Hunting dog hypoglycemia

Does any of you out there have any experience with this or knowledge of this? My just about 8 year old female black lab had a seizure at the end of the day after pheasant hunting at a game farm. I blame myself for this as I kind of pushed her with the snow being 8"to 12" and her paws were getting pretty beat up a hour into it and we hunted about 3.5 hours. She is in excellent shape (48 lbs) and sees over 250 birds a year. She has quite a bit of drive and I could tell she was getting tired, but figured she could make one last pass. This has never happened to me before and she has hunted extremely hard all day, plenty of days. I read to give them honey or Karo syrup when seeing some slowing down, but wondering how to do this in the field. She wont really eat a biscuit in the field, but will eat a gunny sack of them at home. Does this help? Any replies would be appreciated!!

Glad you got it under control.

As for a update on Zoie, we ended up hunting the following weekend and she did just fine, feet were beat up, but fine. I drizzled honey over her food in the morning, and brought a bag of biscuits that I ran a line of honey on a couple every 20-30 minutes during the hunt. We ended up hunting for about 3 hours, and quit due to 3 of the feet bleeding from the ice. We got hunts booked the next 2 weekends, so hopefully they continue to go well. Thanks for asking!!

Any up date on your dog? Any seizures since the firstone.

Had a scary event this year myself. Physical strain, and trauma(got butt kicked by bear)caused low blood sugar, and a seizure. Vet friend suggested to give a honey bun in the morning before hunt. Then to carry some karo syrup. I put it in big hole syringe in my vest. Was trying to think of a better way so everyone could carry something easily just in case. The honey packets is a great idea!!!

Thanks Ptr, I will b bringing honey with me when I hunt now. She will also get some Gatorade w/her food in the morning. Hopefully it NEVER happens again, takes about a year off my life. Thanks again. ps, I am also Rae2423, my POS phone wouldn't let me into my normal account, so I added a new one to get into the forum.

Would u put some honey in w/her food in the morning (say 6 or 7am) before a noon hunt? Yes that is what I did and he was fine...although I only ran him for an hour. Put Gatorade in their water, or straight if they will drink it. The packets of honey are good for when they do seize...squirt in mouth or at least rub on gums to get in system.

I had called my vet, who also is avid bird hunter, went over what had happened, and said if it happens again bring her in for blood tests, etc. He also said that he gets "dog power bars" from Mounds when he is going to South Dakota or such to give them that extra boost. She has been doing fine since, sleeping alot, but that is normal after hunting hard. I like the honey packets. Do u rub them on her gums when u notice they are becoming a little lethargic? I would assume not wait till they seize. She usually gets only 2 cups of food a day in the morning, but after hunting I give her 2-3 cups mixed w/a can of wet, and she knows it cuz she's waiting next to her dish after we get out. Would u put some honey in w/her food in the morning (say 6 or 7am) before a noon hunt? Would this help? Thanks again for all of your responses. I have another hunt on Sunday, and the vet said it should be no problem to take her out as long as she is acting normal.

First of all I would see a vet and ask them if that is what they think this is. Secondly, next time you are out to eat and the place (like KFC) has packets of honey, grab a handful. Keep them in your dog bag and when you hit the field put them in your jacket. Good thing about these is you can squirt it in their mouth or at least rub it on their gums. I would try to be proactive and feed properly before hunting with some type of sugar...honey, performance bars etc. Here is what happened to me. 2x this past year - once while training and once while guiding - my pointer went down right at the 2 hour mark. Both times the seizure looked the same...complete stiffness and fell over. Lasted about a minute or so...seemed like 30 minutes! Got him in the truck and for the next few hours he was like a stumbling drunk. He slowly came out of it and ate, drank, relieved himself fine. The last time this happened I added some honey to his food that night. Unfortunately I had to guide again with him the next day so I fed him a little food and added honey again in the morning before the hunt. This time I only hunted him for an hour and he did great! With a close eye and continuous monitoring, you should be OK, but make sure their isn't a deeper cause.

I had this happen to my 6 year old yellow female In SD this past Oct and luckily a guy in our group was carrying peanut butter because his setter has a history of going down(mine never had before). The peanut butter worked well because she tried to get it out of her mouth and of course ended up ingesting it in the process. I couldn't get her to drink water or anything at the time. Scary day, one that I hope I never go through again, but I always have a small jar of peanut butter in my vest now! I also have cut back on how I push my dogs because I typically run them hard all day.

There's a whole bunch of products out there for your dog while hunting and after hunting. Plain sugar water works...or there's bottles of electrolyte drinks for dogs...similar to Poweraid. Powerbar snacks....the list is endless. Google it and see what pops up.