The Hot Dog’s team (Emily and Anne) are now working with Dan O’Neill from the Royal Veterinary College on a UK wide canine heatstroke study. The study will use data from the Vet Compass™ database to review the clinical records of over 900,000 dogs registered with UK primary-care veterinary practices for heatstroke events. As well as canine risk factors (e.g. breed, age, sex and bodyweight), additional information will be collected to establish the incidence, fatality rate, seasonality and underlying causes for canine heatstroke. Understanding the risk factors of heatstroke specific to the UK dog population will provide evidence to better support educational campaigns aiming to reduce or prevent this potentially fatal condition.

This project has been funded by a Dogs Trust Canine Welfare Grant.

The results of this (likely two year) project will be published in an open access journal, so the link will appear here on the Hot Dog’s site as soon as it is available!