At The Risk Of Sounding Like A Fruitcake...

[SpotTheDog]

Right, Gus sleeps on his Snooza D1000 in my room. He's my 8 month old 26kg bull-arab-ish puppy.

At 2.30 this morning I was woken up by the noise of him breathing heavily and rapidly. I switched the light on to see what was up. He didn't want to get out of bed. I persuaded him and brought him outside. He urinated just fine, then back into bed. There was no sign of a reason for his reluctance to get up. Even on days where he feels well, if he's comfortable and sleepy he'll make a real fist of getting out of bed - rolling out of it literally and crawling along the floor with his tail wagging before getting up, the big ham.

Back in his bed, I looked him over - no hardness or tenderness in his abdomen, no caginess about being touched anywhere. His heartbeat appeared rapid, but then I believe pups (because he is only 8 months) can have heartbeats up to 180 bpm? He felt a little warm to touch but I don't have a thermometer to take his temperature and I know that feeling warm isn't an indication of a temperature.

He was lying comfortably in his bed in his normal awkward puppy positions, so no sign of holding a posture to ease discomfort. His gums were a good colour.

Once I got him to get up and come outside, the heavy close-mouthed rapid breathing turned into an open-mouthed pant. When we got back to my room I turned the fan on to cool him - wouldn't have been that hot in the room, but certainly warm. The breathing eased a little but it was still rapid.

Given that he had no other signs of issues - had eaten a normal dinner that evening, urinated normally at 2.30am, no abdominal tenderness, and really no outward signs of distress other than this peculiar breathing, I decided not to sprint to the OOH vet and figured he may just be too hot, so I left the fan on and he went back to bed, back to lying in his usual position, but then back to the close-mouthed, heavy, fast breathing - less than before, but still there. Going with the 'hot' thing, since the breathing had eased some after I put the fan on, I moved him and his bed into the laundry with a pot of cool water and left him in there for the rest of the night (cooler, on tiles) with the door opened to outside so he could go out if he needed to wee, poo or throw up, and the cool night air was breezing over him.

This morning he was bright and fine, possibly a little tired but then we were up in the middle of the night. I didn't feed him before I left for work, just left him water.

Yesterday evening, before all this, I came home from work and took Gus out for a bushwalk and a swim in the lake near the house. He had his first proper swim, but drank a bit too much pond water and threw it up when he got out of the water. Once we got home he ate a large dinner happily around 8pm - he's raw fed. He was fine for the rest of the evening and went to bed happily and it was all hunky dory until 2.30am (at which point: scroll up.)

Any ideas? Overly hot? Possibly a bit bloated and sickly after scoffing too much food on top of a pond-water empty gut? Any of these symptoms ringing any bells with you guys for a possible underlying major issue? If I get home and he's breathing rapidly with a high heartrate again I'll go straight to the vet with him, but if he's just fine again is there any point going this evening? If we have a rerun tonight I may take a cameraphone video and head to the vet on Saturday morning so I can show them precisely what I'm on about if the symptoms have stopped again in the morning.

(And I'd rather be called a crazy madwoman who's a hypochondriac about her dog, than a lazy owner who left it too long.)

[persephone]

Just on what you said.. and obviously not an expert opinion...I would suggest that ,as he is a well covered big pup.. . and is lying on a cushiony bed.. he is hot .

Maybe try him on an open weave trampoline type bed ?Hamlet sleeps on a home made one- a camp stretcher covered with shadecloth ..and just a sheet over the shadecloth in Summer- with a fan on him all night. This way air circualtes all round teh dog- dispelling body heat very effectively

My dogs do that heavy breathing if they are too warm..and just before it gets to the open mouth stage ....

[W Sibs]

I would say he is hot too.

Give him a cool place to lay down and plenty of fresh clean water to drink.

[Bubitty]

I wouldnt worry too much based on what you have said unless he displays any more disconcerting symptoms.

My OH had a massive panic attack a fortnight ago when he decided that Bubby was breathing faster than he would like and wanted to drive him to the emergency vet! There was nothing wrong with Bubby and it was just a very warm day. After we turned on the aircon he was fine

Edited January 7, 2011 by Bub

[SpotTheDog]

Thanks, folks - it's the close-mouthed thing that was bothering me, it's years since I've owned a dog and while I'm used to the open mouthed, tongue-lolling pant when they're hot, this close-mouthed puffing like a train through the nostrils freaked me out totally.

[Bundyburger]

You're in Vic? Last night it was darn hot. Our Kelpie was panting all night and he was only sleeping on the floor. The viz was in his crate puffing away too. They both do this a lot when they are hot, no matter where they are sleeping. I woke up dripping in sweat a number of times overnight. We give our two an iceblock before bed when its warm, it brings their temp down, if one doesn't work they get another, if that doesn't help they get a cool towel on them

[SpotTheDog]

You're in Vic? Last night it was darn hot. Our Kelpie was panting all night and he was only sleeping on the floor. The viz was in his crate puffing away too. They both do this a lot when they are hot, no matter where they are sleeping. I woke up dripping in sweat a number of times overnight. We give our two an iceblock before bed when its warm, it brings their temp down, if one doesn't work they get another, if that doesn't help they get a cool towel on them

I am indeed in Vic, but I'm up reasonably high so last night it was probably 20 overnight inside the house - in other words not hot enough to make me uncomfortable in my bed, but that's not to say he wasn't feeling it, he might well have been.

I changed recently from feeding Gus in the morning to feeding him in the evening. Normally he got a meal in the morning and some sort of snack when I get in from work, e.g. pig's ear, stuffed kong etc. Perhaps the combination of a large feed at 8pm and a hot night just meant he felt like death warmed over (I know I would!) Might go back to a morning feed.

[Sheridan]

Grumpy did this the other week when it was hot overnight (and yes, I was very worried). Next morning, I just removed a blanket and he's been fine since on warmer nights.

Edited January 7, 2011 by Sheridan