My Cocker Spaniel, Keri had a breathing problem about 2 months ago which consisted of asthma like attacks over the space of 2 weeks. These attacks would last about 1 minute and would happen about 5 times in a row. It would happen during exercise or when she was sleeping. By the final attack her breathing would become shallow and slower and she would get very tired. The vet done everything possible to diagnose the problem, including an internal investigation and the only thing he thought could cause the problem was Keri being slightly overweight, thus causing the opening of the trachea to reduce. She also had a kind of sniffle (not a cold but an irritation of the nose) at the time which could also be related. 2 months on, after losing weight and in perfect health in every way, she got an attack again on Friday morning and once again it was about 5 1-minute asthma like attacks. The only thing I can do during these attacks is to rub her chest gently to help her calm down. It's extremely scary and by the final attack you expect her to stop breathing altogether. Has anybody any opinions on what this may be or experienced similar problems to this?

never experienced anything like this before but really sympathise with you because iv got cockers myself. you could try www.cockersonline.co.uk for more information though. hope she gets better soon!
Liz

Hi,
I wonder if pharyngitis is the cause? This is when the pharynx is inflamed, possibly as a result of disease, or swallowing of a foreign body - it can cause snorting attacks (described as 'reverse sneezing') because of the effort needed to breath in.

I agree with jg and they can also get a similar type thing to croup in children, A good 'quick fix' when this happens is to take the pup out into the cold air (easier said than done in this weather - although a fan may work, so lon as not directly pointed at the dog, so as not to take the breath away) The coldness quickly causes the inflamation to subside.