice from my cooler and put it in his bucket with more water. (Note: I use a small Playmate cooler at ringside with ice water in it also. Have for over 15 years now) I use small 2qt. buckets in my crates. He had maybe ½ a bucket when I placed him in his crate after coming back from the ring. We all then started to get all the dogs Ex'ed and food ready for them. I have an 18 foot trailer with AC and set up, as a rolling kennel it fits 7- 42" crates, and MY express Van holds 1- 48", 1- 42", and 3- 36", crates. All the crates in the van have 24 " box fans over them. I had **** in his 48' crate in the van because that is the place he loves to be. He loves to be able to see everyone and everything. After checking the dogs and thinking they were cooled off enough we fed everyone. As we were walking around removing the feed dishes from the crates, one of my friends stated that **** seamed like he was choking. I went over and checked on him and he was dry heaving and was drooling. I got him out of the crate to check him over and noticed he had not eaten. He was in some distress. I checked him over from head to toe and did not notice anything. I walked him around for about a min. when I noticed that he was starting to Bloat. I did everything I was taught to do in this case. I was not able to get him to burp, and we gave him Phasezime. We jumped on the golf cart to take him down to the Show vet to find out that he did not have a bloat kit, He referred us to the clinic that was to be on call, but we found out that the clinic was closed. After finding another clinic that was open we rushed **** to that one. We called ahead and let them know that we were on our way. They were set up and waiting for us and they got **** stabilized very quickly. After **** was stable and out of distress we transported **** to AVREC where he went into surgery to make sure no damage was done to any of his vital organs. I am very happy to say that **** is doing great, there was no damage to any vital organs, and he still loves his food. In surgery the doctor found that ***** stomach was in its normal anatomic position. The Doctor and I went over the events of what happened up to the point of **** Bloating. When I told him about the ice water he asked why I gave him ice water, and have I always done this. I told him my history behind this practice and his reply was "I have been very lucky for the past 15 years." The ice water I gave **** caused violent Muscle spasm in his stomach which caused the bloating. Even though I figured his temp was down enough to feed, and give him this ice water his internal temp was still high. Dr. Vogf stated that giving dog's ice to chew or ice water is a big NO, NO; there should be no reason for them to have ice/ice water. Normal water (room Temp.), or cooling with cold towels on the inter thigh, is the best way to help cool a dog. How Dr. Vogf explained it to me was like this: If you, as a person fall into a frozen lake what happens to our muscles? Think about that, then compare that to your dog's stomach. |
Thank you so much for posting this...I had no idea!!!  Thank god your pup came out of this awful experience ok!!! 
Maybe this should be a health section sticky, Ron?  |
| That's been making the rounds on the internet for years. The information isn't exactly true. Eating cubes or drinking ice water too fast can potentially lead to bloat but it's the air intake and the stomach filling with gas that's the problem. Sometimes when the water's really cold, they want to gulp it down really fast. Bloat is not caused just by muscle tension. Honestly, I don't know if tensing muscles make a difference at all but, in my untrained mind, it would seem like muscles tensing would help keep the stomach in place rather than encouraging it to flip (that part is just my own blathering thought, though).
Quote: Bloat is a condition in a dog or cat when they eat too much or too fast, and suck in air with the food or water, allowing the stomach to fill with gas. Most often, dogs will eat their meal very fast and then run or play, sucking in air as they bounce around, filling their stomach. Some dogs will bloat by eating too much too fast. Regardless, the stomach fills with gas and is at risk for flipping, causing a GDV (Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus), which is an emergency condition and required immediate surgery. Dogs with bloat or a GDV can very quickly go into shock and if stretched too far can potentially slough part of their stomach, which is life threatening. |
| ^^^^^
Thanks...As I said I saw this on another site and I thought it was important enough to cross post.. It made sense to me.. ~~~~~~ But. I have always given my dogs ice cubes, and have never had a problem. But it is something to think about and be aware of a possible problem.... |
sheepieshake wrote: ^^^^^
Thanks...As I said I saw this on another site and I thought it was important enough to cross post.. It made sense to me.. ~~~~~~ But. I have always given my dogs ice cubes, and have never had a problem. But it is something to think about and be aware of a possible problem.... Ah...I missed the cross post bit...I thought this was one of your dogs! The muscle spasm thing could explain the puking though...  |
Oh my! This post freaked me out. No more ice cubes for Fozzie  Now he'll just get fat on expensive wheat-free dog treats. |
ravenmoonart wrote: sheepieshake wrote: ^^^^^ Thanks...As I said I saw this on another site and I thought it was important enough to cross post.. It made sense to me.. ~~~~~~ But. I have always given my dogs ice cubes, and have never had a problem. But it is something to think about and be aware of a possible problem.... Ah...I missed the cross post bit...I thought this was one of your dogs! The muscle spasm thing could explain the puking though... Yeah, I think so, too. My vet had mentioned that the cold is just a shock to their tummies and it causes the stomach to spasm and make them puke. Clyde ate them for years before he had a puking problem, too. I would not worry about ice cubes specifically making a dog bloat. I think most of these internet stories get embellished and inflated to scare people and then a lot of misinformation winds up being exchanged. |
| I have never given Archie Ice cubes not because I am mean or because of any info from any other places, but simply because he has never kept down cold rather than room temperature water, we fill bottles of water up and let them stand before putting in his bowl, if I fill his bowl straight from the tap, yup he brings it up. The really weird thing is he'll drink water from an icy river just fine!
I wonder if it is a temperature differential thing? ie if he is warm - hot the cold water is a shock, if he is outside in the winter he is already breathing in quite cold air and also reducing his temperature by standing in the river, then the cold water isn't such a difference to his system? Either way whatever the actual science behind it is, we let the water warm up to room temperature before giving him it, it works. |
| All I know is I have had 3 OES boys who could eat ice cubes when they were younger, and barfed up everything if I gave it to them in later years. Nigel is the youngest one to start this. He could eat them as a pup...but no more. I am just leaving ice out of their diets from now on. |
| My dogs were always able to eat ice cubes. A favorite treat of theirs. I have 1 boy, 4 years old, that has never been able to eat them. Give him one ice cube, even 4 hours after dinner, & up comes his dinner! So no ice cubes here anymore either. Especially after reading the vet notices about ice cubes & ice water (especially when it is hot outside). I'll save them for crushing when they are sick & not drinking. |
| Funnily enough I have 2 water bowls actually in the house. Big one in the kitchen and then in the front room a small one up the corner (I used to shut yorkie in there when Summer was crated) the small one gets washed in the morning and topped up during the day with water that is standing in the front room. They both prefer the room temperature water to the kitchen one.I am always moaning about filling it up, perhaps they have more sense than I thought.. |
| This is all very interesting. I think I'll start giving them warmer water in the bowls as well. The ice cube puking definitely started just this summer when it got really hot.
Foz has learned really quickly to stop begging at the freezer. Instead he looks up at the counter for treats. I've also cut up some red peppers for him which he loves as well. My healthy boy  He's never really known any different until recently with getting more treats. |
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