He'll be fine all day.  Rests peacefully, deep rhythmic breathing.  But late at night, around 10pm, he will start getting restless and panting.  It goes away around 4am and he finally sleeps well. 

He's not on any pain meds or anything but antibiotics.  Phantom pain?  Why at night?  Just curious?

Dawn and Raven

That's interesting, thank you for the info.  It's only been 2-1/2 weeks post-amp for Raven.  But he's been off all pain meds since the first week, and he never licks it or seems to care about the incision area.  And we didn't do any chemo.  So, I'll assume it's just common enough to not worry unless it worsens or continues to long.  I will mention it to the vet our next visit.  Thank you!

Dawn and Raven

Dawn and Raven

At 2½ weeks, I would expect that things are only starting to really settle.  Cherry did do chemotherapy starting just hours after surgery and continuing for nine more weeks.  (Total of four treatments three weeks apart.)  So, we did not see thing settle for quite sime time.  However, my mother-in-laws sheltie which we inheirited, does pretty much the same thing.  Eats, sleeps, and poops all day long until bed time.  Then, he digs, pants, paces, and hyperventilates until breakfast.  And he is supposedly "normal" (no illness).  I sure hope that this condition is just trancient with Raven!!!  Talk to the vet next time if it continues, but as Tazzie implied, I would not get too worried – yet.

Bob & Cherry

Corgan didn't pant too much when she was first post-op. She was very mobile right away, despite being a 12 year old 75lbs Lab that just had a limb amputated.

She was re-hospitalized nearly a week after the surgery due to an infection that developed underneath her incision area. After spending three weeks bed ridden fighting this infection, she now pants heavily occasionally throughout the day, but mostly at night.

She doesn't appear to be in pain as she doesn't whine or cry. I think perhaps it's a combination of her recovering from fatigue as we are working with her to try and regain muscle mass in her remaining legs and frustration from not being able to get up and do what she wants.

One oddity that I've noticed since her surgery is that she will bury her snout into the elbow one of her front legs and start to breath in heavily through her nose and then out her mouth. This usually occurs during a panting "episode". It's almost like she's having a panic attack. She only does it in short stints, but it's something I've never seen her do before now. Has anyone else seen this behavior?

Ajax is about 10 weeks post-amp, no cancer, just had a CT scan, no mets, no lung problems, is zipping around all day on his three legs.  But the same thing – around 10 pm, he starts panting.  It doesn't keep him up, though – just bugs me a little.  Our vet said basically the same thing others are saying above – fatigue and adjustment – she said if there were no other signs, it didn't necessarily mean pain.  She also said it is common.  I'll check back in if he stops, but for now I am just not worrying about it (he will stop for a treat, but I suppose you can't feeed treats from 10pm to 4am …)