Panting Attack?

[Guest DiforDan]

Our new foster dog who we plan to adopt next week has just had what I can only call a panting attack.

 

She got in a state about a bandage on her leg (minor graze underneath) and went to remove it. I removed it for her and left it open. She hasn't really bothered with it since.

 

She went to sleep with me on the sofa and she started panting and breathing really fast and staccato. Now I don't mean normally (our Slinky is an anxious dog and pants a lot) but this was different, you know like when they are dreaming and they do that shallow panting thing quite fast? Well it is like that. And sometimes she is panting with her mouth shut, if that makes sense. Her tongue is very pink and her nose is warm.

 

It is hopefully subsiding now, but we persuaded her to go outside and she lay on the soaking wet grass in the rain. After a couple of minutes I got her up again, she peed, and came back inside.

 

History on her: She had an anaesthetic 3 days ago and X rays on her hips, has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia. I have given her 50mg Rimadyl twice a day on advice of vet. Todays pill was taken about 8 or 9 hours before this incident. Also gave her Omega 3 and a Glucosamine pill, same as yesterday and the day before. She has been eating heartily and otherwise fine for the rest of the time.

 

Any ideas?

[Guest Energy11]

Hard to say here.

 

Almost sounds like some type of transient pain. Like she got a cramp, sharp pain, etc., and then, it went away. Best thing to do is observe. If it happens again, I'd definitely contact the vet to get input from him/her.

 

Good Luck!~

[Guest DiforDan]

Hard to say here.

 

Almost sounds like some type of transient pain. Like she got a cramp, sharp pain, etc., and then, it went away. Best thing to do is observe. If it happens again, I'd definitely contact the vet to get input from him/her.

 

Good Luck!~

 

Thanks. She seems fine now, had her pigs ear, licked a plate after our dinner. Nose slowly came cold again. Very weird.

Have to say my fear is that it could be a heart thing or something like that? Really don't want to think about that, it was hard enough this week getting the hip dysplasia diagnosis.

[Guest DiforDan]

We are wondering if it could possibly have been a panic attack. But could that possibly be, considering she seemed to be sleeping through some of it?

 

One strange (but funny to us at the time) thing that happened just before, was that she saw herself in a full length mirror. She was startled and kept looking back at it to see if that doggie was still there. It was amusing at the time but could it have spooked her? Maybe I am clutching at straws.

 

Strange thing is just now we were watching a programme about wolves and it was getting a bit violent. She started panting again then went and studied the TV and looked round the back to see where the dogs were coming from. We turned the programme off and now she is back asleep and fine.

 

There was no trembling or whining though, and I would expect that if it had been panic? (We have a nervous dog and it just wasn't the same as that).

[greyhead]

I'd tell the vet about this even though it seems transient. If it's pain, one wonders why all of a sudden. Or it could have been a temperature spike; again, why? Not all dogs do well on Rimadyl either; in some it has been quickly fatal. Don't mean to scare you, but panic seems unlikely to me, so I'd tell the vet.

[Guest DiforDan]

My husband now says that he saw her "slip a bit" on the wet grass in the garden before this all started. Perhaps there was a sudden pain then?

I don't think it can be Rimadyl because she has been fine on it for the rest of this week, and it was 8-9 hours after taking a Rimadyl that this happened. I gave her a half dose of Rimadyl after the attack, and she is fine now.

[BauersMom]

I didn't see you mention it - but how old is the dog? An older dog with panting attacks like that would make me think laryngeal paralysis...

 

If a younger dog, then pain, nervousness, etc, could cause panting like that, as suggested.

[Guest DiforDan]

I didn't see you mention it - but how old is the dog? An older dog with panting attacks like that would make me think laryngeal paralysis...

 

If a younger dog, then pain, nervousness, etc, could cause panting like that, as suggested.

 

She is 3. Now hubby has mentioned the slip in the garden, bearing in mind she has dodgy hips, perhaps that accounts for it. We are still in very early days with her (have only had her for a week, and had hip dysplasia diagnosis for only 3 days) so we are still working on strengthening her muscles with gentle exercise and getting her meds right. Trouble is, when they get the zoomies urge it's hard to control (wasn't zoomies though, just the little trot of triumph after a poo, apparently!)

[Guest DiforDan]

It is now apparent that she was actually doing zoomies when she slipped on the wet grass. Then she came in and was tearing at the dressing on her front leg (there after her general anaesthetic tube thing), quite frantically apparently. All this is now emerging from DH, who witnessed all this.

 

So we are thinking it was a pain reaction. Poor baby.

 

A friend of mine who has a Galgo with wonky hips says he has a similar reaction if he goes too mad in the yard/garden.

[Remolacha]

Fletcher does what you are describing, and it drives me crazy! He has been to his vet numerous times, and last year I took him to a specialist. We still don't have a real answer He does have pretty bad arthritis, so it could be pain, but like you said, why all of a sudden, when just lying there asleep He also has allergies, and is very sensitive to the heat, could be that I wish I had an answer for you, and maybe your vet will be able to pin down a cause for your girl, but at least you are not alone

[Guest gomiesmom]

You said she went to lay in the "wet grass". Could she be storm Phobic, and there was a storm approaching or coming 'round?

