The following tips on how to treat dog asthma at home will come handy the next time you´ll need to help your dog breath and overcome its asthma attack.
Dog asthma usually affects old dogs. Young ones are often not affected by it.
Dog asthma happens mostly in old age and is often a result of indulgence in a too plentiful and too rich diet combined with luxurious idleness. Dogs which suffer asthma are often lap dogs and other types of dog pets.
Dog Asthma Symptoms
The symptoms of asthma in dogs are easy to identify. In many ways they are similar to asthma in humans. If you think your dog may have asthma, look out for the following symptoms:
- Labored, wheezy, loud breathing
- panting for breath that is not caused by heavy exercise
- weak appetite
- breathing is apt to be bad
- the coat is rough, almost mangy looking.
The chubbiness of a dog´s body, which induces and fosters asthma, also frequently causes a kind of scurfy mange, making the coat look rough and dirty, and giving it a harsh, dry feel. Asthma is evidenced by jarring and difficulty of breathing. If you notice these symptoms appearing frequently, then your dog is most likely suffering from dog´s asthma.
There are two types of dog asthma. Veterinarians have distinguished between congestive and spasmodic asthma; but for the purposes of the beginners it is better to deal with it as one disease. The distinction between the two is too difficult to identify for someone who isn´t a professional.
The main and readilly distinguishable difference is the more constant exhibition of symptoms in the former (congestive asthma), with the breathing always laboured and producing a wheezing sound, whereas the spasmodic cough violently affects the dog at intervals.
How to treat dog asthma at home: Using Natural treatment for dog asthma
1. Ipecacuanha
Ipecacuanha, a drug derived from dried rhizome of a shrub that is native to Brazil, is a remedy for asthma that comes on in spasms with rattling of mucus in the chest and a tendency to vomit.
- Get Ipecacuanha here, available in pellets.
- Read Side Effects of Ipecac.
2. Nux Vomica
Nux vomica, a drug that comes from an evergreen tree by the same name, which is native to China, East India, Thailand, and Australia, is suitable for asthma associated with indigestion.
- Get Nux Vomica here, available in pellets.
3. Arsenicum Album
Arsenicum album, a solution prepared by diluting aqueous arsenic trioxide, can be used when asthma attacks subside after coughing up some mucus.
- Get Arsenicum Album here, available in pellets.
- Read Side Effects of Arsenic.
4. Bryonia
Bryionia, a plant-based drug widely used as a laxative to relieve constipation and as an emetic, can be used to help relieve excessive panting on old dogs.
- Get Bryonia here, available in pellets.
The Use of Bryonia to Treat Dog Asthma in Homoeopathy
An account by Dr. Robert T. Cooper, in the Homoeopathic Review, is interesting in this connection although the case was not precisely about asthma:
“The readers of my Homoeopathic Review must be amazed to know that my dog has witnessed the suns of fifteen summers. And since a year of dog’s life is equivalent to (at least) five of a man’s, my dog must be a patriarch!
But a combination of age and obesity is certainly not a good thing. My dog panted continuously that it seemed death was the only means to take the panting away from him. So I readied myself that it would be the case, my dog would soon die. But a friend informed me about a canine fancier in Dublin who cured all such difficulties with Bryonia.
Accordingly I procured some special pilules of Bryonia, third decimal, and gave him a few doses, three or four at a time of these agreeable medications, and was surprised to find in a week or two a most noticeable difference in the breathing of my valued quadruped.”
How to Treat Dog Asthma at Home
1. First Aid Relief for Dog Asthma
Make Anti-spasmodie Drops. — Take equal parts compound spirit of sulphuric ether, known as Hoffman’s anodyne, and tincture of opium (laudanum), mix, and keep in a weU-stoppered bottle in a cool place.
Dose for a dog 201b. to 301b. A small teaspoonful given in about a tablespoonful of milk, gruel, or other liquid.
Alternatively, the following mixture will be found effective :
- 2dr. (dram) chloride of ammonium,
- 1 dr. ipecacuanha
- 1 dr. witie
- 12gr. iodide of potassium
- 1 dr. bicarbonate of potassium
- 1 dr. syrup of squills
- 6oz Water
After combining the mixture, dose a dessert-spoonful to a tablespoonful three times a day.
If you´re unable to make the above mixture, a good alternative will be administering 10 to 20 drops of chlorodyne to your dog. It will also give relief.
It´s important to remember thought that the above remedies will only give relief but not cure.
In some cases, you may be required to apply a quick blister to the front and sides of the chest, and strong liquid ammonia will be found an efficient and cheap one.
2. Lifestyle changes for your dog during treatment
While you treat dog asthma at home, it´s also necessary to remove at least one of the predisposing causes of your dog´s asthma.
You can do so by frequent administration of doses of a brisk aperient (a drug used to relieve constipation). It can be done either a dose every morning of the buckthorn and castor oil mixture (Mild Purge) or the third of an ordinary black draught.
Better yet, you can use a compound podophyllin pill every night. This has proven to work in many cases. Simultaneous to this treatment, make sure that your dog gets daily exercise and is able to ear coarser food.
His meals should be given rather often and in small quantities.
3. Smoke for Relief
Much relief may be afforded asthmatical dogs by confining them in a close box kennel and filling it with the smoke of Stramonium (Thorn Apple). If you see that it´s helping your dog, this can be done twice a day.
However, you must be careful not to subject your dog to any sudden change of temperature, whether from heat to cold, or vice-versa.
4. Treatment for chronic asthma in dogs
If the dog asthma is chronic, the chance of complete cure is slim, but the regular use of the following pills will have considerable effect in counteracting the liability to severe paroxysms.
Cough Pills.—Take powdered ipecacuanha. 6gr. ; powdered opium, 6gr. ; compound squill pill, 24gr. ; powdered gum ammoniacum, S34gr. ; powdered liquorice, 24gr. ; powder for compound rhubarb pill, 12gr.
Mix, and make into twenty-four pills.
Dose for a 201b. to 301b. dog, one pill night and morning. Since these pills have been found to have a wonderful effect in giving relief in all affections of the respiratoi-y organs, and will be wanted again, they will be referred to as the Covgh Pill.
Modern Remedies for Dog Asthma
Homoeopathic treatment has been the widely used to deal with man dog diseases for centuries. But although these medicines are still available over the counter, you can now purchase modern medicines for to treat your dog asthma over amazon.com.
1. Petabine
Petabine is an all-natural pet respiratory and immune support herbal supplement for dogs with asthma. This herbal supplement is works more for prevention instead of cure. This is not something you´ll apply on your pet during a bad asthma attack, but this is for your dog´s immune system support.
2. AeroDawg Canine Aerosol Chamber for Dogs
It´s quite common for us to see people with asthma use inhalers to ease their breathing problem during attacks. But dogs and cats don’t grasp the concept of how to breathe when the inhaler is pushed in front of their mouth. This medicine is created to address that problem.
A spacer tube and two size plastic/rubber cups come with the medicine to make administering easier. They go over the dog’s nose and mouth covering them completely. The inhaler goes into the other end. You press the inhaler and it sends the medicine into the spacer tube. The dog breathes normally, breathing in the medicine from the other end through the cup over their nose/mouth.
3. PetAlive AmazaPet for Healthy Pet Respiratory Function
This medicine naturally treats the symptoms of asthma, assists in respiratory and bronchial function and reduces allergic reactions.