Is it Possible for Dogs to Get Brain Freezes After Eating Ice Cold Food?
When it is the summer season, it means enjoying an ice-cream cone with your friends, family members or your pet dog. If you prefer to have ice-creams with your dog, you will certainly like to give it a part of the ice-cream. This is something you need to think about carefully. It is needless to say that ice-creams mean a good possibility of getting a brain freeze. It is mostly seen in humans when you eat extremely cold food too quickly. Is it also possible for your dog to suffer from brain freeze? This is probably one of those questions that haunt you a lot.
Do Dogs Suffer From Brain Freeze?
The term brain freeze is also known by various other names, such as cold stimulus headache and ice-cream headache. Brain freeze basically happens due to sudden cooling that leads to local vasoconstriction. This causes pain signals that travel down the trigeminal nerve.
Dogs have a trigeminal nerve that basically covers their face, eyes, and lower jaw. If a dog was to cool his palate that would lead to local vasoconstriction, this nerve will suddenly get stimulated. There are several reasons behind dogs suffering from brain freeze. However, there are two most common reasons behind dogs suffering from brain freeze. Firstly, there may be an imbalance of chemicals in their system that may lead their brain to stop sending the right messages. Secondly, gulping down cold foods or snacks that may result in a brain freeze.
There are several other health conditions that may give rise to a brain freeze in dogs. Most of these health conditions are something that you will not notice right away. It is good for you to know that too much lethargy in dogs may mean something is wrong with the animal. It may also mean that your pet dog has suffered from a type of arthritis that may also result in a brain freeze in dogs.
Ways to Prevent Brain Freeze
When it comes to dogs suffering from a brain freeze, this is something that you can easily diagnose most of the time. However, do remember that it may not be brain freeze all the time and something else may be the cause of all the trouble. You will have to take a close look at the way your dog behaves along with its diet. You will have to know exactly what you are looking for in order to diagnose brain freeze.
There are several signs for you to look for that may indicate whether your dog is suffering from a brain freeze or not. However, you will also have to consider the various ways your dog may behave and react to different situations. When you go for a preventive cure, it will reduce the cold stimuli on the palate. This means that your dog needs to avoid gulping down large amounts of cold food at once or drinking at the same time.
If there is any major change in your pet dog’s health, it is always better to contact your vet. In order to prevent the tingling of nerves that may lead to a brain freeze, you need to feed cold snacks in small quantities rather than feeding them in large amounts to your dog. It is also important for you to remember that you should never feed traditional ice-creams to your dog, since these are toxic for them. Thankfully, you may definitely feed them any safe alternative. During the hot summer months, you may give them 2 to 3 cups of ice cubes. This should be sufficient for your dog to cool down. However, do not make the error of giving them very cold water as it may lead to a brain freeze.
Tips to Cure
The sensation of brain freeze is not at all serious. Nonetheless, it may prove to be highly unpleasant and may require immediate cure, such as:
- Having warm water
- Covering the nose and mouth with your hands and breathing fast. This will increase the natural flow of warm air to the palate.
- Rubbing the roof of your mouth with your tongue that helps to warm the internal nerves.
Do Dogs Suffer From A Brain Freeze After Having Ice Cream?
To keep the answer to this question simple, dogs do suffer from a brain freeze after having ice cream. As discussed above, brain freeze is the result of sudden cooling of the nerves that leads to local vasoconstriction. As a result of this, it may cause pain signals that are sent to the trigeminal nerve. This trigeminal nerve is also present in the face, which is why having ice cream gives you a forehead pain.
When it comes to dogs, they also have trigeminal nerves. If their palate is ever cooled suddenly, it may lead to local vasoconstriction. It is important for you to know that this sensation is subjectively perceived as eye, face or forehead pain. The simple reasons behind this is that dogs get easily attracted to any food or drink that they find around them. This may either be ice creams or some other cold food or drink. Having ice creams may give them a brain freeze since it is not at all pleasing to their trigeminal nerve.
What Exactly Happens When Your Dog Gets A Brain Freeze?
If you have a dog at home, it is most possible for you to witness or experience your dog suffering from a brain freeze. When it actually does, it basically goes absolutely limp. Brain freeze happens due to the response of a specific nerve from the fast constriction of blood vessels. This takes place when cold foods or drinks touch the roof of the mouth. When your dog suffers from a brain freeze, its behavior will seem strange to you.
The first and crucial thing that you need to do is stop feeding the cold snack immediately. You will have to follow this up by rushing your pet to a vet as soon as possible. The sooner you take the pet to a vet the greater will be the possibility of the dog getting well faster.
