My dog is panting heavily after disc treatment. Is it an emergency?

While drainage is normal post-surgery, heavy breathing, discomfort, or excessive pain, especially while already on medications, are not. If Bailey is in severe distress or is turning blue or pale, or is panting heavily, it would be best to bring her into emergency care ASAP. If she seems stable, but is in discomfort or painful, contacting your vet to bring her in is also a good idea.

These are vague signs that could indicate several things like anxiety or pain. If there is something they could be making him anxious (rain, thunder, fireworks, new people, etc), then he will calm down afterwards. Just give him some extra attention. If there is nothing you can think that is making him anxious he could be in discomfort. I would have your vet do an exam to make sure he doesn't need any pain medication. I would not give net human pain meds as most of these are toxic to dogs. I hope this helps!

I'm sorry to hear about Mimi not feeling well. If she is panting that heavily and isn't somewhere where it is very warm, I would be concerned that this is a sign of pain or distress. It would be hard to tell if it is medication related or not, but it is a good idea to let the vet treating her know this is going on. They may want to further change her medication routine, or even have her come in for additional tests such as X-rays or bloodwork to rule out any additional issues that could be causing her stress.

Any breathing problems should be treated as an emergency. Panting often indicates pain or anxiety, so she may have some general pain, or abdominal pain if she has eaten something that disagreed with her or swallowed something non-food, like a toy that is causing an obstruction. Left untreated, an obstruction can be life-threatening. I recommend getting her seen by your vet right away. They will do an exam, labwork and/or x-rays as indicated, and, based on these results your vet will be better able to tell you what is going on and how best to treat it.

A consult would be a good idea in this case. If the vet was referring to laryngeal paralysis, a consult will help you figure out if treating medically vs surgically is the best option. If your dog is having difficulty breathing, blue gums or tongue or collapse is noted, get her to the emergency hospital immediately.

Poor Happy! Good on you for checking her gums to make sure they look normal. Even though it's not hot outside, she could have worked herself up running around outside leading to her panting. Her drinking could be an effort to cool herself down. You can put a fan on her to see if that helps with the panting, and make sure she has plenty of access to fresh water at all times. Keep monitoring Happy, and if you do notice that her gums turn red or pale, she starts vomiting, becomes dizzy, shows weakness, has a bright red tongue, or the heavy panting continues over the next few hours despite trying to cool her down, I would have her seen by a vet right away. There is also a chance her panting could be due to a medical illness, such as cardiac disease, respiratory disease, or heartworms. Even if her panting stops, I would still have Happy seen by a vet tomorrow for a health check to be safe.

Panting, shivering the tail tucked between her legs, shaking and heavy breathing are all signs of pain. I recommend you take Nugget to an emergency room now as there may another back sprain or even a prolapsed disk. She will need pain medicine and muscle relaxants depending on the diagnosis, as well as possibly an x-ray.