Can You Help Me With My Experiment?

[Bevd]

Some of you will have been following Darcys thread and know that she has just been diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy ( + )

 

One of the things we have to do now that we've brought her home from the hospital, is to monitor her breathing rate.

 

I know the figure that the vets aim for and Darcy is nowhere near that figure (she is much higher) but as I said to them yesterday, she has been a 'panty' dog with a fast heart rate since at least her amp/chemo.

 

I'd be very interested to know what rate other, large breeds breathe at and this is where you can help meeeeee

 

If your dog is a greyhound or larger breed, please can you have a few goes at counting how many breaths the dog takes during rest(by counting the rise and fall of the chest) in a one minute period.

 

I've no idea why I am conducting this experiment But you know what I'm like so please just humour me

 

Thank you

[Guest kelli123]

Sure ill do it. I think that is a good way to Gauge how others breath. ill post back when they are relaxed

[rycezmom]

Gustopher P Jones at 85 lbs and 11 1/2 years old

Sleeping=12-16/min

Up and moving around doing normal hound things = 22-34/min

After zoomies = appx 36-45/min and a return to normal rate after appx 5-6 minutes

 

I know these things because I did this check a week ago simply because I thought he was huffing and puffing too much.

 

L.

[Guest kelli123]

2 yr old female 54 lbs 27 beats per minute at rest

5 yr old female 68 lbs 20 beats per minute at rest.

I hope this helps now ill be curious to see other replys on this . We will all be praying for Darcy and you .

[TheFullHouse]

Gee 11 1/2 75lb. female resting 18 breaths per minute.

Edited August 27, 2010 by JillysFullHouse

[GeorgeofNE]

Hmmmm. Well, George's chest went up and down 35 times during his minute!

 

He's not actually asleep, but he IS laying down! That seems like a lot more than the other houndies!

 

Oh, if it matters, 65 pounds, almost 8 years old.

[Guest krystolla]

A normal respiratory rate for a dog is supposed to be 10-30 breathes per minute, it would be interesting to see if greyhounds are different. They are mostly retired athletes after all.

 

I'll check Hack once he settles down a bit.

[Guest hannahmom]

12 yr old male 55 lbs 23 beats per minute at rest (light doze)

[Guest kelli123]

Just found this online . http://www.athletic-animals.com/

Greyhound

With a total blood volume of 3.4 litres for an average 30kg greyhound being pumped around the body up to 4-5 times during a 30 second race, the greyhound needs an efficient heart. The greyhound heart weighs from 1.18 to 1.73% of bodyweight, or 270-519g for an average 30kg dog. This is a higher volume than found in racehorses (at 1-1.3% bodyweight), or in normal dogs, at 0.77% of bodyweight, or in humans (at 0.5% of bodyweight)

 

An average 70kg human athletes heart is similar to that of a 30kg greyhound, but the greyhounds heart delivers blood at almost twice the rate, beating at up to a maximum of 310-340 beats/minute at the gallop, compared to humans at 170-210 beats/minute

 

A fit greyhound has the highest blood volume of any athlete, relative to its body size, with blood contributing 11.4% of bodyweight, compared to 10.5% for a racehorse, 9.5% for a human sprint athlete, and 7.2% for a normal pet dog.

 

A fit greyhound has about 3 litres of blood, consisting of about 2 litres of cells (about 6.6% of its bodyweight), or a Packed Cell Volume (PCV) of 60%. A racehorse has a blood volume of about 55 litres, but a PCV of about 40% when fit (4.4% of its bodyweight)

 

A racing greyhound heart will pump out 6.4 litres of blood per minute (from 200mL per kg bodyweight per minute at rest to over 1000mL per kg) at a full gallop, so they circulate up to 15 litres of blood (or half of their bodyweight) around their body during a 30 second race, so the entire blood volume is circulated around the body at least 4-5 times during a 30 second race. To maintain this blood volume, a greyhound has about 35 x 10 12 red blood cells in its body, producing around 5 million replacement red cells per second in bone marrow and spleen!

 

The resting heart rate of a greyhound is 29-50 beats/minute. Intense work can increase the heart rate to 300-360 beats/minute. The greyhound heart can contract and refill with blood five times per second during a race. Even at rest the greyhound heart can pump more blood per beat per kg than other dogs. Greyhounds have a superior oxygen transport system to humans.

 

The normal resting heart rate of an Alaskan Sled Dog is 40-60 beats/minute when sleeping, 100-150/minute before a race, and 300/minute at the start of a race and during work. A sled dog can easily run for 6-7 hours without becoming too tired, and then need only 6-7 hours rest before they do it all again. Most work will be conducted at a heart rate of up to 300 beats/minute.

Edited August 27, 2010 by kelli123

[Remolacha]

I remember doing this for Sugar

 

Fletcher, 90 lbs, 8 yrs old, 50/min

Molly, 70 lbs, 8 yrs old, 30/min

Sallie, 60 lbs, 6 yrs old, 30/min

 

all greyhounds

 

Darcy

[Bevd]

Thanks all

 

I just need to check that we are getting breaths per minute.

[Tracey]

Chase is snoozing next to me. 9 breaths in a minute. We monitor his heart rate because of his heart condition and his heart rate is super low as well. He's just a mellow dog (well, when he's not beating me up to let him out or feed him ).

