panting at rest..
Submitted by Missy Violet an... on April 4, 2011 - 11:02amKarma, my 8 year old male has had some strange symptoms lately. A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of the night, I noticed he was breathing a little rapidly and then he sat up and panted for a few minutes, not a really heavy or fast pant, and not for long...he then took a sip of water and went back to sleep. The other night he was sleeping on the couch in the evening and first he started to dry heave, nothing came up and he fell back to sleep. Then about an hour later he kinda flinched in his sleep and then sat up and panted heavily for a good 10 minutes. I actually started to get dressed to take him to the ER, but then he stopped and was completely normal...even went over to beg for treats. Then last night in the middle of the night i heard him kinda spit up, this was not a full heave, just a little quack, no panting this time.
Let me add that he is not a panter. I know that seems odd for a bulldog but that's why it's so alarming to us when he does, especially out of the blue. Also, I had just had him to the vet that day for an unrelated skin issue. I always have him listen to his heart and he said it sounded good. Karma does have allergies so I'm wondering if this is just excess phlem that's getting stuck and he gets short of breath while he's sleeping?
sleep apnea? acid reflux? My biggest worry is of course congestive heart failure, but I'm hoping that since the vet said it sounded good that's not the case.
any ideas?
Panting can be a sign of pain.
Evenif he isn't doing it right now, I would definitely head on into your vet for a good checkup. Yes, it can be from a heart issue as can coughing. I would see a vet soon.
Best of luck, I don't mean to frighten you. It could be something totally innocent going on that will be easily fixed, you never know:-)
Amy and Sophia
Did they put him on any meds for his skin problem?
Sometimes antibiotics can cause panting, just a thought.
Prednisone specifically can cause a LOT of panting.
I hadn't thought about antibiotics....duh. Thanks Kathy:-)
Amy and Sophia
He's on ....
He's on Cephalexin orally and I was putting Cortaid on one particular spot. When it happened a couple of weeks ago he wasn't on anything though. Last year he had a bad runny nose..really bad, and he was on temeril P and antibiotics and boy did that make him pant terribly....I don't think I slept for a week! So I know about the steroid induced panting for sure. It almost seems like he gets very plemy when he sleeps, I'm thinking it's choking him up and he can't catch his breath for a few seconds....does that make any sense at all? i appreciate the input!
Is there any chance that...
what you describe as dry heaves could be a reverse sneeze? They can sometimes sound alike, the reverse sneeze sounds like they are trying to get air in and can't so they try to pull air in and it sounds pretty frightening. Chester was doing that a lot and the vet put him on benedryl twice a day to dry him up.
no, not reverse sneezing....
he does do that too though....not too often. He is on hydroxyzine 2x a day all the time. I agree, that is frightening!
Onslow has been doing this
just last week actually. I am attributing his to allergies but I don't know your dog and if it is the same for him. The vet is the only one who will really know what it is.
I'm sorry..
I'm sorry Onslow is having the same problem, but I'm hoping it's just allergies with Karma, too. It does seem to coincide with the start of allergy season.