Hi,

For the last month or so, our 17-year old Pug, Dolly, has been panting
a lot. There are times where she is awake and quiet, but then there
are long periods when she starts panting. She also seems to want to
get up and walk around.

We've taken her to several vets, and they did blood and urine tests,
and they said everything looked "pretty normal". They said that her
red blood count was "a little low", and gave her a 10-day course of
antibiotics, but it hasn't seemed to do much.

She also has some arthritis in her hips and in her front lets, I
think.

Her appetite seems "normal", at least for her.

I recently ran across information about something called "Cushing
Sydrome", but she doesn't seem to have any problems with hair loss,
and she doesn't seem to drink, or want to drink, a lot of water.

Would the "normal" blood tests that the vets ran have detected that,
or is there a special test for it?

We're trying to figure out what to do next. My wife thinks that the
panting is because she's either in pain (because of the arthitis) or
stressed out.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

Pain will make a dog pant. You mentioned she has arthritis are you treating
her for it? If the blood work came back OK I'd be more inclined to think
this is pain related.

There are many options out there to treat her for the arthritis pain if you
aren't doing so please look into getting her some relief.

Celeste



"ohaya" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hi,

For the last month or so, our 17-year old Pug, Dolly, has been panting
a lot. There are times where she is awake and quiet, but then there
are long periods when she starts panting. She also seems to want to
get up and walk around.

We've taken her to several vets, and they did blood and urine tests,
and they said everything looked "pretty normal". They said that her
red blood count was "a little low", and gave her a 10-day course of
antibiotics, but it hasn't seemed to do much.

She also has some arthritis in her hips and in her front lets, I
think.

Her appetite seems "normal", at least for her.

I recently ran across information about something called "Cushing
Sydrome", but she doesn't seem to have any problems with hair loss,
and she doesn't seem to drink, or want to drink, a lot of water.

Would the "normal" blood tests that the vets ran have detected that,
or is there a special test for it?

We're trying to figure out what to do next. My wife thinks that the
panting is because she's either in pain (because of the arthitis) or
stressed out.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

For the last month or so, our 17-year old Pug, Dolly, has been panting
a lot. There are times where she is awake and quiet, but then there
are long periods when she starts panting. She also seems to want to
get up and walk around.

Advanced old age almost always comes with some sort of cardiac degeneration
for which panting is one of the symptoms. The vets have done ECGs, echos,
x-rays and are satisfied with them?

On Jun 10, 10:05 pm, "Sharon Too"
wrote:
For the last month or so, our 17-yearoldPug, Dolly, has beenpanting
a lot. There are times where she is awake and quiet, but then there
are long periods when she startspanting. She also seems to want to
get up and walk around.

Advancedoldage almost always comes with some sort of cardiac degeneration
for whichpantingis one of the symptoms. The vets have done ECGs, echos,
x-rays and are satisfied with them?

Sharon and Spot,

We've gotten Xrays (but not ECGs) done (for both skeletal and her
heart, I think), and they said that other than the arthritis, they
were were normal. I forgot to mention that we also had tests done for
heartworm (the vet used some kind of blood test that he said was new,
rather than taking feces samples), and he said that she didn't have
heartworms.

For pain, the vet had us try Tramadol (1/2 tablet a day) for a couple
of weeks, but that didn't seem to change the panting thing.

We noticed something last night. Dolly was panting, and my wife
picked her up and held her close for awhile instead of just putting
her down next to her on the sofa, and in a few minutes, Dolly stopped
panting. She eventually fell asleep in my wife's arms. Same thing
happened this morning. The thing that is weird is that this doesn't
work with me, just my wife ...

Note also that Dolly sleeps through the night quietly (no panting) on
a dog bed next to our bed.

Because of the above, my wife is thinking that the panting is only
because of anxiety. I'm still trying to convince her (my wife that
is) that we should take her to the vet for one more test, for
Cushing's.

