Worried about Maggie, again
 

Yesterday Maggie threw up three times (that I know about). Once was food, the other two times was the foam stuff. I didn't find out she threw up this many times until after the vet was closed. She ate some chicken breast, she seemed fine, eating and drinking. Took her for a walk, nothing strenuous, no running, etc. So, she's laying beside me on the couch, an hour after we get home from the walk and she's breathing like she's outside running a marathon. She didn't breath this hard during the walk. She appeared tired and slow at times and I carried her. It seemed like she couldn't get comfortable, she kept changing positions and finally went to her crate. She doesn't do this unless she feels bad. I had blood work done last month when she was being sluggish, etc. It came back normal. A couple of weeks later, before her dental, bloodwork was done and everything was normal. I'm worried about Maggie.

Is she better now?

She is better, you would never know she was breathing like that. She's breathing normal now. I was stunned that she was breathing that hard.

My Finny gets like that when she has gas build up (usually from overeating: stealing other's food). This is fairly common with her. I read an article that said some small dogs may vomit due to gas being blocked behind the food. They said it would help to hold the dog upright after eating, which allows the gas to come out, without bringing the food up with it. (in essence: how to burp your dog, lol) I did that for a few weeks... she runs to me when she finishes eating now... I hold her upright and she usually burps, sometimes she burps on her own though, before I have a chance to pick her up.

My other 3 don't seem to have a problem... the article said bc the dogs are so small there's just not enough room inside so the food may come up with the gas. If I do pick up Peek a Boo, he'll burp and then go back and eat some more... but he usually goes for a nap right after eating so I've never seen him in distress from any gas.

You can also get Mylecon (for infants) in the grocery store... check with your vet for the dose though. Active ingredient is Simethicone, which disolves gas right away.

Also, if this is a first time for this, any food changes in the recent past that would make her gassy? Or could she have gotten into something? If it continues, I'd have the vet take a look.

She does tend to overeat. Before I left for work yesterday, she ate her food and Busters. I never thought about burping her...lol. I had read about the Mylecon, but never tried it. She does have a lot of gas. Would all of this cause her heavy, quick breathing? Now I feel bad about taking her on the walk. She probably just wanted to lay down and sleep it off. Her heavy breathing concerns me, maybe it's because sometimes I have to touch Buster to see if he is breathing.

I'm sorry little Maggie was sick. I understand being worried about her panting, but perhaps it is just as KJC stated. Just curious if it was very humid down there yesterday? I hope your lil overeater will be ok. If Kacee had a brother, she'd probably eat his food, too. I have to tell her no as it is.:)

The heavy breathing (panting) I think is from pain. I think most people know how painful gas cramps can be. My Finny almost passed out the first time I saw it happen to her. I had no idea what was going on...I thought she was dying! I rushed to pick her up, and as soon as her head was higher than her butt, she let out a very foul, sour smelling burp. She was drooling a bit, but her gums were pink and her heartrate was okay. I put her down and she trotted off, laid down and went to sleep. I stayed up to watch her, but her panting had stopped after the burp, and she seemed fine. Ever since then I started burping her after meals. I also keep Bloat Buster from Nature's Farmacy on hand now too. It's Simethicone and a Yucca extract made specifically for dogs.

I might be a bit worried about cardiac issues if she was breathing like that at rest. It really is very hot and humid right now and that can set them off....but after an hour I don't know.

Hate to be an alarmist, but I had a pup do that and it was congestive heart failure. Usually they don't improve like she did, but I would still be a bit wary.

I cannot imagine gas causing that...suppose anything is possible but I have two pups who tend to be gassy and they do not breathe rapidly.

Sending prayers for Maggie that she will be okay and that this will be figured out soon.

Linda, I've always wondered about her heart. From the time I got her, she has never been able to walk very far, no matter what the weather is. In the hot, humid weather, it's worse. She's always short of breath when she goes for a walk and I usually wind up carrying her home. This is not something new. The breathing in the video is new, I've never seen her do that. We got home from walking about 9:00, I took the video at 10:00. It was about 86 degrees when we walked yesterday. I've asked the vet about it several times and he says her heart sounds good. Does 'sound good', mean that it's ok? I'm going to take the video to the vet tomorrow and see what he recommends.

You said what I was thinking. My first Yorkie had an enlarged heart. From time to time, he would just start breathing funny when he was at rest. There didn't even seem to be any pattern of when it happened or when it didn't.

One night, I had a bunch of Christmas presents to wrap, and I made several (like six or seven) very quick trips across the house and up and down the stairs, gathering the gifts and the wrapping materials to do the job upstairs. He matched me step for step, and never showed any sort of distress or breathing problems, TOTALLY normal after all that activity. The next day I had him at the vet for a semi-annual exam and mentioned his sometimes strange breathing, and the vet did a chest X-ray and found the enlarged heart and fluid in his lungs. :eek:

I would get a simple chest X-ray, just to be safe.

I don't have any advice.. but I am sending prayers that she is ok!

If that's all it takes to make a diagnosis, I'll get that tomorrow. And what procedures were done after the diagnosis?

I hate to be an alarmist, like I said. Usually a vet will detect something like a murmur...but you just never know. My Dori never had a murmur and she is the one who ended up with CHF.
A cardiologist would be who I would see. Let them decide if something should be done. Xray or echo. Echo is usually around $500 ...