Gasping for air

“My dog has had a few occasions where she has difficulty breathing and sort of gasps for air. Her chest tightens, etc. It reminds me of a person w/ asthma. I explained it to the vet but he says he needs to "see" it before he can actually diagnose her. So - we've borrowed a video camera so we can take an example to him.

My friend had a dog w/ asthma and she imitated his attacks. It was exactly what my dog does.

The question I have is this: Has anyone ever had a dog w/ asthma. If so, how was it diagnosed? How was it treated? I can't very well hand her an inhaler and tell her to breathe deep.

Until we confirm w/ the vet, we may not bring her on any overnighters. Very sad about that - she was supposed to come w/ us to Ohio in September (see Ohio Folks thread).

Any input is appreciated.”

“Last time I saw a dog gasping for air...it was a hot day and the dumbass owners had it out in the sun with them.

It seemed like the dog was trying to cool itself down by gasping. The dog didn't want to move from the shade, so me and others poured water and held ice on it and gave it water while the chic went to get her significant other.”

“This has happened to Sadie on several occasions. Different season, different temperatures. Actually, mostly at night, when she's been resting for hours.”

“She is a girl...are you sure she's not just faking it to get out of going backpacking? Maybe if you tell her your taking her to a spa in Hawaii she'll suddenly feel better.

Seriously though, I've got a couple of friends that work at dog rescues. I'll check with them on it.”

“LOL Swiss. I'm pretty confident she doesn't want to get out of backpacking. When the leash and backpack come out, she runs in cirlces w/ excitment.”

“Tarabull, sorry to hear about Sadie. I hope you guys figure something out soon. If it were me, I wouldnt bring her to Zaleski, too far from a vet and hilly. LOTS of ticks too.”

“one of my dogs was diagnosed with chronic lung disease.. we were told we would be lucky if he lived for another year.. that was over 5 years ago.. we just make sure we dont push him too hard, and make sure he is inside when it is hot out. (my parents got central air for the dog ”

“crap”

“Thanks for the tip hyper. We'll be taking her back in soon. We're going to see what the vet has to say about hiking.

She would be very disappointed to hear that she couldn't be a hiking dog anymore. We'll hope it's something easier than asthma!!!!!!!”

“My Torrey gasps constantly at night. She does it when she is thirsty. I give her some water and she is okay. I haven't even had her for a month yet and when she first started doing it, it freaked me out. The temp in my place was fine and she just ate and drank so I had no clue what was up. I gave her water anyway and sure enough, she was fine. She could drink her weight in H2O if I let her. I wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of her jumping into my bath tub!”