Dog Community

please help! breathing problem-chihauhua

Posted : 7/13/2006 9:19:00 AM

My dog woke me up at 5am this morning sucking in air through her nose in a wheezing kind of way like she couldn't really breathe. I am out of town so it went on for about 10 min while I called the front desk of the hotel, got a vet number, then got an ER vet number, then called. By the time I called it had stopped and they said on the phone it could be a "reverse sneeze" and she'll probably be fine. So we went back to sleep, very paranoid, and I checked her every hour to make sure she was breathing. Problem is she ate some peanut butter white chocolate truffle cheesecake while we were out of the room so I'm scared it has something to do with chocolate, although when I looked up chocolate posioning symptoms it says vomiting, diarhea, etc and she has no symptoms other than looking sleepy right now and the breathing problem last night. I get very worried about her because she's a fragile little chihuahua and just had toe amputation surgery last month and a liver problem last year so I'm always vigilant for problems. Has anyone else had experience with "reverse sneeze"? I've never heard of that before! Does that sound like what it is? Or should I bring her in for a second opinion even though she looks fine right now, she's just kind of resting? Thanks!!

sooner

Posted : 7/13/2006 9:23:02 AM

Here this might helphttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=1597

I don't *think* white chocolate is really chocolate. It doesn't have the ingredient that chocolate does that is toxic to dogs. She'll probably have an upset stomach though.

She's probably okay, keep an eye on her and take her in if it makes you feel better. Best wishes!

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Posted : 7/13/2006 10:49:30 AM

Kelly, I think you're right about the white chocolate. I've always heard that it isn't really chocolate unless it has cocoa in it, and then it wouldn't be white.

Joyce

loveukaykay

Posted : 7/13/2006 12:01:01 PM

[linkhttp://www.mabrychihuahuas.com/pages/reversesneeze.htm]http://www.mabrychihuahuas.com/pages/reversesneeze.htm[/link]

[linkhttp://www.prouxchihuahuas.com/id27.html]http://www.prouxchihuahuas.com/id27.html[/link]

Little dogs can do this pretty often, or at least Ive seen some do it. Its nothing to worry about. Ive found that rubbing their throat gently while its going on helps to stop it.

forpaws

Posted : 7/14/2006 6:40:53 AM

It has been my experience with small dogs like Chi's, they have collapsed trachea's and do exactly what you were talking about. What I do in addition to what Amy suggested is to pinch their nostrils closed for a count to ten seconds, release, and if they continue, do it again and rub their throat at the same time. It relaxes the trachea so they can start to breathe normally again. You could also blow into their face on the initial start of this episode to distract them or shock them into breathing normally. Not mouth to snout breathing, just blow in their face. It is a normal thing for these little dogs to have collapsed trachea's.

Vivian

Posted : 7/14/2006 7:02:36 AM

My guess is they use some kind of spray in their hotel rooms and your dog is allergic to it. It has happened here at home with April, once from a carpet cleaner and another time when I sprayed a room with something.

M.W.Lewis

Posted : 7/20/2006 9:06:37 AM

You may want to get his examined to check for Collapsed Trachea (Forpaws also mentioned collapsed trachea).
I have an 11 pound dog who used to honk a lot and I was told it was a reverse sneeze, then I switched his collar to a much wider, padded one and the reverse sneeze stopped. I have a feeling the old narrow collar with his pulling was doing damage to the cartilage rings of his trachea. We work on his pulling, it's a constant job.
A harness may help too. Although it seems that the issue may be genetic, I do think that damage can be done though with pressure on the trachea from leash pulling.