Is it normal for a dog to breathe hard and fast?

[Smartie_Pants]

I adopted a 4-5 year old beagle from the humane society two days ago. When you watch her breathing, it is super hard and fast, but not panting. She doesn't act like anything is wrong with her though. She was fixed the day we got her, Thursday, and she has two kinds of worms so she is on worm medication. They don't give the dogs any pain medication at all, so I was thinking maybe it hurts her to breath deeply? When she sleeps it seems like it evens out though.

I just want to know if this is something I should worry about? She goes back in about 2 weeks to get her stitch out, and we we given a paper when we adopted her that said the vet was required to give us a free health check, which they didn't, so I'm going to see if they can do a good once over on her.

 

[crtrlovr]

could be b/c of post-op pain, but also make sure they test her for heartworms.

 

[Smartie_Pants]

That's one of the things they were SUPPOSED to do under the contract, but didn't. Maybe I'll call and see if I can bring her in at the beginning of next week to get her checked. The paper says that they are REQUIRED to do a free check within 30 days, so they'd better! I volunteer there too, so even if they don't check her, I can ask the vets if its something to worry about.

 

[jerseygirl1]

Hmmm, not sure, my dogs breathe like that all the time, but the vet gave me some good advice on it one - A sign of pain is when a dog pants, so I would guess he's not in pain. Another sign of intense pain is when the dog's eyes blink rapidly, Definite sign of pain.
Also, a good rule of thumb, a tongue that is not pure pink (white) in color is a sign of lack of oxygen. It could be nerves/stress. Shelter dogs take three to four months before the really settle in. Spending months, sometimes years (as in the case of one of my dogs) in a shelter is very stressful. Hope this helps, good luck with the pup, I have five from various shelters/rescues, and I would get another five if hubs would let me. Try this website - www.terrificpets.com under discussion forums and see if there are any good tips there.