Dog Panting Gulping and licking at night

I am fostering a dog at the moment. Its an old female staffy. Skin and bone and couldnt walk. Every day was touch and go weather or not she should be put down. Today she is a fully fit Muscular staffy , great fun, loves to run on the green an absolute pleasure to look after.
But at night time she has started panting out of the blue, Gulping and constantly licking her bed. To the point of it being soaking.

I have taken her to 2 different vets, both believe its a behavior thing. I have switched foods around from high protein foods to low protein foods, to plane cooked chicken etc... but no luck. Just thought i would post here to see if anybody has any ideas on this ?

maggiepip

Could he be getting stomach discomfort and nausea at night from an empty stomach, if his last meal was earlier in the evening? It could be worth trying him with a snack just before bed time.

edit - "she" sorry!

DBB

I would not be happy with the conclusion of it being behavioural. There's something else going on there! Licking the bed is often a sign of discomfort, and panting when it's not hot or when the dog's not exercising is a strong indicator of discomfort. So is gulping. The recent onset also strongly suggests a medical problem. What it could be I don't know... Have the vets sampled her blood and urine?
Good on you for getting her back to good health and giving an older dog a chance

I think it is something like a stomach issue, we have fed her before bed etc... and that didnt work. As i mentioned we have had 2 vets say its behavioral. Personally it it sounds like acid reflux. Heart burn.

DBB

You haven't said if the vets carried out blood or urine tests? In the absence of both, particularly in an older dog, I think it'd be risky to try to diagnose anything. I'm a big fan of yearly blood tests in older dogs, esp once they reach 10 years of age.
One thing I'd be pretty confident of, and that is that it's very unlikely to be behavioural.

tk123

Have you recorded her doing it to show to the vets? I've done that before say if Bailey was lame so the vet could have a good look - I knew she'd see more than I could explain if that makes sense.

berger89

Anxiety perhaps? one of our dogs pants at night time and gets restless (especially if there is a crowd of us), and licks his paws so much they turn red. vet said it was anxiety and gave his cream for his legs.

DBB

Jayney berger89... has he definitively ruled out that it's not the other way around, and that there's a problem with the paws that's causing the licking and panting?
Did you say somewhere that you've a westie? Is it this dog that has the problem?:o

berger89

DBB wrote: »

Jayney berger89... has he definitively ruled out that it's not the other way around, and that there's a problem with the paws that's causing the licking and panting?
Did you say somewhere that you've a westie? Is it this dog that has the problem?:o

Nah this one is a Springer. He'd been licking his paws and legs for ages, and we brought him to the vet (he had other issues at the time too). he said it was anxiety and gave him Fucidin cream to heal, which does a good job. The panting I think is also a little bit of anxiety. he sleeps in the dining room, and if there is a crowd of people in there at night, he gets restless and starts panting. I think he's just frustrated coz that's "his room" in a way. and it's also a bit of attention seeking too..he's a spoilt rotten!

DBB

DBB wrote: »

Jayney berger89... has he definitively ruled out that it's not the other way around, and that there's a problem with the paws that's causing the licking and panting?
Did you say somewhere that you've a westie? Is it this dog that has the problem?:o

Funny enough, when we got her, she had licked holes in both her legs. That is completely healed now. The licking now is purely her bed. Its literally soaking. I was thinking that it was her teeth. I had them checked also. I will go back again and see if i can figure it out.