Dog panting like asthma

Dog panting like asthma mainly falls into two categories: physiological panting and pathological panting.

Physiological panting:

High environmental temperature

When the outside temperature is too high, a dog's skin cannot dissipate heat quickly enough. In this case, the dog can only cool off by panting with its mouth open, which looks like asthma. Therefore, it is usually not recommended to take dogs out for a walk in hot summer days, as it may lead to heat stroke and dehydration.

Exhaustion after exercise

Due to the underdeveloped sweat glands in dogs, they cannot release excess heat in their bodies after exercise. Therefore, they pant with their mouths, resulting in panting similar to asthma. In this case, it is advised to bring the dog to a shady and well-ventilated area and give it some water.

Pathological panting:

Respiratory diseases

When a dog has a respiratory disease, it will show symptoms such as rapid breathing, coughing, running nose, sneezing, and even difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, and even suffocating to death. Therefore, if the owner discovers these symptoms in the dog, they should take it to a pet hospital immediately for inspection and treatment.

Heart disease

When a dog has a heart disease, the blood circulation will be abnormal, and the dog will pant like asthma. For a confirmed diagnosis, X-ray imaging, echocardiography, and more advanced imaging examinations are needed.