Dog with shortness of breath: causes and solutions

Content

• Dog short of breath: respiratory stress
• Dog with shortness of breath: how to identify and locate the injury
• Dog with shortness of breath: what can it be?
• Dog with shortness of breath: pathological causes
• Dog with shortness of breath: physiological causes
• chorro with shortness of breath: environmental causes
• Dog short of breath: what to do

Breathing is the act of inhaling and exhaling air through the mouth, nose or skin. Dogs and cats breathe mostly through their nasal cavities. The gas exchanges that occur during breathing are essential to life and, when they are not being carried out normally, they can compromise the animal's well-being and life.

If you have any animal that has a feeling of shortness of breath and/or difficulty breathing, immediately take your pet to the nearest veterinarian. Respiratory stress is very common in clinical practice and it is an emergency or even a medical emergency.

If you want to know more about dog short of breath, causes and solutions, continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal.

Dog short of breath: respiratory stress

First of all, you need to know some medical terms used in patients with cardiorespiratory problems.

• Breathing effort/stress: difficulty breathing that causes lack of oxygenation.
• dyspnea: feeling short of breath. Despite being a term used in human medicine, it is also used in veterinary medicine, even though this sensation can only be given by the patient who is feeling it.
• Tachypnoea: increased respiratory rate. It feels like a dog panting and breathing faster.
• bradypnea: decrease in respiratory rate. Very light breaths and rarer than normal.
• Apnea: absence of breathing for a certain period of time. If this period is too long, it can compromise the animal's life.

Although these terms are the day-to-day life of veterinarians, many tutors do not know what they mean and remain unaware of what is happening to their dog. Next, we will present ways to identify a dog with shortness of breath and the possible causes. Keep reading.

Dog with shortness of breath: how to identify and locate the injury

Not all animals that are experiencing shortness of breath are in the same position or have the same behavior. For this reason, it is very important that you know how to identify when your dog is not well so that you can take action.

When a dog is short of breath and has difficulty breathing, he adopts a posture that allows him to breathe better and without as much discomfort. He may be standing, lying down or sitting in a sternal position (sphinx position), with a lying position already a sign of tremendous discomfort.

One of the most common postures is the orthopneic posture which is characterized by:

• abducted elbows (folded), in an attempt to increase the lung area and gas exchange.
• open mouth and tongue out, in order to try to reduce the resistance of the air inlet and facilitate the flow.
• Head up and neck stretched, stretching the trachea reduces airflow resistance and respiratory effort.

In case of insufficient oxygenation, the dog's mucous membranes may turn pale or cyanotic (purple blue). Cyanosis develops when the blood is not sufficiently oxygenated at the lung level and, consequently, there is insufficient oxygenation of the tissues, causing them to turn that color. Dog with shortness of breath and purple tongue it is a medical emergency and action must be taken immediately.

Also, the breath type that the dog has can guide you about the possible cause and location of the injury:

• Quick shallow breathing: it is usually associated with localized problems in the pleural space (space between the two membranes that line the lungs), which means it could be a pleural effusion (abnormal accumulation of fluid), pyothorax (accumulation of purulent exudate, pus), hemotax (accumulation of blood) or pneumothorax (accumulation of air).
• Expiratory effort breathing and wheezing (similar to the high-pitched whistle sound) on auscultation: May indicate an obstructive airway disease such as asthma (most common in felines).
• Breathing with wide and spaced chest movements: there may be an injury to the lung parenchyma, such as edema (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the lungs where gas exchanges occur), trauma, or obstructing masses.
• Stridor breathing (rough muffled sound) on auscultation and inspiratory effort: may indicate upper airway obstruction, for example when there is inhalation of a foreign body or laryngeal edema or paralysis.

Other symptoms can also be associated with a dog short of breath:

• Pale or cyanotic mucous membranes;
• Sneezing;
• Cough;
• Exercise intolerance;
• Respiratory noises (on inspiration and/or expiration);
• Runny nose/eye;
• Aerophagia (air intake);
• Fainting;
• Swollen belly;
• Fever;
• Tremors.

