I took her in, and the vet took blood and put it in a little device that tests for lots of stuff. She came up negative for everything except Ehrlichia, and that was mildly postiive. That means she could be developing it from a recent tick bite, or have had exposure in the past. So she's on a round of doxycycline and then it should all be okay.

The vet suggested that if she's fighting the Ehrlichia she might be having recurring fevers and that could cause her breathing to accelerate for cooling even if she's not panting. I don't think that's it, but it could be.

I'm more of the opinion that she could be like a newborn baby who doesn't have the ability to regulate her breathing and sleeping, etc., and that she will grow out of it. She gets the hiccups all the time AND she's the first dog I've ever heard belch! She was starving, after all, so it could be that she developed some kind of neurological glitch or something like that. Since it doesn't bother her, and I'm positive there's no heartworm, I'm going to ignore it unless something else related pops up.

Thanks for your help!

Karen