Breathing worry but vets said normal

Hiya, I’m worried about my 2 year old, neutered Pomeranian male breathing, he acts completely normal in himself he’s a happy, constantly playful dog. He sleeps, eats, plays all completely normal but he pants a lot and also breathes heavy when lying down sometimes (not all of the time) I have took him to vets where they said he was anxious and just hot , I know he gets hot a lot as he’s always looking for a cool place to lie down so I know it could just be that. as I said he’s fine and happy in himself and doesn’t stop doing anything I’m just a little worried still and wanted a second opinion. I also know Pomeranian’s pant a lot but him being my first one I’m not sure what is normal and isn’t. He has got a very thick coat which I groom every day , unfortunately it won’t let me upload the videos of his breathing so I’m not sure if there’s any other way for me to send it over . I also want to admit I am a super paranoid person and am constantly worrying about him over anything

And just to add sometimes he also snores sometimes when sleeping , could this be normal too

Hello there and thank you for this excellent question.  Vets use a phrase, 'differential list' to refer to the list of possible causes of a symptom.   Indeed, a possible differential for panting or rapid breathing could be heat; this a patient with a lot of hair and in this instance, it may be worth considering regular hair- clips, simply to reduce the volume of insulating hair that he is carrying.  This can help a lot with temperature regulation and make a patient much more comfortable, regardless of the main cause of  the panting.  However, there may be other differentials that could also be in play in some patients,  especially if they have always had a fair amount of hair and only recently started the symptom.  Possibilities may include obesity (this is not necessarily the case - I cannot properly assess your pom from here and would not attempt to.  However some vets in private practise do avoid talking about it, so it is always worth asking about your dogs' weight).  Another factor is facial conformation; by nature of the shape of the skull (you may have heard the term brachycephalic), some dogs, including many poms, have small airways and not much area in the nose for gas exchange.  This can lead to breathlessness.   Other possibilities include heart disease (the absence of a murmur does not rule this out; you vet may offer a scan), hypothyroidism, and other diseases affecting gas exchange (red blood cell production ie different causes of anaemia, or diseases affecting the quality of gas exchange at the lung such as COPD).  Finally, pain can cause panting, particularly in arthritic conditions (another reason why weight assessment may be important), pancreatitis, testicular conditions, toothache and so on. I have no idea where in their investigations or differential list your vets  are, but it does no harm to ask them how they know that the pnting is simply caused by the hair although once again, a hair cut may certainly help. I hope that something there is useful.

Given that I can see that your pom is brachycephlic and very hairy, it is likely that at least 2 factors are at play here.   The question is whether there are any more.

For the record, I would never describe panting as normal; the only time that it is normal for a dog to pant is after vigourous exercise.

(As in, I would not describe pain, brachycephalicism or being too hot as normal).