My Dog Is Breathing Fast, What's Wrong? - Common Causes

Normal breathing in a dog ranges between ten and thirty breaths per minute. A faster rate points to abnormal, rapid, or accelerated breathing. There are many situations that can cause this change.

These include fever, pain, or anxiety. It's important to distinguish this from panting, which is a normal bodily function that helps the dog lower their body temperature, and isn't anything to worry about. Let's take a detailed look at more information on our dog's breathing.

Rapid breathing in dogs — what does it mean?

Fever is a symptom common to many diseases, and it shows up as rapid breathing. We need to see the vet to get a diagnosis and start treatment. Pain, too, occurs in many conditions, and is another trigger for accelerated breathing.

If we don't know the cause, or it's due to a fracture or any other serious injury, a vet visit is also needed. Lastly, anxiety in certain situations can lead a dog to breathe abnormally fast.

In these cases, treatment will focus more on modifying that behavior. A vet specializing in canine behavior, a trainer, or a behaviorist will be the professionals to turn to for setting up the right approach.

Rapid breathing and breathing difficulty

Besides the situations above, rapid breathing is often linked to breathing difficulty. This picture can point to the dog having congestive heart disease or lung disease, of varying severity.

Shock, dreaded heatstroke, dehydration, what's known as ketoacidosis (which can affect diabetic dogs), or ingesting certain toxins are among the causes of rapid, labored breathing. What they all have in common is the need for veterinary care.

Congestive heart failure

In this disorder, the heart can't properly circulate blood throughout the body. This ends up compromising the function of every organ. The heart will compensate for its shortcomings for as long as possible. But there will come a point when we notice symptoms.

These often show up after the dog does some physical activity. In the early stages of the disease, these include tiredness, reduced activity, and coughing fits. As it progresses, the dog stops eating, loses weight, their abdomen swells, and rapid breathing can be detected.

Swelling also occurs, along with a faster pulse, bluish mucous membranes, and the dog can faint. As soon as we notice symptoms of this failure, we need to see the vet. Treatment includes diet and medications suited to the symptoms shown.

Lung disease

Pneumonia and pleural effusion are the lung conditions most often linked to rapid breathing. We'll also notice signs like fever, depression, a fast pulse, nasal discharge, coughing, bluish mucous membranes, or collapse in the most severe cases.

Pneumonia can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites, and affects young, older, or weakened dogs more. It requires veterinary treatment. Pleural effusion, meanwhile, involves fluid or blood building up in the chest.

It's usually linked to congestive heart failure, though other causes can trigger it too, such as kidney or liver problems, or tumors. Effusion seriously compromises breathing and is therefore a veterinary emergency.

Shock

Shock is due to insufficient blood flow and a lack of oxygen. Anything that disrupts the circulatory or respiratory system's function can potentially trigger shock.

Rapid breathing is accompanied by an increased heart rate. This happens as the body tries to compensate for the shortfall. Naturally, if the dog doesn't get veterinary care, they'll die. And even with care, the prognosis is guarded.

Shock occurs with hemorrhage, heart failure, allergic reactions, dehydration, poisoning, sepsis, or peritonitis. When shock is very advanced, breathing slows down, the animal feels cold, mucous membranes are pale, the pulse is weak, and they can lose consciousness.

Heatstroke

Heatstroke involves body temperature rising to levels that can kill the dog. This is why it's an emergency requiring quick veterinary care. It commonly happens when a dog is left inside a car in the sun, but there are other risk factors too, such as being a brachycephalic breed.

Besides altered breathing, the dog's saliva thickens, mucous membranes turn red, and there's bloody diarrhea and shock. It's urgent to cool the dog down by wetting them, but not so much that it causes hypothermia — that is, an excessive drop in temperature.

Dehydration

Dehydration means losing more body fluids than are being replaced. It's normal for this to happen after intense episodes of vomiting and diarrhea. It can also be linked to fever and numerous serious diseases or conditions like heatstroke.

We can check our dog's hydration by pinching a fold of skin on their back between our fingers. Gently pull it upward. If the skin doesn't immediately snap back to its original position, the dog is dehydrated.

Signs of dehydration also include a dry mouth, sticky gums, thick saliva, sunken eyes, rapid breathing, and shock. They need to be taken to the vet right away.

Diabetic ketoacidosis

Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition linked to high blood sugar. There isn't enough insulin in the body to get all that glucose into the cells. Because of this, the body starts breaking down fat for energy.

Ketones are the result of this process. Besides disrupting breathing, this causes general weakness, vomiting, and an acetone smell — like nail polish remover — on the breath. This is a veterinary emergency.

Poisoning

There's a huge list of potentially toxic substances. How severe the poisoning is depends on how the dog came into contact with the substance, how much, the dog's size, and how quickly treatment begins. Veterinary care is usually essential. Some toxic products have rapid breathing among their symptoms.

These include ingredients in rodenticides, pyrethrins used in insecticides, chocolate, petroleum derivatives such as gasoline or turpentine, or certain plants such as calla lily or pothos. Insect bites can also result in rapid breathing.

Bibliography Carlson and Giffin. 2002. Manual práctico de veterinaria canina. Madrid. Editorial el Drac.