A dog that is shivering and panting at the same time is showing signs of physical distress, and the cause can range from simple stress to a life-threatening emergency. The combination matters because shivering and panting together typically signal that your dog’s body is fighting something, whether that’s pain, fever, overheating, poisoning, or intense fear. Figuring out which one starts with a quick assessment you can do right now.
Check These Things First
Before anything else, look at your dog’s gums. Healthy gums are pink and moist. If they look pale, white, bright red, or have a bluish tinge, that points to a serious problem with circulation or oxygen and your dog needs emergency veterinary care immediately. A normal breathing rate for dogs is 12 to 30 breaths per minute. Count your dog’s breaths for 15 seconds and multiply by four. If the rate is well above 30 and your dog hasn’t been exercising, something is off.
Also check whether your dog’s belly looks swollen or tight, whether they’re trying to vomit without producing anything, and whether they can stand and walk normally. Any of these alongside shivering and panting raises the urgency significantly.
Pain Is the Most Common Cause
Dogs in pain often shiver and pant simultaneously, even when they show no other obvious signs of injury. Unlike humans, dogs rarely cry out or whimper from chronic pain. Instead, their bodies respond with rapid breathing and muscle tension that looks like shivering. This can come from anything: a pulled muscle, arthritis flare, abdominal pain, a broken tooth, or an injury you can’t see.
If your dog is also reluctant to move, hunching their back, licking one spot obsessively, or refusing food, pain is the most likely explanation. Older dogs with joint problems are especially prone to this combination on cold days or after too much activity.
Stress and Anxiety
Dogs pant when they’re hot, excited, or stressed. If your dog is panting without having exercised, stress is a real possibility. The whole-body shake that dogs do after stepping off a vet’s exam table, for instance, is a classic stress response. Thunderstorms, fireworks, car rides, new environments, unfamiliar people, and even your own tension can trigger this reaction.
Stress-related shivering and panting usually resolve once the trigger is removed. Your dog may also show other anxiety signs like pacing, drooling, yawning repeatedly, hiding, or shedding more than usual. If the shivering and panting started right after something changed in your dog’s environment, anxiety is the likely culprit and not typically dangerous on its own.
Fever and Infection
A dog’s normal body temperature falls between 100.5°F and 102.5°F. Anything above 102.5°F is considered a fever. Just like in humans, fever causes chills and shivering as the body tries to generate heat to fight off infection, while panting kicks in because the dog is simultaneously trying to cool down. It’s a contradictory-looking combination, but it makes physiological sense.
If you have a rectal thermometer designed for pets, checking your dog’s temperature can give you a clear answer. A reading above 104°F is serious. Common infections that cause fever include urinary tract infections, infected wounds, respiratory infections, and tick-borne diseases. Your dog may also seem unusually tired, have a warm nose or ears, or show reduced appetite.
Heatstroke
Heatstroke occurs when a dog’s body temperature reaches 105°F or higher and they can no longer regulate it on their own. Dogs don’t sweat the way humans do, so panting is their primary cooling mechanism. When panting can’t keep up, the body overheats and muscles begin to tremor.
This is most common after exercise in hot weather, being left in a car, or spending too long in direct sun. Flat-faced breeds like bulldogs, pugs, and Boston terriers are at higher risk because their shortened airways make panting less efficient. If you suspect heatstroke, move your dog to a cool area and offer water, but don’t use ice or ice-cold water, which can cause blood vessels to constrict and trap heat inside the body.
Poisoning and Toxic Ingestion
If your dog got into something they shouldn’t have, shivering and panting can be early warning signs of poisoning. Common culprits include chocolate, the sugar substitute xylitol (found in sugar-free gum and some peanut butters), antifreeze, rodent poison, pesticides, certain plants, and compost or moldy food. Dogs that eat moldy food can develop tremors, vomiting, excessive drooling, and a rapid heart rate, sometimes progressing to seizures.
Poisoning symptoms often come on quickly, within minutes to a few hours of ingestion. If your dog is also vomiting, drooling heavily, stumbling, or seems disoriented, call your vet or an animal poison control hotline right away. Try to identify what your dog may have eaten, as that information helps determine treatment.
Bloat (GDV)
Gastric dilatation-volvulus, commonly called bloat, is one of the most time-sensitive emergencies in dogs. The stomach fills with gas and can twist on itself, cutting off blood flow. Panting is a hallmark sign because the swollen stomach presses against the diaphragm, making breathing difficult. Shivering follows from the severe pain and shock that set in rapidly.
Bloat is most common in large, deep-chested breeds like Great Danes, German Shepherds, and Standard Poodles. The classic signs are a visibly distended abdomen, unproductive retching (trying to vomit but nothing comes up), restlessness, and drooling. This condition can kill a dog within hours without surgery. If you see these signs together, don’t wait to see if they improve.
Hormonal and Metabolic Problems
Some chronic conditions cause shivering and panting that come and go over weeks or months rather than appearing suddenly. Cushing’s disease, where the body produces too much cortisol, causes excessive panting along with reduced activity, increased thirst, a pot-bellied appearance, and hair loss. It’s most common in middle-aged and older dogs.
For nursing mothers, there’s a specific and dangerous condition called eclampsia. It happens when a lactating dog’s calcium levels drop too low, usually within the first few weeks after giving birth. Panting and restlessness are the earliest signs, followed by muscle tremors, stiffness, twitching, and behavioral changes like aggression or disorientation. Without treatment, it can progress to seizures and death. If your dog recently had puppies and starts shivering and panting, this is an emergency.
How to Assess the Situation at Home
Run through this mental checklist:
- Timing: Did this start suddenly or has it been building? Sudden onset points to pain, poisoning, bloat, or heatstroke. Gradual patterns suggest anxiety, fever, or a chronic condition.
- Environment: Is it hot? Was there a thunderstorm? Did guests arrive? Could your dog have gotten into trash, food, or chemicals?
- Other symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, swollen belly, stumbling, pale gums, or inability to settle all raise the urgency.
- Breed and age: Older dogs are more prone to pain and metabolic conditions. Large breeds are at higher risk for bloat. Flat-faced breeds overheat faster.
- Recent changes: New medication, recent surgery, a nursing litter, or a change in diet can all be relevant.
If the shivering and panting are mild, your dog is eating and drinking normally, their gums look pink, and you can identify a clear stress trigger, it’s reasonable to monitor them in a calm, comfortable space for an hour or two. If symptoms persist, worsen, or come with any of the red flags listed above, your dog needs professional evaluation. Many of the serious causes of this symptom pair are highly treatable when caught early, but they share a narrow window where waiting too long changes the outcome.