Snoring In Dogs

Snoring, frustrating and annoying as it is in humans, is actually a phenomenon well spread throughout the animal world. Various animals do indeed snore, and the same flap of airway tissue that vibrates in snoring humans is the same flap of airway tissue that makes any animal, from your household pet to your zoo friends, belt out a bass-rich midnight song.

However, unlike humans, snoring in animals may not be such an issue with them at all. They will not wake up in the middle of the night and moan about the noisy animal in the next cage, or run to their sleep specialist if they wake up lethargic and remain fatigued for the rest of the day.

That job is reserved for their human owners.

Snoring occurs most often in dogs and cats. In the former group, it is most prevalent in Pekingese and pugs, since these two have larger, fleshier tissue at the back of their mouths which can vibrate when they breathe during sleep. In other dogs, however, snoring can mean any of the following:

• The dog could be allergic to something in the house. This is most common in the spring, when the air is filled with pollen and fur; and in hairy dogs, such as Maltese, Pekingese, and Shih-Tzu, which shed hair regularly, and can choke on their own hairballs

• There may be polyps or small tumor growths in the dog’s throat or nose. Such growths could obstruct its airways, and thus cause it to snore.

• Like humans, dogs have their favorite sleeping position. If they position themselves the wrong way during sleep, they can end up snoring.

• As in humans, being overweight can also cause a dog’s airways to be flabbier and fatter. The more overweight a dog is, the greater the chance that it will snore.

• Snoring in dogs may actually signal a heartworm infection. Heartworms live inside arteries and in the dog’s heart, causing the animal to often be short of breath.

• Although rare, dogs can pick up the contagious kennel cough, a dry, hacking cough easy to cure in large dogs, but difficult to control in smaller dogs, whose nasal passages are much smaller. Kennel cough may also lead a dog to snore.

Snoring in pets may not be as fatal to the pet as the condition is to humans, but if your dog’s noise is bothering you, and if any of the following symptoms are apparent, then it might be time to pay a visit to your vet.

• Your dog gasps, chokes, and wheezes even when awake

• Snoring increases during spring, or when there is more pollen in the air.

• Your dog is overweight. To check this, feel your dog’s ribs. If you can feel them, but not see them when your dog is standing upright, then your dog is just the right weight. However, if you feel more fat than bone, then it may be time to get an exercise and low-fat-diet regimen for your dog.

• Your dog is always short of breath, panting, and unusually tired and fatigued.

• Your dog’s nose is dry or bleeding, or emitting a discharge.

• Your dog’s gums are blue to pale.

In severe cases, veterinarians may recommend surgery or heartworm medication for very sick dogs. However, snoring in dogs is rarely complex or complicated, and may involve no more than a change of bed, or a weight loss plan.

Man’s best friend is certainly like man himself in many respects – even nighttime habits like snoring in dogs. So if the whole house vibrates with your dog’s snoring, coughing, or wheezing, then take that best friend away from the plants, give it a new bed, or treat it to a check up. With the right methods, both of you will sleep just right.