ESH prone to overheating / exercise fatigue in summer weather?
Hi everyone! First: Here’s my 10 month old girlie hitting the freak pose when she plays!
Second: The weather has significantly warmed up lately, and I’ve noticed that she tends to overheat faster than before. When I first got her, it was still cold out, and she could chase her teasers and toys for quite a while before tiring, with panting only occurring after a particularly intense run. I have a cool tile bathroom and a cooling mat that she likes to retreat to when she gets hot.
Now it’s regularly 80F+ during the daytime, and she begins to show signs of overheating after just a few minutes. I’ve had her checked by a vet recently, and her heart/lungs are fine. She has good nares, too. Not sure if maybe her palate has overgrown a bit and is obstructing the airway, but she doesn’t have noisy breathing at rest (maybe an occasional snuffle snore) so I’m not super worried about that. I’m monitoring her weight so that she doesn’t get too chunky, as I know that makes it even harder for brachy-types to breathe. I give her shortened play sessions with extra opportunities to rest, we have the AC on, and she recovers within a few minutes. However, I wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this trend occurring during warmer weather seasons?
(Note: I have had brachy types before, 3 Persians, so I’m familiar with squishy face friends - I just want to hear if anyone has had related experiences and if it turned out to be anything so that I have a better idea of what to look out for / when I should revisit the vet. Basically… is it a weather thing?)