panting ?

hi - the last couple of days i have noticed daisy panting - do they pant if they get too excited? cos she was doing it at my mum and dads house and i had never seen her do it before, then she did it a couple of times tonight... just never seen her do it before and wondered why they pant....

They pant to help cool their bodies. Dogs dont sweat like people do, so when they get hot they breath rapidly in and out to cool off.

If she was really excited and running around, she probably just got hot.

i just read something i never knew before, and have never seen so it still seems questionable to me--that dogs sweat through the pads of their feet and if they are hot or excited or stressed, you may see wet footprints on the floor. I just read this Stanley Coren, How to Speak Dog. i thought they just sweated through their panting.

It's true, they sweat through their paws. You can tell an anxious dog by wet paws many times.

Puppies only seem to start panting when they get pretty old. I remember that Jaspar never seemed to pant at all, then one day he just started. He was probably at least 6 months old by then. If an older dog is panting a lot when it hasn't before, it is worth seeing the vet -- it can be a sign of MVD for example or other illnesses.

Pad sweating

On Animal Planet they showed a rescuer putting alcohol on pads of overheated dog. Something for me to remember on hot muggy days.

How does the alcohol help? Thats interesting.

Panting in Cavaliers can be a symptom of either an upper airways blockage or mitral valve disease. See http://www.cavalierhealth.org/brachycephalic.htm and http://www.cavalierhealth.org/mitral_valve_disease.htm for more information about these disorders. If the weather is hot and the dog has no other symptoms of MVD, then it may be the upper airway obstruction, called brachycephalic airway obstruction syndrome, which is due in part to the genetic shape of the Cavalier's head. A panting Cavalier, if overheated, needs to be cooled and hydrated immediately.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

RodRussell said:

Panting in Cavaliers can be a symptom of either an upper airways blockage or mitral valve disease....If the weather is hot and the dog has no other symptoms of MVD, then it may be the upper airway obstruction, called brachycephalic airway obstruction syndrome, which is due in part to the genetic shape of the Cavalier's head. A panting Cavalier, if overheated, needs to be cooled and hydrated immediately.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

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Rod
How do you know if the dog is overheated, pathologically, as opposed to just normal hot panting dog on a hot day or from doing a lot of running around?

Do breeders try to reverse this brachycephalic tendency by not breeding dogs who have it in the extreme?

Karlin said:

How does the alcohol help? Thats interesting.

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when my daughter was small and got a very high fever, the doctor said to rub alcohol all over her body, to quickly bring down the fever. It can also be done by sponging cool water all over the body. i'm not sure how it helps except that it has to do with the evaporation. Alcohol evaporates quickly, which cools the body. When the body is very hot, water evaporates quickly from the skin too.

The cool water is better than the alcohol if you can bring down the fever that way, and it does work. Alcohol shouldn't be used except in extreme situations, because it's not good to breathe the fumes.

I guess these were the main ways people lowered fevers before aspirin and tylenol were invented.

judy said:

Rod
How do you know if the dog is overheated, pathologically, as opposed to just normal hot panting dog on a hot day or from doing a lot of running around?

Do breeders try to reverse this brachycephalic tendency by not breeding dogs who have it in the extreme?

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The problem with brachycephalic breeds is that you should not take the risk that heavy panting on a hot day is inconsequential. For brachycephalic dogs. heavy panting can cause a swelling and narrowing of the upper airway, resulting in collapsing or fainting. By the time the dog collapses, it may be too late to revive it.

I have not heard of breeders trying to avoid the head shape that results in brachycephalic tendencies. The head shape is as much a part of the breed standard for Cavaliers as it is for a few other breeds, such as the pug, Boston terrier, and English bull dog. It just is something that owners should be aware of and prepared to deal with.

It is the same as with the elongated soft palate. This is the cause of the so-called "reverse sneeze". which many Cavalier owners often dismiss as inconsequential. It is another symptom of a brachycephalic air flow blockage, and when a Cavalier starts making that noise, it is gasping for air and should be attended to immediately.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

Thanks for the info. It could be life saving.

