Boxer - Heavy/Raspy breathing when running with faster dogs

deadlast

I have a female boxer who is 1yr 7months old. I have concerns with her breathing. I will be bringing her to the vet on thursday but just wanted to start a thread to see what you think.

The heavy/raspy breathing problem is only noticable when she is running with another faster dog and she is getting tired. Her breathing becomes very loud and raspy, but it doesnt slow her down or seem to affect her any other way. This is only with this extreme running and she could run for hours at her normal quick pace.

Any ideas? How would a vet test for this as it only becomes apparent with very fast exercise?

scudzilla

Our Boxer is 2 and she's pretty much the same, while we're just walking she's grand but when she's running fast or arsing about with other dogs she does pant a lot and her breathing is heavy, she's always been like this.

When she goes to the vets she has a good check up and he says she's fine.

We also take a litre bottle of water out with us on every walk with a small bowl, find it helps cool her down a lot

Honey-ec

Boxers are a brachycephalic breed, which means their skull is very short in relation to its width. This can lead to shortness of breath when they're over-exerting themselves. It's nothing to worry about in the normal course of things, but brachycephalic dogs can be a lot more sensitive to high temperatures, so I'd keep an eye on this level of exercise on very hot days. Not an issue at the moment, obviously...

deadlast

I hope it's nothing but it seems more than heavy breathing/panting. It's only happened a handful of times but its very noticable. Like a very loud deep rasp in her breath. It stops as soon as she slows down a bit though.

deadlast

Honey-ec wrote: »

Boxers are a brachycephalic breed, which means their skull is very short in relation to its width. This can lead to shortness of breath when they're over-exerting themselves. It's nothing to worry about in the normal course of things, but brachycephalic dogs can be a lot more sensitive to high temperatures, so I'd keep an eye on this level of exercise on very hot days. Not an issue at the moment, obviously...

Couldn't think how to phrase it but she's definitely over-exerting herself when it occurs!

scudzilla

When she's like this does her tongue seem to grow and hang out a lot? Brodi is like this, but i've been told it's perfectly normal

stevekavo

I have a 5 year old male boxer and he is the very same. I always thought it was just the breed as the vet has checked him out many times and said he is ok.