well one of the most popular beaches in
Central Florida is now open to the dogs
and with man's best friend roaming the
sands at now at Cocoa Beach pet owners
should be aware of a dog's time
spent actually in the water yes and a
couple weeks ago unfortunately a
University of South Florida student says
his dog died after his trip to a Florida
beach and the cause something we don't
hear a lot about salt water poisoning to
get a better understanding of this we
brought in dr. Tamera downs from Orange
County Animal Services thank you so much
for being with us this morning and I
have to admit I hadn't heard of this
until people started talking about it on
social media what exactly is saltwater
poisoning yeah so saltwater poisoning
are saltwater toxicity whichever way you
want to call it it's basically what it
sounds like so a dog is in the you know
playing in the water maybe you brought
tennis balls because you've got a very
you know ambitious guy who wants to play
fetch and through all of that they're
ingesting a lot of saltwater whether
they want to or because they're thirsty
or just because that balls in their
mouth and it's soaked and then that will
cause an over ingestion of salt and so
the body should only have so much sodium
in it and after a period of time it can
cause symptoms so it'll pull water out
of their body cause dehydration it can
also cause diarrhea that can get as bad
as bloody diarrhea and then of course if
we ignore it for too long and don't
attend to them in time
it can cause seizures and even death oh
well so when we talk about kind of
things that we have to look for look
looks to see if if our dog is suffering
from that what are some of the symptoms
so the first one I would look for
classically would be diarrhea and that
would be something that you would see
shortly after going to the beach maybe
we didn't have enough water we didn't
think about it because we were having
too much fun at the beach and we didn't
think about offering enough water at
that time a dog that is really thirsty
might be another symptom too and
obviously if they they might feel often
so they might just be a little lethargic
so not acting quite as playful as they
did when they were out there under the
Sun are they more prone to this type of
poisoning than than we are I think it's
more an awareness issue difference
because we all know that we need to
bring plenty of water to the beach and
we're constantly pushing that idea that
we need to take care of ourselves and
we're at the beach and I think it's more
just that we
we don't think about it as much for our
dogs because they're super resilient
they're so happy we're just not thinking
about it because we're having too much
fun so I think it's just more more
equally susceptible but we're just not
as aware but now when we were talking
during the break you mentioned that
that's an issue but also you taking your
dog to the beach you see a lot of sand
impaction so that's something else
people should be worried about yeah so
and and oftentimes it's not something
you're gonna see them eating sand I'm
sure a lot of owners if they were to see
their dogs trying to shovel backs and
they'd stop them but it's often
incidental so think about those tennis
balls once again they're soaked in sand
they're putting them in their mouths
accidentally ingesting it and then it
can become a very serious very deadly
issue that needs surgery and I have
participated in those surgeries before
and they take a long time and they're
very stressful on the dog so it's it's a
very high-risk it's a situation that
escalates are faster than the salt water
does and do certain are certain breeds
more susceptible to salt water or even
sand impaction um I don't I don't
believe so I think it's more just the
personality of your dog so once again if
they're ready to be in the you know in
the water and they just want to stay in
the water and they don't wanna get out
of the water they're probably gonna be a
little more susceptible than your dog
who just wants to sit under the umbrella
with you and just wants to hog your
water the whole day so mm-hmm so the
main things that we need to remember
just to limit the time and make sure
they have a lot of water yes yeah so
bring some extra water for your pets
bring some extra water for your dogs and
do take breaks as well I'm be aware that
even though they're having fun the the
dogs aren't necessarily going to feel
the side-effects until later so we have
to be their advocates to intervene
before that happens and once you notice
these symptoms in your dog you need to
act quickly of course so the first thing
you should do is find a veterinarian and
go seek help because they're they're
gonna be the ones who are gonna tell you
at what stage they're at how serious it
is and if this is something where they
can just help you with rehydrating the
animal and sending it back home or if
it's more serious than we need to
consider more serious options like
hospitalization all right don't dance
thank you so much so the doggies don't
need to be at the beach all day will
happen I don't know if it's not relevant
to you certainly come out to Orange
County services and pick yourself up a
furry beach friend we do take in about
sixty
animals a day and we're running is
special for teachers they get the dogs
were free I'm starting in the month of
August and everyone else is 15 bucks and
I've been watching them all day when I
work there and they are super super
sweet those teachers they need some
support this time yes thank you no
problem