[Novel]

I've noticed an increasing phenomenon with Alley, my Boxer.

When we got her as a puppy she snored the worst!! It would actually keep me up at night, and I learned how to position her when she slept so that it was minimal. At about 6 months she seemed to grow out of it, only on very rare occasions, when she was sleeping in some ridiculous position, would she snore.

Well, in the past two weeks, she has been snoring again. In fact, she wakes me up at times because it sounds like she's having difficulty breathing. I thought maybe the heat was aggravating her, so I was icing her down. (Mind you this was in the middle of the night, about once every three nights.) The ice seemed to help, but this last week we had a bit of a cool stretch, and now I've heard her cough/gasp at least three times while awake running around. She seems to get overexcited and then start wheezing/gasping. I've encountered dogs do this with trachea problems, but Al has never worn a collar, and the advent of the symptoms in so short a time has got me worried.

I've made an appt for her with the vet, it's a two week back log. I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences. Also, in your opinions, should I move the appt from routine to emergency.

An episode lasts a few seconds, 5 tops, when she is awake, but at night can last 30 seconds, and seems to reoccur a few times through the night. Over all she's had maybe 4 nights where she's done this, but this week she has done the gasping at least once during the day, but again, usually after a bout of exercise, or when she is excited.