Panting at night on steroids.

Dr. Marie replied:

Cases like this are often difficult ones to make decisions on.

It's really difficult to tell whether the mass next to the spleen is something to worry about. You usually can't differentiate between cancerous and benign for spleen masses by using an ultrasound. And, unlike some tumors, putting a small needle into the mass to get a diagnosis is not always safe for spleen tumors. So, without doing surgery to remove the mass you likely won't know whether it's an issue. Still, surgery is expensive, has no guarantees and is a stress on your dog's body. So, it sounds like we'll need to be content with just monitoring this for now.

There are several possible reasons for your dog to be panting at night. Panting can be a sign of pain. Or, it could be a sign of some type of respiratory issue. It can even be due to anxiety. I have also seen some dogs on steroids that can have extra panting as well.

Ideally it would be best to have chest xrays done to determine if there is an obvious reason for the panting. If the xrays show something like obvious lung cancer then this can help with decision making.

You could talk to your vet about doing a trial of pain medication at night times. The problem is that many pain medications are not safe to use while the dog is on steroids. Your vet may be willing to do a trial of something like Tramadol though. If you do this and you find that the panting gets better then a pain issue is likely.

If this doesn't work, you could also try asking your vet about a trial of anti-anxiety medication. When I mention this, many people are reluctant because they say that their dogs are not stressed, but I have often seen it make a difference.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Dr. Marie

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