Sleeping Breathing Rate:

If your pet has been diagnosed with heart disease, monitoring the sleeping breathing rate may be recommended by your veterinarian.

An increase in the sleeping breathing rate is the earliest indicator of congestive heart failure and monitoring this parameter enables early diagnosis and intervention with improved prognosis.

How to measure:

Observe your pet when they are sleeping and count the number of breaths in 30 seconds. One complete breath includes both the rise and fall of the chest. Multiply that number by 2 to give the number of breaths per minute. This is the ‘sleeping breathing rate’.

The normal sleeping breathing rate is usually less than ~30 breaths/minute. This can vary slightly between pets (e.g., some cats have normal rates up to 38 breaths/min). The breathing rate can also intermittently exceed these normal values (e.g., in hot weather, recent exercise/activity, while dreaming). An increase in the breathing rate that does not persist is not concerning.

Please record the sleeping breathing rate daily. If there is a sustained increase in the breathing rate compared to normal and it is consistently ≥32 breaths/min, please contact your veterinarian.

*Phone apps are also available to obtain and track the sleeping breathing rate (e.g. Cardalis – free app for Apple or Android devices).