The dog often breathes with its mouth open: reasons, what to do? Why does a dog breathe frequently after giving birth, become hot, and tremble?

Why does my dog often breathe with his mouth open?

The cause of rapid breathing can be both physiological characteristics and pathologies. This is absolutely normal if the dog is breathing frequently due to physiological changes in its body, which are associated with the need to speed up metabolism and metabolism.

Why does a dog often breathe with its mouth open?

Such changes include excitement. That is, the dog is scared or, conversely, happy. In this case, it is quite normal for her to breathe frequently and stick out her tongue.
After a long run or other physical activity, perhaps competition, the dog may also pant and stick out its tongue.
Dogs in heat, like women on their period, feel a little strange and not very good.
Blood pressure and temperature may increase. Therefore, rapid breathing during pregnancy, childbirth, and estrus is absolutely normal. High ambient temperature.

A pet

What is childbirth like for a dog (with video)

Below is a video of how dogs give birth at home:

It is better if the dog gives birth on the sofa or bed. Cover part of the sofa with oilcloth, put a large diaper and at the first signs of labor, place the animal there. When giving birth, the dog should lie on its right side. It is more convenient, first of all, for you to give birth on the sofa, since sometimes the process drags on for many hours - you need to help the dog and puppies, and it will be difficult to be on the floor all the time. Near the sofa there should be a table with everything you need, as well as a floor lamp or table lamp. The light should be bright. In between the births of puppies, the lights can be dimmed.

During the first stage of labor, the dog moans. The contractions become more frequent, which can be clearly seen in the abdomen - the uterus either tenses or relaxes. The dog's two-horned uterus, contracting, moves the puppy from the horn to the body of the uterus, and then to its cervix. This occurs during the first stage of labor, which lasts 12-24 hours. If these signs continue for more than a day or the dog, as it seems to you, has returned to the first stage from the second stage and is very suffering, you need to consult a specialist.

At the second stage of labor, the dog begins spasmodic movements, causing simultaneous contraction of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm - pushing. As soon as this stage occurs, a light (straw) colored discharge, the so-called fetal fluid, may appear from the vagina. The birth of a puppy can last up to 1 hour from the start of the second stage. The dog lies on its side or chest. Some squat as if wanting to urinate. This is what the dog does in the most difficult moments of expulsion of the fetus.

Sometimes a dark gray sac the size of a chicken egg appears from the vagina with fetal fluid. If the puppy inside cannot be felt, it must be cut with scissors. If a puppy is felt inside the sac, the membrane should not be damaged - this is the amniotic membrane with the puppy inside. The membrane may rupture before the puppy emerges.

The dog is breathing quickly and is hot: reasons

However, if your dog is in a calm state, not nervous, it’s a cold season outside, but still often breathes with its mouth open, perhaps the reasons are pathological and indicate serious illnesses.

The dog is breathing quickly, hot, reasons:

Entry of foreign bodies into the respiratory tract. This may be a neoplasm that narrows the lumen in the bronchi and lungs, blockage, or the ingress of foreign bodies. There may be fur or small objects in the bronchi.
Inflammatory diseases of the respiratory organs . They can be of either infectious or viral origin. Dogs also suffer from bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as viral illnesses that can cause pneumonia.
Respiratory damage due to trauma.
Diseases of the cardiovascular system . The heart pumps blood throughout the body, therefore, due to pathologies of the cardiovascular system, respiratory diseases can be observed.
Broken ribs, damaged bones. Broken ribs make it difficult to breathe normally. Note the dents in the chest area. There are usually other symptoms, such as the dog's weakness, pain when pressed, and restlessness.
When the body temperature is elevated, the dog also breathes frequently . Pay attention to this to see if your pet is sick.
Endocrine system diseases and allergies . If you have an allergic reaction, especially to pollen or food, your dog may also sneeze and pant.

Rapid breathing

Uterine prolapse

Uterine prolapse is a rare postpartum complication that occurs as a result of improper obstetric care and appears within the first few hours after birth. At this time, the cervix has not yet contracted, and a certain brown-red bleeding mass (uterus) appears from the dog’s vagina; after a while it dries out, changes color to gray and begins to die. In this case, the dog may feel normal.

Of course, this pathology requires immediate treatment, otherwise there will be a mortal danger for the dog.

Why does a dog breathe frequently after giving birth?

Particular attention should be paid to a dog who has recently become a mother. The fact is that the birth of puppies is a serious stress for the body, which can cause the development of certain ailments.

Why does a dog breathe frequently after giving birth:

It is generally accepted that increased breathing during childbirth and 15 minutes after it is physiological, since it is during this period that the body needs a lot of oxygen. In the first 15 minutes after the birth of the first baby, it is necessary for the dog to produce a large amount of milk.
It is at this moment that a lot of milk arrives in the mammary glands, and the amount of oxytocin and other sex hormones increases in the blood. All this is necessary for the birth to end safely, and for the girl to be able to give birth not only to puppies, but also to a placenta.
If rapid breathing occurs for longer than 15 minutes, try palpating your pet's abdomen. Perhaps the rapid breathing is due to the fact that not all puppies were born. This happens if the first babies are stillborn. Perhaps labor has stopped and one or two puppies remain in the belly. You can easily determine this by palpating the lower abdomen.

