Sleep Apnea

[XTRAWLD]

Can dogs be affected? Anyone had this experience with our always sleeping greys?

[Lexi]

I checked into this because I have sleep apnea myself. Yes, dog and cats can have sleep apnea. Usually it seems to be the breeds with short snouts or any animal that is overweight. An abscess in the sinus passage can cause sleep apnea as well because it would block proper breathing. If your dogs snoring has become louder than normal or if you see your dog stop breathing or wake up gasping for breath, then get him/her checked out.

[XTRAWLD]

Well he's not necessarily snoring, but I think his breathing is interrupted during sleep somehow/some reason? A couple times a night now he's scared the living sleep out of me because he's got a loud snort, like restarting his breathing. I thought at first it was because of how he hangs his head off the bed, but last night his head was pretty flat on the bed. A few weeks ago I walked in when he was sleeping and noticed he wasn't even breathing (chest was not rising)! Curious also if this might have something to do with a heart murmur?

Edited September 21, 2017 by XTRAWLD

[greysmom]

Apnea can affect heart function in people, so I don't see why not. But all mine has periods of not breathing during sleep at some point or another, and I've never considered it an actual apnea episode. Apnea involves an obstruction causing the breathing to be stopped, and, for the most part, that doesn't exist in dogs unless they are obese. And it seems to happen mostly when they are very deeply asleep.

 

Still, it might be something to talk with your vet about.