Pug Health:

Breathing Problems

I remember the day when we got our first Pug, Bogey, like it was yesterday! We were so excited to bring him home and spent the whole day together playing, showing him his new home and spending every minute together. I bet you had a similar experience when you got your Pug, right?

Anyway, after the initial excitement died down a bit, I started to get really concerned that Bogey was having a hard time breathing. He seemed to be wheezing and snorting a lot, and I’d heard rumors that many Pugs required expensive surgery to fix their breathing problems.

As a first time Pug owner, I didn’t know any better and I was scared to death that my little guy Bogey was struggling to breathe! I’m sure you can imagine what that’s like.

Maybe you may have had similar concerns at some point about your Pug??

Well, I’m really glad to be able to help set your mind at ease today. That’s because we’ve got another free audio for you where one of the top Pug health experts in the world, veterinarian Dr. Chris Dresser (who owns 11 Pugs herself by the way, all black!), who sets the record straight on Pug breathing problems.

Click the play button below and learn how to spot the difference between “normal Pug snorting” and the signs of serious breathing problems that could require surgery:

Allen:   Let’s start out our discussion on medical problems with Pugs by tackling you know a very common issue with Pugs and it’s unique to Pugs given their physical state and that is their breathing issues.

 

Can you please describe some of the typical breathing issues that Pugs experience?

 

Why they occur and probably most important for our readers and listeners, how to spot the difference between you know sort of a normal Pug snorting and something that might require medical attention or investigation?

 

Dr. Dresser:   The normal breathing patterns on the Pugs tend to be, they sound more labored if you’re not used to hearing them. They certainly make more snorting, snarking, spewing noise and wet noise than very many breeds.

 

Although a lot of the other brachycephalic or short faced breeds are along you know in the same boat. The reason they tend to have trouble is they have usually very small tracheas for their size.

 

They tend to have elongated soft palate. All that tissue that used to live out in regular snout like on a German Shepherd has all been pushed back. So all Pugs have an elongated soft pallet; not all of them need surgery.

 

They also some of the dogs will have very small nostrils and of course a lot of them are overweight and that does not help because they’ll have trouble in the throat area with having carrying a little bit too much fat.

 

Signs of trouble as I say if you’re not used to hearing a Pug, I know when I’ve hired a new staff member here and they’re like what is the deal why are they making that noise? 

 

Allen:   Exactly.

 

Dr. Dresser:   That’s just a Pug.

 

Allen:   I’ve never heard that.

 

Dr. Dresser:   That’s just a normal Pug...

 

Versus what we would call dyspnea or trouble breathing where they are open mouthed, blue mucous membranes, their tongue doesn’t look right – it looks gray or blue and the gum line doesn’t look quite right.

 

And they are very, using a very, very exaggerated effort trying to get their air in. Those are problems.

 

You would be able to tell right away that’s something that’s quite, quite serious.

 

Allen:   Okay. Well that’s great and I think that you know being a first time Pug owner when I brought home our boy I remember oh my goodness!

 

Dr. Dresser:   Yes.

 

Allen:   What is this? Is this okay?

 

Dr. Dresser:   And how can you sleep with it in your room!

 

Allen:   I must say I’ve grown to love and appreciate it. 

 

Dr. Dresser:   Yes.

 

Allen:   Not only does it help me fall asleep but it covers my own snoring.

 

Dr. Dresser:   Yes!

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And be sure to watch our free video on Pug potty training.