# Did your golden become more heat sensitive with age?



## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

Brooks turned 10 years old this June. He had his senior exam and no health problems were discovered (he has been hypothyroid for about 5 years, takes soloxine).

We have noticed he tolerates the heat less well this year. We have air conditioning. Sometimes, when it is hot and humid, after a walk, when we come back home he pants very hard for a while. Sometimes I turn on a fan and blow it on him and that seems to cool him down faster.

It seems like anything above 75 is too hot for him.


----------



## SwimDog (Sep 28, 2014)

Yes. I don't have air and my windows (vertical narrow) make it really difficult to get a window unit. On hot days we go into work early and stay there until the evening or I'll leave my senior there in the air until things cool down. He also doesn't tolerate the cold as well and we've used winter jackets the past couple years when outdoors in the winter and sometimes even at night in the house.


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Hey, I was curious about this and did some research. Ever since a forum member lost a dog to heatstroke this summer I have been trying to educate myself more about the subject. Here is what I found:

As with humans, older dogs, overweight dogs and/or dogs with heart or lung ailments are much more likely to suffer from heatstroke than younger dogs that are more in shape.

How to Keep Senior Dogs Cool in Summer

Basically at 10 he is a senior citizen and as a result of putting on a little more fat and declining physical fitness levels he will be less tolerant of heat stress, just like people. Try to adjust your walking time to earlier in the morning and take humidity levels in to account. Panting is not nearly as efficient as sweating to cool your body so in addition to wearing a fur coat on his walks, he is just not as well equipped as you are to cool off on warm weather walks.


----------



## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

We try to get out early, but some days I get tied up and we dont get going until about 10 am so I make sure we walk in shade and as soon as he wants to turn around and go bac, we do.

We have taken him up to the mountains several times this summer (elevation 5000 ft , low humidity, and daytime hihs only in the mid 70's) and we all like that a lot better!


----------



## thomas&betts (May 13, 2014)

SwimDog said:


> Yes. I don't have air and my windows (vertical narrow) make it really difficult to get a window unit. On hot days we go into work early and stay there until the evening or I'll leave my senior there in the air until things cool down. He also doesn't tolerate the cold as well and we've used winter jackets the past couple years when outdoors in the winter and sometimes even at night in the house.


Don't want to get off topic, but for those of you with* bedroom Goldens* and no air in hot and/or humid locations AND vertical narrow windows, try the LG 8000btu (or higher) stand up unit. *YOU WON'T REGRET IT!* Bought it when Gracie came home at 8 weeks age, and regret not having for the last year's of my Bo's life. Your puppy OR senior Golden will love it.








*Opening needed is ~8" x 5" cracked window(vertical or horizontal opening).*


----------



## GoldinPNW (Jun 23, 2015)

I recently lost my 10 yr 10 month Golden to an unknown illness and I keep saying that to my husband, I bet we made it worse walking him in the summer. The issue was he loved to walk, he never seemed overheated and we never took him out on really hot days, stayed in the shade etc.. but like you say I think over 70 actually could strain their bodies, doing it again no way I'd let him be walked when he seems to be panting I just think it is too stressful on them looking back. 

Riley (10 yr old) never seemed effected by heat but my 6 yr old Benjamin refuses to walk if it is over 70 and really pants, so now that I am an over cautious owner, I advise not doing it if you are seeing any sign of stress. Turning back having to take unplanned breaks, heavy panting etc..


*****
After I wrote this I just saw the post "heavy panting in 9 yr old". My Riley died in his sleep the vet did an X-Ray but not an ultrasound and we were told that he was fine. One very possible explanation is we missed a mass in the spleen. If you can afford to do an ultrasound you may want to be extra cautious if this is new behavior.


----------

