# Im worried about my dog and her panting, seems excessive.



## Omnishinzui (May 19, 2008)

Hi, im new here and am a tad worried about my dog, Misty. She is a Black Lab/Chow-Chow mix and is 8yrs-old. 

Anyways, I live in Southern Cali, where it has been 100 degrees fahrenheit in the last few days. Ever since it has got hot, she has started panting about 90% of the time she is awake. Our house has no cooling system at the moment, as it broke last week, so its been as hot/even hotter inside during the hottest times of the day. 

However, I have made absolute sure she always has ice in her water, and helped her find a way to sleep in front of a fan. She always goes outside into the yard during the day, in the shade. 

Today, she started acting really strange. Whining, moving to random places, and kept close to me. She wouldnt stop panting, and between the three I finally took four bottled waters from the cold fridge and poured them on a towel. I draped the towel over her, and liked it a lot. The panting was less, and while she slept on the floor with the towel on her (Neck to tail), I put a fan directly on her diagnally to the floor. She did not move for 3hrs, and slept great (I noticed her stomach was moving really fast, like she was hyperventilating... By the way, she never likes water or anything wet on her. She always will growl/get pissed when I do something like that. Yet she kept it on, and liked it until the towel was dry.

The moment it was taken off, she panted like she has been. Even at 8pm outside in the dark at 70f, she still was panting. Im worried. She is drinking plenty of water, and is eating normally. I know calling my vet is really important, and I shall do so in the morning.


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## BoxMeIn21 (Apr 10, 2007)

Sounds like you did a good job keeping her comfortable. Please let us know what your vet says since they are your best bet for advice. I hope everything is okay.


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## scintillady (Dec 13, 2007)

I'm sorry if this scares you, but I have to tell you that my dog, Susie (11 years old) started panting the same way, and she was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung) which led to right sided heart failure. She also had episodes of coughing, where she sometimes coughed up white phlegm. The heart damage was diagnosed from an EKG, heart ultrasound, and blood tests. It came on very suddenly, and after having her on enalapril and lasix for a couple of weeks, we finally decided that she was too uncomfortable and could not be cured. The heart damage was too severe. I couldn't stand the panicked look on her face when she couldn't get her breath, and not be able to do anything about it. The hardest thing I have ever had to do was to have her put down, but it was necessary. I'm praying that this is not the case with your dog.


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