Why is my senior dog breathing heavily and coughing while lying down?

In a dog Miller's age, this cough and heavy breathing could be due to something serious like heart disease. Unfortunately, heart disease is common in old dogs, and while it cannot be cured, its symptoms can be managed with medication. I think it's really important that he sees a vet as soon as possible, so I would recommend taking him into see his vet this weekend. I hope this helps.

I am afraid that is not normal. Considering that Snoopy is almost 16 years old my first thought here is that he needs his heart examined by your veterinarian. There is a condition almost every old dog gets, some worse than others, called endocardiosis. THis is a condition where the lips of the heart valves develop little nodules which then keeps the valves from closing properly and then the oxygenated blood is not effectively pumped into the rest of the body. This makes for a weak heart action and causes pulmonary edema, ie fluid in the lungs. The fluid in the lungs make breathing a chore (therefore a high respiration rate), and causes a moist cough when the dog is resting. Your dog also will not have as much energy as usual and slows down significantly. This can be significantly improved by giving diuretics and a heart medication that improved the output of the heart. Of course it is also possible that he has kennel cough or another respiratory condition. So I suggest you make an appointment with your veterinarian for an exam soon.

These are alarming symptoms indeed. For an older dog with coughing and lethargy, my top suspicions would be: heart disease, heartworm disease (if he is not current on heartworm prevention) primary lung cancer, pneumonia or a heart based tumor. He is at risk for all of these based on his breed. I would highly recommend taking him in to your vet for bloodwork analysis and chest radiographs to properly diagnose him based on the many possible causes stated above. Poor guy. He sounds very unstable for now and the quicker you can get him in to a vet the better. I hope that this is something you can treat for, but the odds of it being something major are high in an older large breed dog. I send you all my best in getting Casper well again. Take care and best wishes.

If you are noticing a change in respiration, she needs to see the veterinarian quickly. Changes in respiration can indicate severe heart disease, fluid in the lungs, pneumonia, tumors in the chest or something impairing the movement in the diaphragm. She may not be laying down because she can't breath well in that position. Respiratory issues should always be checked out quickly. The veterinarian may need a chest x-ray to know whats going on. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I recommend bringing him to a veterinarian and having them listen to his chest. This may be respiratory or heart related but having a veterinarian auscultate them is the first step. It may require x-rays to determine what it going on also. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

These signs could be compatible with a respiratory tract inflammation/infection or potentially could be related to heart disease. Considering the lethargy, a systemic sign, I would recommend a check up as soon as possible to determine the underlying cause and establish appropriate treatment. Antibiotics may be needed. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

It is concerning that Coco is breathing heavily when she is sleeping - I'd be concerned that the cough could be due to heart disease or a respiratory disease. I'd recommend having your vet examine Coco. They might recommend chest x-rays as the first step.