Living with a dog implies taking care of it as it deserves, attending to its needs as an animal and as an individual. When we decide to acquire or adopt someone who is brachycephalic, we must assume that, although he will be able to lead a normal life, it wouldn't be weird for him to have breathing problems in the future. Therefore, when we walk with our pug and suddenly we notice that he is drowning, we must know what we have to do to help him.
And we will talk about that in this article. If you've ever said "my pug dog is drowning", Then I will tell you why this happens and what measures you should take to have a better quality of life.
What is a brachycephalic dog?
First of all, we are going to explain what a brachycephalic dog is so that in this way you better understand what happens to your pug. Well, the brachycephalic is an animal that has a uniform lower jaw and a compact upper jaw, a short and almost completely flat face and nose. This means that, yes, it is very beautiful, but over time it causes respiratory problems, which are more noticeable when you sleep because it is when you snore.
One of the most common health problems is drowning, which is not really such because our pug is not drowning, but what happens is that the air, instead of being expelled, is inhaled; hence arching your back and extending your neck. As air enters your body, it makes a sound that sounds like a heavy cough or a deep snort with a snort.. This situation can last up to a minute, and is one of those that come and go throughout the life of the animal.
In addition, it must be taken into account that it is prone to irritation of the soft palate and throat, which can cause "reverse sneezing", which is how experts know this type of "choking".
What causes it?
Apart from what we have already said, there are other causes, which are:
- Allergies: If the pug has any type of allergy, be it to dust, pollen, perfumes or cleaning products, it is more prone to suffer from this problem.
- Eat and drink fast- If you do it desperately, it will not be good for your health.
- Play / exercise: especially if it is a hot day, you also have to be especially careful.
How to improve your life?
Now that we know that this is a condition that can give you a hard time, what better way than to take steps to minimize your risk, right? What we must do is the following:
- We will not put a necklaceCollars are very nice accessories, but not very practical, especially when you have a brachycephalic dog. For them, a harness or bib will be better, since they do not put pressure on the throat area.
- Make him drink plenty of water: will decrease irritation to the point that you could eliminate it.
- Help you calm down: If you become very nervous at any given time, we will move you away from the place where you have started to feel this way and we will speak to you in a calm tone of voice. We will gently massage your throat if we see you start to choke, and we will gently pinch your nostrils with our thumbs. This will encourage you to swallow, which will relieve the feeling of discomfort.
- Relieve the pressure- In the event that you feel like you are choking very frequently, we will relieve the pressure by placing a thumb over your nostrils.
While this condition is not life threatening to your dog, it is something that it will have to live with for its entire life. Therefore, we hope that this article will be useful to you.