Which type of respiration is seen in normal, awake animals?

• A. Pneumonic
• B. Thoracic
• C. Thoracic-abdominal
• D. Abdominal

Answer: (B)

Normal, awake respiration is primarily thoracic, meaning the chest wall expands with inspiration as the intercostal muscles lift the rib cage. This chest-dominant movement is the typical breathing pattern you observe in a relaxed, conscious animal, with the abdomen remaining relatively still or showing only minor movement.

Abdominal breathing, where the belly moves more than the chest, is not the usual pattern in a normal, awake state and is more commonly seen when diaphragmatic effort is prominent, such as in deep breathing, certain species or developmental stages, or under different physiological conditions. A thoracic-abdominal pattern can occur briefly during breathing cycles but is not the baseline for a normal, awake animal.

The term you might see that isn’t a standard breathing pattern is a distractor, since it doesn’t describe how the chest and diaphragm contribute to normal respiration.