My senior dog started panting at night for no obvious reason — what's going on?
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lucia_m·about 2 months·1171 views
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Riley is 11, Golden Retriever, has been my shadow for a decade. For the past 3 weeks she's been waking up around 2-3am panting heavily, pacing, then eventually settling. It's not hot in the house (we keep it around 68F). No obvious pain response when I touch her anywhere.
She had a full senior panel 4 months ago that came back mostly normal (mild kidney values but vet said borderline). This feels different from normal panting. Could this be anxiety, pain, cognitive decline, or something else entirely?
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dr_yamadaVET· about 2 months
Nighttime panting and restlessness in an 11-year-old Golden warrants a vet visit. The differential includes Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (dog dementia — disrupted sleep-wake cycles are a key symptom), pain (arthritis pain often peaks at night when dogs are still and can't distract themselves), Cushing's disease (your borderline kidney values make me want to check cortisol), or cardiac changes. A new blood panel plus a CCD behavioral questionnaire would be my starting point. Senilife, Anipryl, or gabapentin (if pain is contributing) can help depending on the diagnosis.
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rescue_sam· about 2 months
My older rescue had similar symptoms and it turned out to be arthritis pain at night. We added a heated orthopedic bed and a low dose of gabapentin (vet-prescribed) and it stopped almost immediately. The joint pain is much worse when they're lying still for hours.
