What is a normal resting respiratory rate for a dog or cat?

A normal sleeping or resting respiratory rate for both dogs and cats should consistently be under 30 breaths per minute. Rates between 30 and 40 are considered borderline (equivocal) and should be recounted and interpreted in light of typical normal values for your pet and the current level of concern for heart disease, while rates consistently over 40 require veterinary attention.

How do I count my pet's breathing rate?

Wait until your pet is fully resting or in a deep sleep. Observe their chest moving in and out. One complete in-and-out motion counts as one breath. Count the number of breaths over 30 seconds and multiply by 2 to get the rate per minute.

Why is tracking my dog's sleeping breathing rate important?

In dogs and cats with heart disease, a rising resting respiratory rate is often the first clinical sign of fluid building up in the lungs (congestive heart failure). Tracking this rate allows owners to detect failure early, often before the pet shows signs of coughing or distress.

What should I do if my dog's respiratory rate is over 40?

If your pet is fully asleep (not dreaming or overly warm) and their breathing rate is consistently over 40 breaths per minute, this is a clinical emergency, especially if they have a known heart murmur or heart disease. You should contact your veterinary surgeon immediately.

Clinical Note

Add a note to this reading — e.g. sleeping deeply, post-exercise, seemed restless.

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Manual SRR Entry

Breaths per minute: Date / Time:

Patient Profile

Patient Name*: Owner Surname:

Species: Sex:

Breed: Date of Birth:

Current Weight: Unit:

Custom Alarm Cutoff (bpm):

Advanced Data Management

Transfer all clinical logs from into:

Note: This action will migrate all historical weight, medication, and respiratory data to the target profile, then automatically delete this duplicate.

Time Remaining

Count:

breaths/min

No readings recorded during this specific time period.
Adjust the Analytics date range below to see older logs.

Date range:

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Log Medication Change

Event Date

Medication

Custom Name

Stopped

Dose (mg)

Frequency

Calculated Dosage: mg/kg

Date	Action	Medication	Regimen
			Discontinued ( mg/kg ⚠)
No pharmacologic history recorded for this patient.

Log Diagnosis Update

Date of Diagnosis/Scan

Primary Cardiac Diagnosis

Disease Stage (Update as needed)

Note: Formal ACVIM staging primarily applies to MMVD and Feline HCM. DCM staging is loosely adapted.

Concurrent Non-Cardiac Diagnoses

No diagnostic history recorded.

Log Event Details

Date

Time

What happened?

Describe Event Type

Est. Duration

Consciousness

Muscle Tone

MM Colour

HR (bpm)

RR (bpm)

Activity at Time of Event

Clinical Notes & Triggers

No collapse or syncope events recorded.

Overlay Meds Relational Time

Log (or include in date range) at least 2 resting rates to generate trend analytics.

Log medications to generate a pharmacologic timeline.

Data Management & Backups

Your data is stored locally. Create backups before clearing your browser history.

Respiratory Logs (CSV)

Import

Medication Logs (CSV)

Import

Cardalis App Email Import

Paste the body of a Cardalis export email to bulk-import readings.

Pet name is read from the email header. A new profile is created automatically if needed. Duplicate readings (within 60 seconds of an existing entry) are skipped silently.

Master System Backup (JSON)

Backups everything: Patients, Breathing, and Medications.

Restore Backup

Veterinary Cardiac Tracker