Cute dog

Causes of postpartum cramps

There are two fundamental factors in the mechanism of development of eclampsia. On the one hand, there is a lack of nutrition, and on the other, toxicosis. Protein and minerals (especially calcium) are of greatest importance for a pregnant bitch. Dog poisoning can occur due to several factors:

ingestion of toxins with food;
increased sensitivity of the mother to products of the fetus and placenta;
toxic effects of decomposition products of lochia and maternal placenta.

There is a predisposition to the disease in small and medium-sized dog breeds - dachshunds, poodles, terriers.

Eclampsia is also often called milk fever or tetany. The main factor in its occurrence is a sharp drop in calcium in the blood - less than 1.7 mmol/l. Without timely help for a pet, the pathology rarely goes away and threatens death. Calcium loss in dogs during pregnancy is associated with bone growth in fetuses. But even in the postpartum period, losses increase - calcium is actively washed away to form milk.

Low calcium levels alter the potential of cell membranes, which leads to spontaneous contractions of skeletal muscles.

In addition to calcium concentration, albumin level is an important factor. Its low content can be determined by both insufficient intake with food and excessive excretion. Albumin loss is especially large in kidney disease.

My dog is breathing frequently after giving birth, what should I do?

But there are also pathological causes of rapid breathing after childbirth, especially they are observed the next day or a few days later. The fact is that almost all the body’s energy reserves during this period are spent on babies, that is, milk.

The dog is breathing frequently after giving birth, what to do:

In order to produce it in sufficient quantities, the mother’s body is literally emptied; there is no calcium or glucose left in it. That is why a decent proportion of females after childbirth are faced with a disease such as eclampsia.
Take a close look at your pet; if, along with rapid breathing, the paws stretch out, become as if wooden, or the female cannot rise on her hind legs, limps, drags them along with her, this is a reason to urgently go to the doctor.
It is best if you purchase a solution of glucose and calcium gluconate in advance to give the necessary injection. There are drugs that are administered intramuscularly, usually injected into the dog's thigh. The amount of product is selected depending on the weight of the pet.

A pet

Treatment of dogs

Timely treatment allows you to quickly restore the animal’s health. Without therapeutic assistance, various secondary pathologies can develop - suffocation, pulmonary and cerebral edema. Eclampsia is especially dangerous in pregnant bitches, as it leads to a delay in childbirth and the appearance of non-viable and dead offspring.

A sick dog should be isolated from any external stimuli, as they only intensify the seizures. The room should be warm, with little lighting. Be sure to lay soft bedding - there should be a lot of it to avoid secondary damage during seizures.

In case of eclampsia, the use of corticosteroids is not allowed, as they increase the excretion of calcium in the urine and reduce its content in the blood.

The owner should warm the sick animal. To do this, cover your pet with a warm blanket and cover it with heating pads (bottles) with warm water. Valocordin or Corvalol should be given inside along with warm water.

Intravenous administration of calcium preparations and physiological solutions has a good healing effect:

10% solution of calcium gluconate in a dosage of up to 20 ml, administered by drip, it is also good to give a subcutaneous injection to prolong the effect;
Calcium borglukont has a similar effect;
calcium chloride is administered strictly intravenously, no more than 1 ml/kg. The drug must not get under the skin or into muscle tissue. The effect is enhanced when used simultaneously with glucose;
Kamagsol is a complex drug, administered 1 ml/kg;
Magnesium sulfate is given intravenously or intramuscularly, no more than 15 ml.

Calcium supplements should be administered slowly and cardiac function should be monitored if possible. If attacks of arrhythmia occur, administration should be discontinued. Do not exceed the permissible injection rate. You need to be especially careful when using calcium chloride, since its penetration into the subcutaneous tissue leads to necrosis.

To relieve seizures, it is necessary to use antipsychotic drugs and tranquilizers. The dog is injected with combilipen and rompun. In exceptional cases, they resort to the use of narcotic drugs.

If seizures appear in a dog in the last days of pregnancy, then a cesarean section is indicated. This is necessary, since labor is very difficult - pushing and contractions weaken. In addition, veterinary care may aggravate the attack. For the period of treatment, puppies are taken from dogs that have given birth and they are transferred to artificial feeding until the attacks stop.

The dog is breathing heavily and frequently, what should I do?

Quite often, the cause of heavy breathing in a dog is heart problems. They usually appear in dogs over 8 years of age. Indeed, mature dogs can suffer from cardiovascular diseases.

