Dog Community

Small dogs w/ breath spasms..?

Posted : 4/30/2006 9:05:44 PM

Ok my boston will have breathing spasms if he gets to excited or after he throws up sometimes. He usualy stiffens and starts breathing really hard through his nose quickly but never gets full breaths and snorts. Im wonderin how common this is? I remember my moms maltese doing the same thing after she ate sometimes. We'd just rub the back of her neck to calm her down. My husband told me a fellow he works w/ said his mothers

ug does that to and what she does is plugs the nose during the spasms to force the dog to breath through his mouth which helps regulate the breathing back to normal. I took that into consideration and have used it on my dog and it works quicker than rubbing the neck. But are there certain reason as to why dogs do this? Is it fixable? And how common is it?

Krista J

Posted : 4/30/2006 10:03:26 PM

Ok again I answered my question and came across this site lol. Come to find this 'spasm' is called Reverse Sneezing. To me that sounds like a stupid term but all the info pertaining to it fits the situation. Heres the site I found......but out of curiousity how many people have this happen w/ there dogs?

[linkhttp://yorkieviews.com/reversesneezing.htm]http://yorkieviews.com/reversesneezing.htm[/link]

cindy w.

Posted : 4/30/2006 10:21:11 PM

Darci also does this, our vet said it is nothing to be concerned about.
The best way to pull Darci out of an attack is for me or my hubby to take off running through the house and she loves to play chase, the running forces her to take a deep breathe and her breathing returns to normal.

Our vet said that sometimes allergies can trigger the problem in which benadryl can be helpful.

loveukaykay

Posted : 4/30/2006 10:21:12 PM

Kayla did it once in a long while and it didnt last very long. My moms dog used to do it pretty often and it lasted for a while... when I would massage under her neck it helped. Havnt heard her do it in a while tho.

boneyjean

Posted : 4/30/2006 10:26:40 PM

Harley used to do it a lot when he was younger. I had a neighbor that worked for a vet and she was at our house one time when he did it and she told us it was reverse sneezing and wasn't a big deal. Since he has gotten older he doesn't really do it very often anymore....although he does still do it on occasion and it might be when he throws up..but I can't really remember.

astaracheetah

Posted : 5/1/2006 1:04:22 AM

Eevee does this sometimes... I didn't know what it was... it scared the crap out of me... now I know. Thanks for that link!

gradyupmybutt

Posted : 5/1/2006 7:05:49 AM

Aspen does this occasionally. From what I can see it's usually when he's anxious. I just try to rub his neck & calm him down.

samshine

Posted : 5/1/2006 1:24:38 PM

I think reverse sneezing is not accurate either. It's really reverse nose blowing. Reverse sneezing is just a polite euphamism. I've seen people do it too, generally followed by spitting. IMHO, most likely to be someone from a rural environment where it is not as socially unacceptable.

Have you ever heard the phrase "hawk a lugey?" I just googled it and was surprised to find a definition.

According to the Online Urban Dictionary, "hawk" means, "To gather up saliva and snot in your mouth and expel it out forcefully so that it remains a cohesive unit until it strikes something."

Gross gross gross. Now I see why we use a polite euphamism. Our dogs are not able to blow their noses politely so this is what they can do. At least they don't spit.

Cupping your hand in front of their nose can indeed stop it. If it is excessive or we are in polite company or training class then I will stop it. With some dogs it can become a nervous habit. Our family dog when I was a kid did it whenever he was in a strange stressful situation. So with a puppy I don't let it go on too long or too often.