Question:
I think my 2 year old dog may have asthma, but I'm not sure. The symptoms mostly occur at night, she'll start gasping for a couple of seconds, occasionally it happens during the day as well. I think it sounds more distressing than it is as she doesn't seem unduely alarmed but it is pretty loud, enough that it wakes me up at night and I"M alarmed. My dog is also a very strange looking mutt, she has bassett-like legs but other than that her heritage is not easily guessed. The vet says she has chondroplasia (dwarfism) and my mom contends that perhaps her respiratory system has some malformations as well that might be causing her gasping. She does not cough, which I understand is a classic sgn of dog asthma so I don't know what to think. Any ideas?

Answer:
Could be the infamous "reverse sneeze" but I would still have a vet check it out.

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Thank you karin, I found the thread for the "reverse sneeze" or epiglottal entrapment and I think that is what is most likely going on. At least now I can perhaps give the vet a better idea of what is happening, it's a difficult noise to explain.

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It is difficult to explain, I know exactly what you're talking about and hope Karin is right. It sounds awful and almost asthma like!

If it's a repetitive thing or happens after exercise a lot or during humid/hot days reconsider asthma but for now, reverse achooey

So do we get to see pictures of your sweet dog?

Dwarfism? I heard someone say that before they realized their dog was x'd with a dachshund LMAO!

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Behind closed doors vet's joke about the reversed sneeze syndrome. It is a money maker. I myself fell victim to it while working for vet, rushed the Poodle in after hours, the next day I was greeted by an open text book to the exact page..this was years ago and I still laugh..Ciara still has them. The reverse sneeze is seen in the smaller breeds more often, can happen in large breeds too. Ciara needs to write a book I think, or she is a poodle lying to me all these years.
Any hoot , still have the vet check. Snarfling is a sign of reverse sneeze.
Is snarfling a word here?

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it sounds like the girls are right, charlie does it too, i thought she did it because she was an overweight (hhh hmmm, sort of cuddly) girl. but do have a chat to your vet next time you visit, if your worried chat now

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My dog gets the reverse sneezing thing. It's quite alarming, and even my dog get scared.

What I do is talk soothingly to her and massage her throat to stop the spasms in the esophogus. Also, holding the nostrils shut for a few seconds seems to help, because the dog will swallow when you release the nostrils,which also seems to help stop the spasms.

Someone else told me to startle her, much as we recommend for human hiccups!

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