The dog is breathing heavily and frequently, what to do:

While walking, running, or active games, the dog gets tired very quickly and sticks out its tongue. Take a closer look at the color of the tongue. If it is blue, the dog most likely has heart problems. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to how the pet behaves.
The accompanying symptoms can tell a lot. If this is an infectious disease, the dog may tremble, its performance decreases, and any desire to have fun, walk or run disappears.
If previously your pet happily enjoyed a walk in the park and chased abandoned sticks, now he is very lethargic, trying to go into the shade and lie down. In this case, you need to pay attention to his breathing and body temperature.
If you fed your dog unusual food, perhaps he picked up something on the street, after which rapid breathing, vomiting and diarrhea appeared, this indicates poisoning. It is necessary to rinse the dog’s stomach and give several tablets of activated carbon.
The injury is difficult to miss; most often it manifests itself as damage to the skin, or uncharacteristic changes in the contours of the body. What usually happens with closed rib fractures.

On a walk

Clinical picture and diagnosis

Eclampsia in dogs in most cases manifests itself 2 weeks after birth, much less often (no more than 15% of cases) pathology is observed in the last days of pregnancy. Signs of eclampsia in dogs:

anxiety, severe agitation, trembling in the first minutes of the attack;
lack of coordination, unsteady gait;
paralysis of the pelvic limbs, the dog cannot move;
convulsive contraction of the muscles of the limbs;
the animal lies on its side with its neck extended, mouth open and tongue hanging out;
foamy saliva may be produced;
You can manually bend the limbs with great effort, but they quickly straighten again;
the attack of convulsions intensifies with external irritation.

Sick bitches have rapid breathing and heart rate. Determination of the pulse is difficult due to muscle contractions; it is thread-like, weak and frequent. General body temperature is usually increased by 1-1.5 degrees. A seizure in a pet is often accompanied by asphyxia, biting the tongue - foamy saliva with blood is released.

An attack of seizures in a dog lasts 5-10 minutes, less often it can exceed half an hour. After the attack there is severe depression and lethargy. But the animal recovers quite quickly and in the periods between attacks, pathological symptoms are not typical. Changes can be detected in the laboratory - the concentration of calcium in the plasma decreases, and protein appears in the urine.

Why does my dog pant and whine frequently?

Frequent breathing, which is characterized by wheezing, whistling, and shallow breathing, indicates that the dog is sick with a viral or bacterial disease. She has pneumonia or bronchitis. Usually a whistling, short sound is heard when exhaling. Very often, before these symptoms, the dog experiences nasal discharge. Most likely, pneumonia is provoked by an exacerbation and deterioration in health after a viral infection.

Why does a dog pant and whine frequently?

Frequent breathing can be caused by parasites. Oddly enough, infection with worms affects not only the state of the dog’s digestive system, but also the functioning of a large number of organs.
The fact is that some types of worms live not only in the gastrointestinal tract. Some of them live in the dog's lungs. Therefore, parasites can provoke coughing, sneezing, and rapid breathing.
Wheezing may be heard and symptoms similar to bronchitis may be observed. However, most often, infection with worms is not accompanied by a high temperature. Usually all vital signs are normal, but the dog becomes lethargic and may wheeze.
In this case, you need to consult a doctor and be examined for worms. Much attention should be paid to this if you switched from artificial food to natural food and gave your dog raw meat.

At the doctor's appointment

Why does a pregnant dog pant rapidly?

A dog's pregnancy can cause rapid breathing. This symptom appears around 57-60 days of pregnancy.

Why does a pregnant dog breathe frequently?

This suggests that the dog is really preparing for childbirth, perhaps she is having contractions.
Along with rapid breathing, other symptoms may also occur, such as licking a loop, tension in the lower abdomen.
This all indicates the beginning of labor.

Journey

The dog breathes rapidly, sticks out its tongue and trembles

Owners of small dogs, such as the Yorkshire Terrier, often experience rapid breathing. Most often, such dogs are kept as a home pillow or toy.

The dog breathes frequently with its tongue hanging out and trembles:

Therefore, they receive very little attention. The main task of the owners in this case is to feed and groom the dog. However, it is worth remembering that this dog also needs frequent walks and muscle training.
Therefore, it is necessary to walk them as often as large breeds of dogs. That is three times a day. It is advisable to do this not for 10 minutes, but much longer, so that the dog can run properly and tense his muscles.
It is precisely because many owners keep such dogs in greenhouse conditions that they often go to the toilet in the diaper, and not outside, the dogs become overgrown with fat and become obese. Problems with the cardiovascular system appear. This is why rapid breathing may occur.

Almost all dogs in the summer, due to the presence of a thick fur coat, can breathe very quickly, sticking out their tongue. This is not a pathology, try to save your pet from the heat.

Diagnostic methods

Tracheoscopy Diagnosis of the disease is carried out by a veterinarian. The specialist collects anamnesis, examines the larynx, and also prescribes an x-ray examination. If the development of a disease of the respiratory system is suspected, broncho-, tracheo- or laryngoscopy is prescribed. If the veterinarian suspects the presence of tumors in the lungs or other respiratory organs, an x-ray, possibly a tomogram and a biopsy will be required. For infectious diseases, the doctor will prescribe blood and urine tests. To ensure the health of the cardiovascular system, it is necessary to do an ultrasound of the heart.