Every dog owner knows that it is completely natural that dogs pant. Since, unlike us humans, the four-legged friends hardly have any sweat glands, they use panting to regulate their body temperature.
However, if a dog pants a lot, this could point to a problem with the four-legged friend's health. In the following, we will explain possible causes and when to pay attention to your dog's heavy panting.
As already mentioned above, unlike humans, dogs cannot cool down by sweating. Instead, they do this with their tongues by panting. The resulting air flow ensures that moisture on the mucous membrane in the mouth evaporates and the dog's body temperature drops.
Usually, your dog will pant more when it is hot or when they are physically exhausted, so there is usually no reason to be alarmed. As long as the dog's breathing is shallow and it doesn't seem like they are not getting enough air, you can assume that everything is fine.
However, make sure that you provide your four-legged friend with plenty of water to drink, as they lose quite a lot of fluid by panting.
If your dog pants regularly without any obvious reason, this can be a first warning sign that something is not right. This is particularly true if you notice any other symptoms in addition to the excessive panting.
If your dog pants a lot, there can be a number of reasons. These include not only diseases, but also anatomical peculiarities in certain breeds.
Other symptoms that occur often give an indication of what is causing the dog to pant and whether there may be a health problem.
The heart pumps blood through the dog's body and thus ensures that the four-legged friend's organs are sufficiently supplied with vital oxygen. In dogs, heart diseases such as DCM can lead to a decrease in the heart's performance, which in turn impairs the oxygen supply to the organism.
This can then be noticed by the fact that the dog pants a lot and breathes faster to compensate for the insufficient oxygen supply caused by the heart disease.
It goes without saying that dogs with heart problems must be examined and treated by a veterinarian. The symptoms that can indicate heart disease in addition to abnormal breathing include declining performance and so-called cardiac cough. The latter is caused by the backlog of blood in the lungs of the four-legged friend.
Anaemia can also cause dogs to pant frequently. Similar to the case of heart disease, anaemia leads to an insufficient supply of oxygen to the organs, which the dog tries to compensate for by panting and breathing quickly.
Other typical symptoms of anaemia include pale mucous membranes, reduced resilience and circulatory problems.
Anaemia is not a disease in itself, but merely a symptom that can have many causes, from infection with babesiosis to autoimmune diseases and kidney failure. A visit to the vet is usually the only way to find out what caused it.
Aside from heart problems and anaemia, excessive panting of a dog can also be a sign of pain. The four-legged friend may have stomach pains or suffer from a painful joint disease such as arthritis.
Other symptoms can provide a first indication of the cause of the pain. For example, if you observe an increasing restriction of mobility in your four-legged friend, in many cases this is indeed a sign of problems with the joints.
Ultimately, the only way to be sure is to visit the vet. They can examine the panting dog and get to the bottom of the cause of the four-legged friend's pain.
Whether it's by poisonous plants in the garden, the consumption of food that is toxic to dogs or the unnoticed ingestion of poisonous bait while going for a walk; there are many opportunities for dogs to become poisoned.
Strong panting is one of the signs that can indicate such poisoning. In addition, tremors and muscle cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea as well as apathy and unconsciousness are among the possible symptoms of poisoning.
If you suspect your dog is panting a lot due to poisoning, an immediate trip to the vet is essential. Poisoning is always a medical emergency that must be treated by professionals.
Over the course of time, dog breeding has produced a large variety of different breeds. Unfortunately, the well-being of the animals was not always the priority.
In so-called brachycephalic dog breeds, for example, breathing problems are common due to the short snout and the shape of the head. If you have a dog like a pug or an English bulldog and the four-legged friend pants a lot, it might simply be because of their breed.
In this case, there is not much you can do about panting. However, you should make sure that your dog does not exert itself too much, especially at higher temperatures, since brachycephalic dogs are usually quite sensitive to heat.
Unfortunately, some owners go over the top when it comes to feeding their four-legged friends. Too large portion sizes and all sorts of treats between meals will inevitably lead to obesity in dogs at some point.
Aside from putting a strain on the joints and increasing the risk of numerous diseases, the excess weight can also lead to dogs panting frequently.
If your four-legged friend weighs too much, you should take swift action, not only because of their breathing. A moderate calorie reduction and an exercise program adapted to the animal's abilities ensure that your dog will gradually lose their excess weight.
In addition, you can supplement your four-legged friend's diet with our natural dieting powder Shiimun Slim.
If a dog pants and also drinks a lot, this can sometimes simply be due to romping about in summer temperatures. However, if both occur regularly without any apparent reason, this can occasionally be due to hormonal imbalances.
If this is the case, either Cushing's disease, which leads to excessive cortisol release, or diabetes, which primarily affects older dogs, are the most likely causes.
Both Cushing's disease and diabetes are a case for the vet. If therapy is started early and treated properly, both hormone disorders can usually be brought under control quite well.
Since the increased panting in dogs can have very different causes, it is of course not possible to say in advance which treatment measures the veterinarian will take in individual cases. After all, heart disease, for example, is treated completely differently than poisoning or an infectious disease.
In view of the numerous possible triggers, it is therefore all the more important that you have your dog examined promptly if they pant excessively, especially if they have other complaints as well.
In the event of poisoning, every minute can count. But even if this is not the case, an early start of treatment very often makes a decisive contribution to a positive outcome.
As you can see, an excessively panting dog can be a cause for concern. If panting occurs regularly without any obvious reason and your four-legged friend's breathing accelerates even while resting, a timely visit to the veterinarian is advisable. This is especially true if your dog shows other symptoms of possible illness in addition to frequent panting.
Diabetes is widely referred to as diabetes mellitus. It is a serious disease of the metabolism. The metabolic disorder does not occur only in humans. It is also common in dogs.Most of suffuring of dia..
Many people know from their own experience how much arthrosis can reduce the quality of life. Of course, this also applies to dogs, which can suffer from osteoarthritis in the same way as humans. Art..
The English Bulldog is a small breed of dog from Great Britain (FCI Group 2). There it was originally bred for bullfighting. Today, however, the English Bulldog is a popular family dog, which ..
If kidney failure occurs in dogs, this has serious consequences for the animal. After all, kidneys are a vital organ. Their task is to filter toxins out of the body. If they are no longer able to do t..
It can happen again and again that a dog suffers from diarrhoea. If this happens only occasionally, it is normally not a major cause for concern. However, diarrhoea in dogs can also have serious c..
Cushing's syndrome, named after the person who originally discovered it, the American physician Harvey W. Cushing, can occur not only in humans but also in dogs. In the following, you will learn ab..
DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy) is a heart disease that mainly affects larger breeds of dogs. In the following, we will explain the causes of the disease, its symptoms and how a vet can treat dilated car..
