Penn Vet Student's Quick Thinking Saves Her Dog from Heatstroke
Vet Student's Quick Action Saves Dog from Deadly Heatstroke Mid-Fetch
One day last fall, Penn Vet student Alison Kowalski and her best canine friend, Kona, were enjoying a great game of fetch in a field near where they live. Kona was having so much fun, she didn't want to stop. And since it was a temperate day, only about 65 degrees, Kowalski let the play go on.
But on the walk home, Kowalski saw that something was definitely not right with her Lab mix girl. "She had a couple of weird steps where she seemed unsteady, and then just flopped down on the ground. At that point, I knew something was weird," says Kowalski, a Class of 2026 student at Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine.
Heatstroke struck her as the most likely culprit because they had been exercising. Quickly, she got Kona into her bathtub and turned on the shower's cold water, her Penn Vet first aid training kicking into high alert. As the cold water continued to shower down on her, Kona began lapping up some of the water.
Kowalski took Kona's temperature. "It was 107, which is really scary for a dog," she says.
Kowalski called a friend, and they drove Kona to Ryan Hospital. By the time they arrived, Kona's temperature was down to about 103. Her physical exam and blood work were both normal. Kowalski credits the 15 minutes Kona spent cooling off in the shower before they got her to the hospital.
"I really do feel the water made a big difference," Kowalski says.
Read more at Penn Vet.
