health of elderly dog

Question
I have a 16 year old pembroke corgi.  She is currently taking glucosamine and rimadyl for arthritis.  I am concerned because she constantly pants.  The only time she doesn't pant is when she sleeps.  We have the air conditioner on during day and night.  She is an indoor dog and always has been.  Last year she was successfully treated for kidney cancer.  The panting is a concern of mine because she has had this problem for about 3 months.  I thought it was pain from arthritis, but since she is being treated for arthritis I thought the panting would stop.  We are very careful in keeping her calm.  Also she drinks a lot of water.  I know that 16 is old for a dog, but I'm worried it might be something very serious.  The last time we took her to the vet they had to draw blood to check her liver function for the rimadyl.  The vet said everything looked good.  I don't know if he checked her heart rate.  I'm concerned her heart rate might be a little fast because of the panting.

Liz

Answer
Hi Liz,  Panting is a sign of stress in a dog as well as from heat and/or pain, so you might want to look at it from that perspective.  Is there anything going on that could be causing her stress? Has anything changed in your life, like job hours, someone moving in or out of the house etc?  Something very minor to you can be very major to her and stress her out.  Another thing to look at is if she is seeing properly.  If her eyesight is not working well she may be having a hard time getting around which will also cause them stress because they obviously can't see their surrounding as well to get around.  Try and look from the stress perspective and see if anything might be bothering her that way.  Hope this helps,

Dawn