My puppy has hiccups

I actually love having the hiccups, because I know how to make them stop. It’s an interesting little game of concentration.

So yes, based on your story, it’s fair to say your dog is having a bit of trouble managing their breathing while eating or drinking.

In humans, imagine you’re at a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. You take a sip of a nice red wine, and at that exact moment, your other half cracks a joke. You laugh spontaneously, but before you’ve finished swallowing your drink. If you let that laugh out, your better half gets a face full of wine. Not really an option on Valentine’s Day.

So, a little internal conflict occurs, which has to be managed by the diaphragm, among other things; it "spasms", and that’s the start of the hiccups. You’ll get them as a result of that joke being told when you physically couldn't laugh. That’s the trigger. It’s the same with a puff of a cigarette that goes down the wrong way and makes you cough, while you’re trying to hold it in. Like if you lit up in a confession box at church. The priest shows up, you start to choke but don’t want to cough. Spasm = start of the hiccups.

As for getting rid of them, it’s fascinating. You just have to stop the next one. "Which next one?". Well, the next one. If you can prevent just one, it breaks the chain. The involuntary spasm vanishes.

A dog can eat and drink while breathing. You can hear them breathing while they drink. It’s highly likely that yours is still struggling a bit with the technique. They choke slightly, which causes the spasm that triggers the hiccups. HDC mentioned kibble. It creates dust (during chewing), and that dust gets into the airways, they choke, spasm = hiccups.

Stopping them is child's play; you just have to distract them. If their attention is elsewhere when the "next hiccup" was meant to happen, that’s it. The hiccups are gone.

And incidentally, it’s the same principle for humans. That trick of drinking a glass of water upside down? It does the job. Because our focus is elsewhere while we’re trying to drink upside down without spilling it all over our chest. If it stops the next hiccup, it cuts off the hiccups entirely. Personally, I like to turn off any distractions (telly, radio). Then I concentrate on intercepting the movement of the diaphragm. It’s so easy that it actually disappoints me to make them go away so quickly every time.

🙂 Thank you very much.

🙂 Thank you very much.

Hi, thanks. Mine’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, so it’s a bit scary. My late boy Filou had bloat which was caught just in time, but because of that I’m always quick to worry. It happens to her a lot while she’s sleeping!!!!! Thanks so much for the info

Hi there.

It’s perfectly normal for a puppy to have a lot of that while they’re growing.

Just keep an eye out to make sure they don’t have any other symptoms at the same time, because you’d need to see a vet then. ✌

My puppy gets the hiccups too, I think it’s normal, especially when they’re little.

Hiccups are perfectly normal in puppies, your vet will tell you that. Mine gets them all the time after eating, after he's had a drink, and after he's been exercising. There's really nothing to worry about! :)