Expert: Jannie Balliett - 10/31/2009

Question
i have a female boxer 9mths old ,she is in heat for the 1st time ,,tonight she is panting very hard and her body is shaking ,,her mouth seems pulled back and her teeth are showing ,,she is normally very quiet ,,she also had a skin allergy the last 6mths ,weve tryed non allergenic foods and tryed changing everything ,,the vet has her on predisone which doesnt help much ,,shes on them on and of 6mths

Answer
Karen, I don't see how being in heat has anything to do with her panting --- and when they become hot, they pant to sweat, and sometimes they look like they have a sneer on their face with teeth showing- this would be really hot and uncomfortable.

Get off the predisone.

If she has allergies- you need to find the cause and eliminate them- not put a bandaid on the symptoms with predisone.

Is it food allergies? Environmental allergies or both?

Put her on an all natural or organic dog food for sensitive allergic-prone dogs- if available, if not, one that (either- and all) do not contain glutens and corn, corn bi-products, corn meals, etc. -- no corn.

Chicken and rice (brown rice) with no added and artificial ingredients are the best- look it up one the web and read their ingredients...........

This will help.

I suggest you try the foods and stop the predisone. Call your vet and tell him/her what you are doing to do a process of elimination on the allergy problem.

Give her fresh cool water, and find her a cool spot to lay and see if her panting stops.

Use a fan for 20 minutes and see if that cools her down- and if she continues panting or starts again- you need to take her to your vet and check if she is running fever to cause her to be hot.

Is her nose wet? Normal temperature of hot?

Let me know with a follow-up how she is doing over night.