Dog with shortness of breath: what can it be?

The causes of a dog's feeling short of breath are very varied. Generally old and obese dogs may be more predisposed to this type of illness. In addition, brachycephalic breeds, such as the English/French Bulldog, Shi tzu, Pug and Lhasa apso, have a genetic predisposition to respiratory problems, resulting from the anatomical conformation of the face, palate and larynx.

Dog with shortness of breath: pathological causes

Are diseases or injuries in airways

• Lung diseases or upper airways: tracheal collapse, pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, kennel cough, hemo/pneumo/pyothorax, edema or pleural effusion are some of the examples of lung diseases that can cause a dog to be short of breath.
• Heart diseases: When the dog has a heart problem, it is very common to see a dog with a cough and shortness of breath, usually after exercise. Examples are dilated cardiomyopathy, mitral valve degeneration or congestive heart failure.
• obstructive masses (abscesses, cysts, clots).
• Tumors and metastases.
• Allergies: usually with associated sneezing, may present with cough, itchy eyes and/or body.
• Anemia.
• Drug interactions: by overdose or poisoning.
• Neurological diseases.
• Abdominal changes: ascites (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen), pregnancy or gastric torsion, all of which can lead to dog short of breath and swollen belly.

Dog with shortness of breath: physiological causes

There are also causes that are not directly related to specific diseases, but rather to the body's response to the environment and that also cause respiratory symptoms. Are example the hyperthermia (increase in body temperature), hypothermia (decrease in body temperature), heat, cold, fear, stress, anxiety, pain or shock.

There is still a condition called reverse sneeze, more common in small breeds and brachycephalic breeds, which is characterized by a breathing sound similar to a snort, as if the dog were choking. In a normal sneeze, the air comes out in an attempt to expel the foreign substances or bodies that are causing the irritation, however, in a reverse sneeze the air enters instead of leaving, causing this characteristic sound. Don't worry, it's a charmless condition that usually doesn't have any kind of implications for the dog.

chorro with shortness of breath: environmental causes

• Inhalation of smoke or a toxic gas.

Dog short of breath: what to do

if you ask what to do with dog short of breath, read the following steps we have provided to help your pet.

First of all, you must remain calm and avoid sudden movements or loud noises. It is important to know that animals with this problem are very unstable and any Excessive handling can lead to more generalized stress. and cause more difficulty breathing or even cardiorespiratory arrest. Therefore, it is important to be very careful when handling an animal in this critical state. The first thing you should do is take your pet to the nearest veterinarian.

If you can't get to the veterinarian quickly and your dog is lying down and has a purple tongue, you should put it on its right side (left side up) and try to feel the heartbeat near where the dog's elbow touches in the ribs. If you don't feel anything and the animal isn't responding, start 5 heart massages (not too brusque), followed by a closed-mouth blow in the nostrils. Try to do this at least three times, or until you get to the clinic/hospital.

Once at the vet and before anything else the animal must be stabilized through oxygen supplementation to help you breathe better. then you should tell them in detail what happened and a physical examination should be done. Observing the breathing pattern helps to direct the type of emergency treatment to be applied.

Some questions the veterinarian might ask are:

• Does the animal have any pre-existing cardiac or respiratory problems?;
• Episode of trauma or drug ingestion?;
• Do you have a cough?;
• Do you have exercise intolerance?;
• Any episodes of syncope (fainting)?;
• Seizures?;
• Sneezing?;
• Vomiting?;
• Behavior changes?.

It is important that you provide your veterinarian as much information as possible to help with the diagnosis. after the animal to be stable is that you can move forward with others complementary exams of diagnosis.

Check out our YouTube video and find out what the 10 things that make dogs stressed:

This article is for information purposes only, at PeritoAnimal.com.br we are not able to prescribe veterinary treatments or perform any type of diagnosis. We suggest that you take your pet to the veterinarian in case it has any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Dog with shortness of breath: causes and solutions, we recommend that you enter our Respiratory Diseases section.