[Guest cruzNhounds]

Brummy 10 Y Female 20

Poppie 9 Y Female 20

Birdie 8 Y Female 18

Bennie 2 Y Female 55

[Bevd]

Chase is snoozing next to me. 9 breaths in a minute. We monitor his heart rate because of his heart condition and his heart rate is super low as well. He's just a mellow dog (well, when he's not beating me up to let him out or feed him ).

9 Wow!

 

The lowest we have recorded Darcys was this morning and it was 13. Most of the time though it's 40+. When they monitored her every hour in the hospital, it was usually 55-60. But there is definately no fluid present in Darcys lungs, so we have to work out what is the 'norm' for her, so that we know if there is a problem. I'm monitoring her every two hours during the day at the mo

[silverfish]

Sid, somewhere around 70 - 75lb (haven't weighed him lately) - on average 15 breaths a minute, resting.

 

Actually I was stroking him while checking the rate and it was getting slower and slower. But it started off at 16/17 and I took an average of three so I think that's about what it is for him, resting quietly in his bed.

 

 

Chase is snoozing next to me. 9 breaths in a minute. We monitor his heart rate because of his heart condition and his heart rate is super low as well. He's just a mellow dog (well, when he's not beating me up to let him out or feed him ).

 

Renie was like that. She had a very slow heart beat too. I can't remember exactly what it was now, but I remember telling the vet, and he looked startled and said 'it can't be! I'd be very worried ... ' And of course it always rocketed up at the vets. He clearly didn't believe me, but as a trained animal nurse, trust me, I know how to count a heart beat! Her rate certainly went up pretty high as well, so I just figured that, like Chase, she was super mellow - the vet didn't find anything wrong with her heart though. Well, judging by the amount of time she spent upside down, or trotting sedately by my heels while Jack knocked himself out charging round in circles, she was mellow.

 

Amazing how much these dogs vary, isn't it? Not sure we're really going to be much use to you, Bev. But I do know that heart disease can put the rate up because it's difficult for an inefficient heart to get the blood round. Perhaps we should all take our dogs heart rate while they're healthy to give ourselves a baseline?

[Bevd]

I think it's a good idea Judy. If we know what's normal for our dogs, we can act quicker if the rate suddenly increases for no reason.

[TheFullHouse]

I edited my post because I realized I put "beats" instead of "breaths". It should have said breaths. I haven't taken her pulse so I have no idea what her heart rate is.

[Batmom]

Don't want to scare anyone unduly, but we found Batman's cancer because of the rapid breathing. He was lying next to Zema, at rest, and breathing 3-4 times faster than her, probably because the mass was squishing one lung. You couldn't see the mass itself on x-ray; you could only see the changed shape of the esophagus. It also wasn't readily apparent on cardiac ultrasound -- as is often the case with ultrasound, you had to know where to look first. ....... Hoping very much that Darcy is just a fast breather!

[Guest kydie]

Mr Bob age 5 weight 80 lbs. resp(sleeping):24/min

[Guest greybookends]

You know it is really is amazing how sedate and lazy they are until you want them to lay still so you can count their breathing!

[Bevd]

Don't want to scare anyone unduly, but we found Batman's cancer because of the rapid breathing. He was lying next to Zema, at rest, and breathing 3-4 times faster than her, probably because the mass was squishing one lung. You couldn't see the mass itself on x-ray; you could only see the changed shape of the esophagus. It also wasn't readily apparent on cardiac ultrasound -- as is often the case with ultrasound, you had to know where to look first. ....... Hoping very much that Darcy is just a fast breather!

If I didn't know for sure that for the past 34 months at least, Darcy has been a fast breather, I'd certainly go back now and make them look to make sure there was nothing like that! But (and I do hope I'm not making the wrong call here) because of her family history and because I do know that she's been a fast breather since at least after her chemo, I'm going to leave it at that. Actually, I remember talking on here about how - after the chemo - it was almost as if her internal thermostat was a bit broken (because of her panting etc).

[cello]

Specky - 7 years old - 62 pounds - 16 breathes per minute while asleep

 

Lady - 5 years old - 68 pounds - 28 breathes per minute while resting - but she is always a panty little thing!

 

Gizzy - 8 years old - 58 pounds - 19 breathes per minute while resting

 

Riley - 7 years old - 79 pounds - 20 breathes per minute while resting.

[Guest longdoglady]

Anna asleep - 4 years old - 49lb - 12 breaths per minute. She is a very chilled out girl.

 

Good strong heart thoughts for Darcy

[mom2four]

I will go home and check Jamey's breathing too. He's another osteo survivor- almost 15 months. I'll report back, probably next week.

[Bevd]

This is what we have so far for Darcy

 

8pm in the car, just before bringing her in from the hospital – about 35 breaths per minute with her mouth closed

 

11.30pm, asleep (or at least deep dozing) on the settee – about 48 bmp

 

 

Friday 28th Aug

 

3.42am lying on the floor after going out to the garden – 42 breathes per min with mouth open slightly.

 

6.30am resting on the settee – 22 breathes per min with mouth closed.

 

8.42am – three quarters of an hour after medication, laying on settee with mouth closed – aprox 33 BPM

 

10am – sleeping – 13 BPM

 

2.00pm – sleeping 15 bpm

 

4.30pm – dozing 21 bpm (but they are not very evenly spaced!)

 

6.10 – dozing – 20 bpm