I have a storm phobic hound and he can hear things we cannot, or he senses / feels a storm before it's evident to humans.

Even when one is "going around" us, no exactly approaching, he can get kinda strange.

Just a thought, since you've had her so little time; you may not hav noticed or it may not have stormed or had weird weather ( don't know where you are) since you got her.

Just a thought!

Good luck w/ your new Baby - you'll be addicted soon enough- like the rest of us here.

[tbhounds]

How was your hound get diagnosed with hip displasia? I only ask because it's such an incredibly rare condition in greyhounds. If your hound had a recent hip radiograph then, he may still be painful from that.

Edited April 6, 2012 by tbhounds

[Guest DiforDan]

How was your hound get diagnosed with hip displasia? I only ask because it's such an incredibly rare condition in greyhounds. If your hound had a recent hip radiograph then, he may still be painful from that.

Yes, diagnosed from x Rays. I know it is so rare that some people think it does not exist in greys, but I have also read the theory that if a greyhound has bad hips it will probably "disappear" from the racing industry before it gets the chance to be considered as a pet. Still, that is a whole other thread.

 

And indeed, she may well be still in some pain from the X rays as I understand they do pull them around quite a bit. Vet said to give her 100mg Rimadyl per day for 3 days after the radiography, then taper it down after that. She has been pretty good the past 2 days and now on the 3rd day this happens...

 

I don't think it is storm phobia. I appreciate the point, but it is not stormy here, just a bit rainy, and my other boy is spooky and it just wasn't like that.

 

Good luck w/ your new Baby - you'll be addicted soon enough- like the rest of us here.

 

I am already addicted, already have two greyhounds, and they have their problems medically and emotionally as well.

[greyhead]

One of ours has a healed hip fracture and intermittent pain episodes, and he used to overheat frequently before we found his Babesia and treated it. When this dog lays in the wet grass, he's using it as an ice bag -- makes him cooler and helps with pain. (Rimadyl didn't do a thing for his pain, so we use either Tramadol or methocarbamol depending on which seems more relevant at any given time.)

 

ETA: This may be a dumb question to someone living in AZ, but has Fletcher had a good TBD screening?

Edited April 6, 2012 by greyhead

[Remolacha]

Yes, last year he got a TBD panel last year, along with a VF test. We treated him with a course of Doxy anyway, didn't change anything.

[GeorgeofNE]

How was your hound get diagnosed with hip displasia? I only ask because it's such an incredibly rare condition in greyhounds. If your hound had a recent hip radiograph then, he may still be painful from that.

 

 

I was going to say the same thing. If you didn't take her to a board certified orthopedic vet, you need to.

 

That's also a lot of Rimadyl, frankly, for soreness after x-rays. My dog takes half that. And it's an NSAID. There is no need to "taper down."

Edited April 7, 2012 by GeorgeofNE

[Guest DiforDan]

She is better today, hope it doesn't happen again.

 

We have halved her Rimadyl today down to 50mg, split into 2 x 25mg doses. She has been fine so far. Have got her a ramp for getting in the car and she has learned how to use it straight away, bless her.

 

On reflection I do think it was an acute pain, brought on by zoomies or overdoing it. We are very much in the learning stages about her condition and how it affects her.

 

Will report further if she does it again. Thanks everyone for your help.

[tbhounds]

Just an FYI about rimadyl dosing--rimadyl can be given one of two ways--1mg/lb twice day OR 2ngs/lb once a day--- always with food. So for example a 50lb dog would receive 50mgs twice daily OR 100mgs once daily. Of course you should ways use the lowest effective dose possible.

[Xan]

Just looking at your various threads to get a fuller picture of this dog of yours. With the odd spot on the belly, the small toe, the hip dysplasia and funny breathing, it just made me think of my own weird (and deeply missed) Wabi. She was a deformed little thing, nose to tail, with malformed hips that also had arthritis. (you can see her in my siggy, on the right.) She would also do the breathing thing you describe. She didn't ever seem distressed, just like she had a hot flash. She'd lie in my arms in a nice sleepy roach, then all of a sudden her breathing would speed up until she was panting. Sometimes it would just pass without her even changing position, but sometimes she'd get up to go lie by herself. You could almost set your watch by her: 8:30pm, not every night, but the nights it did happen. Mostly in the evening, but rarely during the day.

 

We never did figure it out, but it never seemed to amount to much, and she was so many ways weird that there didn't seem any benefit in worrying about yet another one!

[Guest DiforDan]

Xan, our "spook", Slinky, often pants when lying around on the sofa in the evenings. He also panted all the time when out and about - so much that in every pic of him taken outside he looks happy and smiley because he is panting!

 

Interesting about your Wabi though. She is very beautiful our Pixie but has these little things about her which are odd, and her hips are large things which are odd.

 

I must try and post a pic of her where she is not looking odd!