Treatment for hypothermia involves rapid warming of the body. In mild cases, heating pads, hot water bottles, or a warm water bath will do the trick, but severe cases require introducing warmed fluids internally via intravenous flow, dialysis, or enema. Veterinarians may also use corticosteroids and monitor the dog for heart arrhythmias and pneumonia and check for frostbite. Prolonged exposure to the cold can also cause frostbite the death of tissue in the extremities. Dog toes, tails, ear tips, and scrotum are the most common frostbite areas.
Frostbitten tissue appears pale and is cold to the touch.
It should be rewarmed slowly and given time to heal. It may turn red and swollen and be very painful as it heals. If it does not heal in three or four days, amputation of the dead tissue should be done to avoid gangrene or mummification of the area. Obviously, prevention is worth more than a pound of cure with hypothermia and frostbite. But if he's old, arthritic, or debilitated in some way, let him sleep inside when the temperature dips to single digits and below.