My dog is panting more heavily than normal. She just came in from outside. Her gums look fine, she doesn't appear to be injured and keeps drinking water. Its also not hot outside. Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 60 lbs

Poor Happy! Good on you for checking her gums to make sure they look normal. Even though it's not hot outside, she could have worked herself up running around outside leading to her panting. Her drinking could be an effort to cool herself down. You can put a fan on her to see if that helps with the panting, and make sure she has plenty of access to fresh water at all times. Keep monitoring Happy, and if you do notice that her gums turn red or pale, she starts vomiting, becomes dizzy, shows weakness, has a bright red tongue, or the heavy panting continues over the next few hours despite trying to cool her down, I would have her seen by a vet right away. There is also a chance her panting could be due to a medical illness, such as cardiac disease, respiratory disease, or heartworms. Even if her panting stops, I would still have Happy seen by a vet tomorrow for a health check to be safe.

This is quite concerning if he is panting and not in a hot environment. Even if he was just hot, he would be drinking water. Panting without there being a hot environment indicates that the body is having trouble keeping up with oxygen demands. This can happen when there is something wrong with the lungs, heart, or there is a low red blood cell count. In either case it would be considered an emergency and I would recommend you take him to the vet as soon as possible for an evaluation. They will be better able to assess how serious this is and narrow-down the cause of this. If you have further questions or need further clarification, then you may consider having an online consult with one of our vets on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This way, you can send unlimited pictures and have a text conversation with a vet. I hope that helps and Winter gets better soon.