Rapid breathing

[Herman Weijermars]

Our Balou is a female doodle of ten months old. We live in the Netherlands but our Balou is born in the USA. We discovered it's true, there isn't a disadvantage for the doodle, what a great and lovely dog it is. However we have a strange thing with her health. She has periods of very fast breathing (60 to 80 times a minute). It is starting after just a small walk but also suddenly when she's just laying on the floor. It's lasting hours before she is breathing slower.
Often she seems exhousted during such a period of rapid breathing.
We visited several vets but they can't find anything. They found it abnormal and strange and never saw anything like this. Could it be something we don't know in the Netherlands but you've experienced in the USA ?
Does anyone recognize this symptoms and can help us finding a solution.
Balou is really a great dog and we would like soon be able to help her recovering.

[Jamie Petro]

Hi Herman. I have an 11 week old female goldendoodle who pants alot. I don't know if it's the same thing that you are experiencing. Even in her kennel at night when she's sleeping I can hear her in there panting or breathing really hard. I know she's not too hot because my husband keeps it cold in the house at night. I figured that I would ask our vet about it at our next appointment.

[Herman Weijermars]

Hi Jamie, you could ask your vet because panting and hard breathing when she is asleep seems strange to me. Panting is a way to cool down, isn't she laying on something thats keeping her (too) warm ?
Our doodle is also panting a lot more than our other dog, but we are more concerned about her fast breathing. The fast breathing starts during and after panting but also spontaneously when she is laying on the floor. Can you count the number of times she is breathing ? Where about 20 a minute is normal, Balou has about 60 to 80 ? How is your dogs behaviour, is she eating, drinking and playing normal ?, Does the panting and breating makes her tired?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

YES. Not so much when he is awake as when he is asleep. It drives my husband crazy too. The breaths become so stressed and loud at night he gets out of bed and wakes the dog up. Yes, it is bad enough to wake someone up. t is frightening. At least you can count your dogs respiration---it is too fast to count for me. I've tried.

The vet did a thorough examination of his heart and lungs several times. We have NO answer from the vet either; but the vet hasn't seem him when he has these "episodes".

Since Spud seems to be developing normally and gaining weight which is a good sign, I have just had to accept these episodes of rapid breathing.

Thank you for the post. Looking forward to the follow of what others are saying.

[Herman Weijermars]

Roger and Joanne,
We understand this will drive you crazy. We are stressed about the fact there's something wrong and nobody can find what it is. Also for Balou several vets examined her and found no problems of heart or lungs. This is really strange your dogs breathing is that load that you have to go out of bed. Does it stops when you have awakened her ?
Does she have any negative effect of this episodes ? - Balou e.g. is often very tired during the periods of rapid breathing. Sometimes we see Balous breathing stops for 10 seconds and restarts rapidly afterwards.
To show the vet how her breathing is, we made a video and sent it to him - maybe an idea for you.

[2m42srv7vi6sq]

Caeleach pants constantly. If her heart has been checked, I wouldn't worry. The Doodle is part Labrador Retriever anbd they are panters. LOL

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Herman,
I think it is important to clarify this as either panting or rapid breathing. What I was referring to sounds like the shallow "death rattle" we hear in humans in their last hours ( excuse the comparison--but that is exactly what it sounds like in our dog ). Not panting as when a dog has been exercising or is hot and perspires by mouth. It is almost as if it is a struggle.

[Deena Womack]

We have often witnessed Cali breathing very shallow and panting, usually when she is asleep. I have waken her up and taken her to her water bowl thinking she needed a drink. It doesn't happen all the time but every once in awhile and I am always ready to think something must be wrong...

[Herman Weijermars]

Deena,
Balou doesn't pant when she is asleep but we see also shallow and rapid breathing. Does it help when you wake her up ? with Balou it doesn't matter, she proceeds this breathing even if we wake her up.

[Deena Womack]

Herman,

Yes Cali is usually fine once we wake her up. It just worries me when she does do this and it doesn't happen all the time. It is a question I will ask the vet on the next visit.

[Beverly Wright]

Millie is 1 year old and does the exact same thing......respirations are 60 to 80 times a minute at rest! I find it strange too! glad to know happens to others!

[Herman Weijermars]

Beverly,
Does it have any negative effect on Millie ? Balou seems to be very tired during the periods of rapid breathing.
Did she had it from the beginning or did it start when she was older ? Did you ask your vet about it ?

[Marcy, Girls and Ruby]

Herman, I am sorry to hear you are having this problem with Balou, she's very cute. I in no way have any veterinary training but will relay the story of my previous dog, an Irish Setter/Lab mix. She did not develop the respiratory symptoms until she was older and I believe they came on gradually. Symptoms similar. The vet determined it was laryngeal paralysis. Can come on in old age but may also be due to a trauma. Has Balou had any injury to her neck or throat that you know of? I am not sure if it can be a genetic thing or not. There is info. on the web about it and maybe you should have the vet at least rule it out. I believe they gave her a mild sedative to quickly put a scope down to see vocal chords (which, if I understood correctly, play a bigger role in breathing for dogs than humans). Great idea taking a video of her to show the vet. Good luck. Let us know what you find out.