- Global climate and weather patterns (e.g., heat waves)
- High body weight or obesity
- Breed predisposition (e.g., brachycephalic breeds)
- Lack of fitness
- Lack of acclimation to heat stress
- Hot and humid environments
- Heatstroke in dogs is described by core temperatures above 41oC, with central nervous system dysfunction.
- Heat stress results in several alterations in the dog’s physiology having severe consequences in its cardiac output, blood flow distribution and metabolic processes.
- Hyperthermia and dehydration happen and result in hypotension and consequently shock.
- Shock can lead to major organs ischemia and hypoxia of tissues. Intestinal ischemia and hypoxia lead to hyperpermeability.
- Hyperthermia causes inflammatory and hemostatic processes that end up causing systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), which can progress to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).
- Combination of heat stress, severe hypovolemic, distributive shock, metabolic acidosis, neurologic dysfunction, endotoxemia and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) result in serious complications such as rhabdomyolysis, neurological damage and dysfunction, acute kidney injury (AKI), cardiac arrhythmia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), hepatobiliary damage, sepsis, acute pancreatitis and DIC.
