Watching your normally happy healthy pet experience breathing difficulty can be frightening. Just as people do, pets get anxious when they have trouble breathing. Their pupils dilate and they might extend their necks, breathe through their mouths, and wheeze. As scary as this situation is, you need to remain calm and get your pet to a veterinary hospital.
Causes
Because dogs and cats don’t sweat through their skin the way we do, pets pant heavily after exercise or during hot weather to cool off. But rapid breathing or panting also can indicate pain or fever. If your pet experiences true breathing difficulty, you’ll notice a distinct change in his posture, attitude, and breathing pattern. His breaths may be rapid and shallow or slow and labored, and your pet may refuse to lie down.
Common causes of respiratory difficulty include a foreign object lodged in the throat, feline asthma, swelling or paralysis of the larynx, heart failure, pneumonia, cancer, fluid or air in the chest cavity, severe anemia, trauma, poisoning, complications of heartworm disease, and pulmonary thromboembolism (a large clot lodged in the vessels of the lungs).
What you can do at home
If your pet experiences breathing difficulty, don’t try to manage the problem at home—take him to the veterinarian immediately.
If your pet suddenly has trouble breathing at mealtime or while nibbling on a favorite toy, he probably inhaled food or a piece of the object. Usually the pet will cough or gag and have obvious trouble catching his breath. You may attempt the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the object. For big dogs, wrap your arms around your pet’s body, interlace your fingers under his rib cage, and give a quick upward thrust. This will often dislodge the obstruction. For cats and small dogs, grab the area just below the rib cage with your fingers and give a quick squeeze. If the first squeeze doesn’t work, try again—this time more forcefully.
What your veterinarian will do
Your veterinarian will try to relieve the breathing problem, either by removing a foreign object, administering oxygen therapy or corticosteroids, or performing a tracheostomy (cutting an opening in the windpipe and inserting a tube to allow air to pass into the lungs). After your pet is stable, your veterinarian will perform a complete physical examination, and he or she may recommend blood tests, X-rays, and ultrasound to determine a cause.
Although breathing difficulty is serious, most underlying conditions respond well to treatment. Once the underlying condition is remedied, both you and your pet can breathe a sigh of relief.
