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 ...

No, an xray will not totally tell you a lot because most yorkies have what they call enlarged heart. They are tiny pups and often the heart is on the larger side. It would have to be along with an exam and its findings.

Is she overweight at all? I do agree, her problem with walking and getting short of breath needs to be looked into...

She was 7.4 pounds when she had her dental last month. She is called "fat" by people in the neighborhood. She's fat up against Buster, she's shorter than him and weighs more than two pounds than him. The vet has never said anything about her being over weight. I think she probably weighs more than she should especially because she is "short".

Maggie is on the left in my avatar. I don't know that you can tell too much from that, but she is "plump, fat, etc", if you compare her to Buster. Last week a man at the park asked me if she was pregnant, ugh.

Her weight could be slowing her down some. Extra weight can put a strain on the rest of the body, including her joints. I'd ask the vet about it too. There could be alot going on with her, or a combination of things that are presenting these symptoms. Ususally, one would increase exercise and decrease food to get the weight off, but with this hot weather spell, outside exercise may not be a good option for her at this time, depending on what else, if anything she has affecting her. I wouldn't stress her (with exercise) either till you know for sure that her heart and lungs are okay.

Do you think swimming is ok? She loves to swim, she would rather do that than go walk. I took the stroller when I took them walking tonight. Even with that, she was panting before we got to the end of the street. I can't tell too much what's going on tonight, she's hiding in the closet (fireworks). If I go in there, she gets upset and moves.

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I didnt want to be the only one that was thinking more serious stuff than gas,,,thank you ladyjane for allowing me to join you on this train of thought.... If she does this agian, if you can get her to a vet that can recognize cardiac issues....if she is in congestive failure, her blood work would not be abnormal that quickly, from CHF...but CHF wouldnt resolve without treatment that quickly either...but there could be other cardiac issues going on here...I will pray for gas....but I would not believe it until all cardiac issues had been definitively ruled out by a qualified person..

I too hope its just the gas issue but like some have said I would have her checked out for heart problems and even CT. With this they can't stand heat, excerise has to be limited if any at all and just some of the things you have mentioned reminds me of this. Hope its nothing to worry about but would definetly find out what you are dealing with. Kisses to your little one. Hope there is good news in the furture and nothing to worry about.

+1 to what LadyJane said ... they did an echo, but they wouldn't have done that (I don't think) if the heart had looked normal in an X-ray.

In my dog's case, I didn't know his whole history since I didn't get him until he was about 11 months old. He had routine check-ups every six months, and he was almost three years old, so he had received probably 5 check-ups and they had never a heart murmur. The ultrasound (echocardiogram) didn't pick up any irregularities, such as a bad valve, hole in the heart between chamber, etc that would explain his enlarged heart. Perhaps he was just born that way?

I'm just seeing this & praying your little one is okay. I remember when Tibbe had pneumonia his regular vet said his heart was very enlarged & congestive & I rushed him straight to the E.R. vet who diagnosed early focal pneumonia & their cardiologist consultant did a Cardiac Doppler & said the heart was entirely normal for a Yorkshire Terrier & not enlarged or dysfunctional. His pneumonia treatment stopped his hacking cough. My regular vet when questioned claimed it was positioning on his x-ray that caused the misdiagnosis but who knows. I hope you can get a good diagnosis with the help of that video & more testing. I pray it is nothing really serious & is just bad gas or something. Update when you can. Prayers for your baby.

Swimming would be better for her joints... but again only with a clean bill of health. I'd use a life preserver too. I'm always worried about them aspirating water into their lungs... even at the water bowl!