Personally, I think the whole Global Warming/Climate Change thing is a bunch of hype and hooey perpetuated by a narcissistic, hypocritical politician.
With that said, it's hot here in my part of Western Washington. 100F right now. Now, I know it's probably hotter where folks such as Buck are, but at least it's a dry heat in his neck of the woods. And I don't say that tongue in cheek. I've been in Yuma, AZ when it's 115F, and it was more tolerable than the weather we've been having the last two days.
We had a bit of a scare with one of the horses last night. When I went to get DN3's mare, Bailey, to bring her up for the farrier, I immediately noted that she hadn't touched her hay, and was standing listlessly in her shelter. Bailey is normally a voracious eater, wasting no time devouring her flakes of hay. In the barn, we noted that her breathing was fast and shallow. Taking her temperature, it came out at 103F. Normal temperature for our equine friends is 99.8F to 101.3F.
Betting that it was the heat that was getting to her, we gave her some electrolyte paste, and 2 grams of bute. This was followed by hosing her down for about 15 minutes with cold water. By this time she had noticeably perked up. DN3 let her graze on some grass for awhile, then hosed her off for another 15 minutes.
By 8:30 her respiratory rate had returned to normal, and her appetite had returned. Returning to her paddock, she drank some water, then attacked her hay as though she hadn't been fed in weeks. By this morning, her temperature had returned to normal. As a precaution, DN3 has been hosing her down periodically with cold water.
With temperatures expected to remain near 100F most of the week, this will continue for a few days, just to be safe.
4 comments:
Glad to hear she is doing better! Hope things cool down for you and the animals.
You're a LOT hotter up there than we are down this way, strangely enough. And with all the rain we've had during the past ten days our humidity is up, as well. So our high 80s - low 90s feel much worse than normal.
I'm glad Bailey recovered... and I hope your heat breaks soon!!
Ann & Buck: Thank you! We're glad she is better, and even thought it's hotter today, it seems to have just been a passing thing.
Doesn't look like our heat is going to break for another day or so.
Glad everything turned out okay! And since I'm late to the party, has it cooled off yet?
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