darren m Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 my mates cocker spaniel clapsed the other day when out for a normal walk . tried to get up but staggered about ( almost like grass staggers in cattle ). Any defo not himself so straight to the vet . straight away the vet said yep this dogs not right , but could,nt put his finger on what was wrong , went through the usual possible poisioning etc low sugar levels etc . Anyhow the dog was kept in overnight and settled down and is fine again now. The only unusual thing they could find in the blood tests was a really high amount of potasium , but even the vet could,nt explain this. Anyway got me thinking back to the incident and although it was just a normal walk , warm day , bit of training etc , the cocker had been munching on a lot of grass. could that cause anything like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bi9johnny Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 i know this sounds stupid but no one had given it a banana had they....... i have heard of someone who's lab loved bananas and they are high in potassium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulpicide Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Sounds a bit like heat exhaustion if the dogs got a bit of coat on its incredible how quick an active dog can heat up it happened to my Lab (black dogs heat up quicker). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Happened on our beaters day to the keepers cocker, overnight vet stay then out and see if it happens again. A mates springer used to do it had every test going and no idea of the cause. He had put her on better food was all he could come up with, put her back on wag and its not happened since Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee-kinsman Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 There is ALOT of potassium in fertiliser sprays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sian Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Sometimes it is due to kidney function or lack of it - potassium levels are disrupted because toxins cannot be got rid of as quickly. Hopefully nothing as serious as that but can cause all sorts of problems if it continues - affecting the heart as well. I am surprised the vet did not want him to return for a re-test to see if levels sort themselves out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedd-wyn Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 A spaniel on our shoot suddenly collapsed last season, turned out he had an epileptic fit. Nobody thought anything of it at the time because he wasn't convoluting like you would expect form an epileptic fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickB65 Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 If the dog had been eating a lot of grass or field vegetation and the area had been sprayed recently then this could be the reason. A lot of sprays have a high potassium content and that along with the heat could cause the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sian Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 Sometimes it is due to kidney function or lack of it - potassium levels are disrupted because toxins cannot be got rid of as quickly. Hopefully nothing as serious as that but can cause all sorts of problems if it continues - affecting the heart as well. I am surprised the vet did not want him to return for a re-test to see if levels sort themselves out. It does not necessarily have to be something introduced into their system i.e. eating grass from a recently sprayed field. There are diseases which they can have which affect the potassium levels in their bodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bi9johnny Posted June 7, 2013 Report Share Posted June 7, 2013 There is ALOT of potassium in fertiliser sprays now that seems very logical Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren m Posted June 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 Sometimes it is due to kidney function or lack of it - potassium levels are disrupted because toxins cannot be got rid of as quickly. Hopefully nothing as serious as that but can cause all sorts of problems if it continues - affecting the heart as well. I am surprised the vet did not want him to return for a re-test to see if levels sort themselves out. he was put on a heart monitor , but was told that was ok 24 hr later a second bloods was taken , it was normal even the potasium could well be ferts it does border rape , peas, and barley at the moment i think we'll stay clear of the area for a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sian Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 he was put on a heart monitor , but was told that was ok 24 hr later a second bloods was taken , it was normal even the potasium could well be ferts it does border rape , peas, and barley at the moment i think we'll stay clear of the area for a bit Good better a one off incident than an underlying medical issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 8, 2013 Report Share Posted June 8, 2013 Sounds a bit like heat exhaustion if the dogs got a bit of coat on its incredible how quick an active dog can heat up it happened to my Lab (black dogs heat up quicker). 2 of my spaniels did exactly the same thing......it was very worrying....went thro all of the tests.....heat exhaustion.....so they got clipped out to a number one all over much earlier in the spring........never happened after that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbird Posted June 13, 2013 Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 There is ALOT of potassium in fertiliser sprays Maybe the field had not long since had fertiliser on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lister1 Posted June 13, 2013 Report Share Posted June 13, 2013 My dogs have long thick coats, so we got brush fron the game fair that shreds all the old hair out and if you keep going it really thins the top coat. Has certainly helped. One if my dogs I use solely for wildfowling and she keeps a really thick coat except for this time of year because I thin it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fern01 Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Did your dog have a drink out of a water trough for cattle / sheep? These sometimes have all sorts of stuff added which can even be fatal to dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Actionpigeons Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Sounds a bit like heat exhaustion if the dogs got a bit of coat on its incredible how quick an active dog can heat up it happened to my Lab (black dogs heat up quicker). As above, Sounds a bit like heat exhaustion short walks, if possible let them have a swim. quick walk up the lane first thing in the morning and last thing at night is as much as all mine get in the warm weather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delburt0 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 (edited) Has he started mooooo ing Edited June 21, 2013 by delburt0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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