panting

Panting is the action of opening the mouth, sticking out the tongue, and rapidly, rhythmically breathing through the mouth.

Panting increases when the environment is warm and during and after exercise.

Heatstroke (hyperthermia) symptoms include excessive panting, deep red tongue and gums, glassy eyes, weakness, fast heart rate, drooling, seizures, nausea and/or vomiting, diarrhea, and a body temperature over 104[degrees] F.

Brachycephalic breeds in particular are more prone to heatstroke and excessive panting due to their facial structure (and they may snore loudly!).

What exactly is panting? Panting differs from regular breathing.

With panting, however, the breathing is much more shallow and rapid.

"The main reason for panting in cats is stress," says Steve Dullard, DVM, a past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners and director of the Ancare Veterinary Clinic in Mendota, Illinois.

If your pet is panting even when he is cool and relaxed, there's probably something wrong, says Dr.

Amid all the panting, a dog at play makes a distinctive, breathy exhalation that can trigger playfulness in other dogs, says a Nevada researcher.

However, this exhalation bursts into a broader range of frequencies than does regular dog panting, Simonet discovered when she and her students analyzed recordings.

Yet another student of play, Marc Bekoff of the University of Colorado in Boulder, says he thinks he knows the panting sound Simonet describes.

Mrs Margaret Panting suffered a broken leg and severe bites to her arms and legs during the attack in Ivetsey Bank Road, Bishop's Wood, near Brewood in Staffordshire, yesterday lunchtime.

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said it was understood doctors would not be able to stitch Mrs Panting's wounds until later today because of the ferocity of the attack.

A West Midlands Air Ambulance spokesman said the dogs had mauled Mrs Panting so much she would possibly need plastic surgery.