Panting is a normal behavior of a healthy and active dog. It helps regulate body temperature because they can’t sweat like humans, panting allows them to cool their bodies. But you may wonder why does my dog pant when I pet him? And what is the reason behind this?
Dogs pant when they are excited, overheated, and even when they are energetic. But this also can show some hidden medical issues inside their body.
Excessive panting can occur because of heatstroke, poisoning, Cushing syndrome, respiratory disorders, and anemia, or maybe they are showing some internal injury or pain. Also, too much panting can show their stress, canine cognitive dysfunction, and experience life-threatening trauma or anxiety.
By observing their behavior, you can understand whether your dog is panting too much or not. For example, suppose your dog is panting and breathing heavily even when they are asleep and rest. In that case, you can consider it as abnormal panting behavior.
Dog panting anxiety
As mentioned above, there are many reasons behind abnormal panting in dogs. If your dog is not diagnosed with any of above mentioned medical issues, it is most probably because of anxiety.
If you are worrying, why is my dog panting and restless? Or why is my dog panting and shaking? It may be because your dog is anxious.
According to the expert’s dogs may show sensitivity to external factors like loud noises thunderstorms as they recognize them as life-threatening events. So, they may show excessive panting behavior as a symptom of stress, fear, or anxiety. These followed with other symptoms like;
- Dog panting and pacing
- Yawning
- Blinking
- Whining
- Trembling
- Drooling
- Constant lip licking
- Tucked tail
- Flattened behavior
Apart from that, if they refuse food often and try to hide or show clingy behavior, it may also be because they are anxious.
Why is my dog panting at night?
Dogs generally pant because they are hot. If your room is not too hot, maybe your puppy is facing separation anxiety. This is most commonly show in puppies when their owners are leaving them all night.
If you assume that your dog is feeling separation anxiety leave a radio sound on, or a voice tape is containing your sound. If it’s not the case, meet your veterinarian to find whether there is another medical condition.
Excessive panting in older dogs
Different reasons can cause panting in older dogs. Suppose they do not have any other disease like heart failure. In that case, the common reason behind older dog’s excessive panting is Cushing’s disease.
This hormonal imbalance showed in older or middle-aged dogs because of the overproduction of steroids (cortisone). Excessive panting is an early symptom of the disease.
Apart from that, some steroid therapy can mimic the same symptoms as Cushing’s disease. If your dog gets treatment with drugs like prednisone or prednisolone with the same effect as cortisone will show the same symptoms. These symptoms will fade away after the medication is discontinued.
