It’s always a cause for concern when your pet appears to be in pain, has an injury, or is behaving unusually as it can be hard to quickly ascertain what the problem is.
And one pet owner, who goes by the name Suttonloves on TikTok, encountered this problem after noticing her dog displaying a “grumpier” demeanour than usual – which turned out to be a result of something far more serious. Luckily, she knew a simple way of checking her pet. Her advice has since gone viral, with the video amassing 1.4 million views.
Sutton started the video with: “If you have a dog, this info could save their life”, going on to say that many dog owners she knows didn’t know this important fact. She revealed: “I learned about this the hard way last week when my dog went into cardiac arrest. It’s one small thing that you can easily check that I had never known after owning a dog for years, and owning dogs growing up.”
She believes her dog, who has generally been healthy, survived due to a sign she noticed. She elaborated: “I have a sassy little dog who was acting more irritated. She was not getting grumpier, she wasn’t getting oxygen”.
Sutton pointed out that humans turn blue when significantly deprived of oxygen. However, dogs don’t have exposed skin, meaning their lack of oxygen could go unnoticed.
The TikToker, who has 50,000 followers and works as an actress, explained the best method to determine if your dog is suffering from a lack of oxygen is by examining their tongue.
She remarked: “If a dog is losing oxygen or having low oxygen intake due to health issues, their tongue will turn darker purple or blue. This will appear very dark on the underside of the tongue, kind of like branching out from the middle.”
She added: “Top side of the tongue will turn dark as well. Any discolouration darker than their normal tongue colour is cause to investigate to be sure that they’re getting the oxygen they need or they’re getting medication that can open their airways.”
Sutton shared that her own dog’s tongue had turned “almost black”.
Fortunately, her pet survived, and she now knows how to easily monitor its oxygen levels. She concluded with advice for other pet owners: “If your dog has breathing or heart issues that are ongoing, you can also use this as a metric to check them.”
An expert from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine confirmed Sutton’s observations, stating: “A dog with severe difficulty breathing may have a tongue that looks purple/blue instead of pink, showing that they are not getting enough oxygen”.
The expert also mentioned that cats with respiratory problems might exhibit similar symptoms or may simply sit quietly without much activity.