My daughter's cavalier, Belle, gets the reverse sneezing thing fairly often and Lisa has been assured that it's not serious, and i've heard other conversations on message boards or email lists which gave me the impression it was not something to worry about. thank goodness, so far, Zack has only had it one time, and it was triggered by breathing diatomaceous earth. However, other people said DE never caused their dogs to cough.

it's really frightening.

Belle had it once when we were walking the dogs and it would stop and then start again, a few times. Then Lisa picked Belle up and carried her, to get it to stop. I've seen some things posted on cavaliertalk about things to do when it happens, to make it stop, and i sent Lisa the link for that.

What should be done if the dog is panting? When Belle and Zack play, it used to be that Belle panted more than Zack. But I had the same experience Karlin had--he didn't pant at all in the beginning and now he pants, but it seems normal, i mean he pants when other dogs would pant. I do agree with Lisa that belle pants more than i might expect. She doesn't look to be in distress at all though, she looks relaxed with a pleasant expression. So i reassured her that Belle was just normal

i think it would be a good idea to change the breed standard to a more healthy one.

judy said:

My daughter's cavalier, Belle, gets the reverse sneezing thing fairly often and Lisa has been assured that it's not serious, and i've heard other conversations on message boards or email lists which gave me the impression it was not something to worry about.

Belle had it once when we were walking the dogs and it would stop and then start again, a few times. Then Lisa picked Belle up and carried her, to get it to stop. I've seen some things posted on cavaliertalk about things to do when it happens, to make it stop, and i sent Lisa the link for that.

What should be done if the dog is panting?

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Most times the dog will stop his reverse sneeze by himself. but it should be realized that his airway is being blocked by the back end of his palate, which is soft and "elongated", meaning longer than it should be. It is not a good thing for the dog not to be able to breathe.

The goal of getting a Cavalier to stop his reverse sneeze is to force him to breathe through his mouth instead of his nose. I pull the front of the dog's head down; then I cover the nostrils with one hand, so that he cannot breathe through them, and hold his mouth open with the other hand. Eventually he will stop trying to use his nostrils and start breathing through his mouth.

If the Cavalier is panting heavily, particularly in hot weather, I would get him to stop exercising, take him to a shaded cool location, and offer him cool water to drink. It may be necessary to cool his body, particularly his chest and abdomen areas, with cool water.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

What if it's a coat issue? I notice my B/T pants more after relatively little exercise when she hasn't been groomed for a while. She has an excessively heavy coat for her size- even the breeders commented on it recently. She's also obviously black, with all the problems that causes on a warm day. I sympathise with that one as I have black hair myself!

Should Cavaliers not be exercised on very hot days, or only in the evening?

Lisa_T said:

What if it's a coat issue? I notice my B/T pants more after relatively little exercise when she hasn't been groomed for a while. She has an excessively heavy coat for her size- even the breeders commented on it recently. She's also obviously black, with all the problems that causes on a warm day. I sympathise with that one as I have black hair myself!

Should Cavaliers not be exercised on very hot days, or only in the evening?

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I think it depends upon the dog. Clearly, not every Cavalier is going to collapse from heat stroke if they exercise on a hot day, and I do not mean to imply that. But, heavy panting is something that the owner ought to be aware of as a possible symptom of an air passage swelling, since the breed is brachycephalic. Overheating apparently tends to cause the throat membranes to swell. If the dog has a heavy black coat, that would make it more likely she would get hotter quicker than a lightly marked Blenheim.

We have a black-and-tan with a heavy coat, and we have exercised him in hot weather many times, including agility training. But if he started panting heavily after exercise, I would stop exercising him and try to lower his body temperature with a cool drink of water in the shade and see how he responds.

The point is, I would not work these dogs like border collies in a field of sheep for hours on end. They need to be monitored to be sure they are not in distress from overheating or from anything else that could adversely affect their breathing.

Rod Russell
Orlando, Florida USA

My 8 year old cav had the heavy wheezing/panting issue = the vet thought for sure it was elongated palate. Unfortunately, she had laryngeal prolapse - one side of her throat is permanently sutured back.

She's lived 5 years now with the condition. Just has to eat very small bites of food. And occasionally has bad days with her tummy.

My other cav just had two bad excessive night panting episodes this last month. She has just started on heart medications for grade2 murmur.

So anything you "feel" isn't normal panting/wheezing be sure to check with your vet!

Sheri