Jim

On Jun 11, 3:29 pm, ohaya wrote:
On Jun 10, 10:05 pm, "Sharon Too"
wrote:

For the last month or so, our 17-yearoldPug, Dolly, has beenpanting
a lot. There are times where she is awake and quiet, but then there
are long periods when she startspanting. She also seems to want to
get up and walk around.

Advancedoldage almost always comes with some sort of cardiac degeneration
for whichpantingis one of the symptoms. The vets have done ECGs, echos,
x-rays and are satisfied with them?

Sharon and Spot,

We've gotten Xrays (but not ECGs) done (for both skeletal and her
heart, I think), and they said that other than the arthritis, they
were were normal. I forgot to mention that we also had tests done for
heartworm (the vet used some kind of blood test that he said was new,
rather than taking feces samples), and he said that she didn't have
heartworms.

For pain, the vet had us try Tramadol (1/2 tablet a day) for a couple
of weeks, but that didn't seem to change thepantingthing.

We noticed something last night. Dolly waspanting, and my wife
picked her up and held her close for awhile instead of just putting
her down next to her on the sofa, and in a few minutes, Dolly stoppedpanting. She eventually fell asleep in my wife's arms. Same thing
happened this morning. The thing that is weird is that this doesn't
work with me, just my wife ...

Note also that Dolly sleeps through the night quietly (nopanting) on
adogbed next to our bed.

Because of the above, my wife is thinking that thepantingis only
because of anxiety. I'm still trying to convince her (my wife that
is) that we should take her to the vet for one more test, for
Cushing's.

Jim

Sorry, I forgot that before the Tramadol, her vet also had us try
"Metacam" (drop per day), but Dolly got really bad diarrhea from that.

Jim

In article . com,
ohaya wrote:
Because of the above, my wife is thinking that the panting is only
because of anxiety. I'm still trying to convince her (my wife that
is) that we should take her to the vet for one more test, for
Cushing's.

It's possible that she's got Cushings without showing the
usual symptoms but it's not the first place I would look,
frankly. If it looks like anxiety I would add to the list
of things to consider hearing loss and cognitive problems
(although the latter usually has other behavioral changes,
as well).
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

On Jun 11, 3:39 pm, (Melinda Shore) wrote:
In article . com,

ohaya wrote:
Because of the above, my wife is thinking that thepantingis only
because of anxiety. I'm still trying to convince her (my wife that
is) that we should take her to the vet for one more test, for
Cushing's.

It's possible that she's got Cushings without showing the
usual symptoms but it's not the first place I would look,
frankly. If it looks like anxiety I would add to the list
of things to consider hearing loss and cognitive problems
(although the latter usually has other behavioral changes,
as well).
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

Melinda,

From some other things, we do think that Dolly has hearing problems,
and possibly some vision problems (mild cataracts).

What are some of the other behavioral changes?

Jim

In article .com,
ohaya wrote:
From some other things, we do think that Dolly has hearing problems,
and possibly some vision problems (mild cataracts).

Some cloudiness in the eyes is normal and is not the same
thing as cataracts. She may have cataracts but I think a
lot of people see milky eyes and assume they're cataracts
when they're not.

What are some of the other behavioral changes?

General confusion, night wandering, incontinence, etc.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22ca...tart=0&start=0
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

"ohaya" wrote in message
oups.com...

From some other things, we do think that Dolly has hearing problems,
and possibly some vision problems (mild cataracts).

One of my dogs, when she got old and began losing her vision, became quite
agitated about it, especially at night when the light was worse; she didn't
want to be left alone AT ALL.

So it's possible that the panting is anxiety-related, but I would want to
rule out heart problems too. Talk to your vet about it.

flick 100785

In article ,
Anne Jackson wrote:
Indeed, but the person making the collars only sells one per dog,
so it's a one-off sale. A vet can make much more money selling
drugs, and for howevermany years...

So, just to be clear, your position is that vets are
charlatans who are trying to profit off your pets' illness
without actually helping, while people who sell copper
doodads are not?

Fascinating - tell me more!
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community