Cats can pant?
I was giving Signal a good workout with a feather on a string and then a laser pointer tonight. He was going crazy, jumping 4 feet into the air and climbing the walls. Then he started doing something I’ve never seen a cat do before – he started panting. Just like a dog, he stuck out his tongue and breathed heavily. Maybe he’s out of shape, but it sure was weird. It took me quite a while to get a good shot of him to prove it, so I kept having to tire him out again. Maybe he’ll be too tired to wake me up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.
February 4th, 2005 at 8:37 am
My cat does the same. Not only he pants but sometimes he also starts coughing. I was told long ago it was due to some heart problem. I just try not to push him too hard.
February 4th, 2005 at 8:46 am
Heck yeah cat’s pant.
Just like any other animal without sweat glands, it’s how they give off heat. They’re not as good at it as dogs are, so with the exception of cheetahs, they generally don’t push themselves to it all that often. I only know they pant because my Siamese was a touch hyperactive and would usually show up panting his head off.
February 4th, 2005 at 10:29 am
Don’t over exert my grandcat!
March 11th, 2005 at 1:07 am
I have also been having this concern lately…my kitten is only 5 months old and after about 10 minutes of good play he begin to pant….really pant. It worries me, but he runs all day climbing and jumping so he is not in bad shape. This is just a recent development…I know cats sweat through paws…the panting has thrown me off!
March 26th, 2005 at 9:21 pm
Im a 11month old Tabby and my mama and papa think that Im playing too hard because I “pant” . They took away my fishing pole bird feather that smells like heaven and I was NOT happy! Please inform them that panting is normal and that Im not a pussy with a weak heart!
Mac
June 8th, 2005 at 8:52 pm
I was playing with my cat tonight, with a wand with fleece and a feather on the end. The he started panting and it worried me that he might be having a reaction to it. He is breathing heavy and panting, but he is not swollen, no fever and he is not having problems breathing. It is just rapid and shallow. And he keeps looking at my panting and meowing at me. Should I give it back? I’m glad this site was here, I have never heard of a cat panting before.
June 23rd, 2005 at 4:22 am
Everyone… cat panting is a sign of cat heatstroke if it is coupled with the following:
- Unable to stand without wobbling or walking unsteadily
- Coughing and wheezing
- Distress and gasping for air
- Gums appear to be darker red than usual.
When the weather is hot or your cat has been doing excessive exercise, their lack of sweat glands and thick fur coat will obviously have an effect. It is important not to panic when you see your cat pant, but look out for other symptoms of heat stroke. If it is, they should see the vet immediately as it is known to be fatal. A cat panting could also just be because they’re tired and just need to cool down. But excessive panting is a sign of danger and should be checked out by your vet.
July 6th, 2005 at 8:21 pm
Cat panting is a sign of your cat being over heated, parasites, or an illness.
July 18th, 2005 at 4:39 am
Hi All,
My cat has a severe heart condition and in the hot and humid weather she pants a lot. In my experience, it is not typical for a cat to pant. My cat pants mostly in hot weather, but a good bit of exercise causes her to pant as well.
July 18th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
ok, i found my way here a lil late. $150.00 late! i freaked out when my Sasha Bell went outside, came back in panting like a dog. so i called my vet and of course they said, bring her in NOW. so i did, x-rays were done and found NADA. i was told it isnt common for cats to pant but they do when they are overheated. i guess a long haired, BLACK cat in the summer sun should have tipped the vet off…but i now know its NOT that uncommon!
July 30th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
Just last night I had my Turkish Van Siren running around the apartment with a laser. It was about 85 F outside, and I have air, but it was still warm. After about 15 minutes or so, she started panting and running at the same time. I stopped playing with her, and she laid down. Her head was up and her eyes were alert, and when I called her, she got up and came to me. About 3 minutes later, she would stop panting and breathe normally for a few seconds, then pant a few times, then breathe normally again. I took this as her cooling off because I saw no other signs of heat stroke. She walked confidently and steadily, her gums were pink, and although she was panting, her breathing wasn’t distressed. Being as this was the first time I’d ever seen her full-on pant like that, I watched her. About 10 minutes after she started the whole thing, she was fine. She stood up, walked to her water bowl, got herself some water, then laid in her bed and took a nap.
No, it’s not common for a cat to pant, but they will if the need arises through vigorous play. While it CAN be a sign of something serious, you shouldn’t panic at the first sign of panting. Watch them, though, and if you observe any of the symptoms that Dora listed, get vet attention. If not, just let the poor little thing cool down an minute and they should be fine.
July 30th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
I just had my cat spayed, on Thurs. July 28th 2005. When I brought her home that night she stayed away from everyone and hid. I let it go being that she had a rabies shot and a shot of pain medicine. On Friday morning she was her usual affectionate self, but meowing constantly. I know she missed me but found it unusual that it was a constant thing, and wouldn’t leave me alone, which is normal but it was more. I started to get worried when she laid with me on the couch and cuddled, where she was on my chest and started to pant. I looked at her belly and it was moving in and out so fast. My husband told me that she went through a horrible expierence being away from us overnight and being somewhere she doesn’t go every day, with strange people etc.. and that she probably is a little overwhelmed. I knew this but still was worried so I called the vet (which is 24 hrs) and asked them. The only info. they could give me over the phone was if she is still panting heavy on a continous basis to bring her in asap. It is now almost 130 in the morning on the 31st and I’m typing this and she is still meowing, but not panting. I want to wait to see if she still does it being it is the first time I have seen it and just calm down. So I’m off to bed and I think that is what she wants me to do. I know she needs her rest , and the special atttention now, so I’m signing off. Goodnight cat lovers………
August 3rd, 2005 at 12:32 pm
So this website is scaring me more than i was before! My cat and my friends new kitten were playing hard last night and my Ellie was panting more than every before. She has in the past, but this was pretty bad. AFter reading these comments, it could be a bad heart or parasites? how would you know which one without taking them to the vet! ! now i’m worried.
August 7th, 2005 at 8:31 am
My Maine Coon mix kitten who is about six months old has been exhibiting the same symptoms as described here. Minerva will only pant after vigorous play sessions, either with me or with her older brother–Max, also a MC mix and about a year old. Max never panted, but Min will play until she pants; then, she will flop to the floor and make frustrated mewing sounds until she catches her breath enough to keep on playing. I was worried that she might have feline asthma, but she doesn’t wheeze or cough; she only pants when exercising heavily. I do notice that in warmer weather, though, it doesn’t take as long a period of time until the panting begins during play sessions. Of course, when she starts to pant, I stop playing with her so she can cool down, but Max doesn’t know that she should leave Min alone when she’s panting. Min will then be forced (by exhaustion and lack of breath) to lay down until she can catch up to Max. Luckily, nothing more serious has occurred so I am figuring that she’s just more sensitive to heat than Max, as her paw pads become fire hot when she’s having these episodes.
August 9th, 2005 at 9:14 pm
I just adopted a kitten a few weeks ago. A long haired saimese. She pants all the time. I t has been extremely hot lately. Once in a while she coughs. A short cough. I brought her to the vet and she was put on antibiotics. No mucus or any other symptoms. I have never in my life heard of or saw a cat pant. My mother raised Siamese cats all our lives. 51 years of cats and this is the first panter. What tests are done to check for medical problems?
August 10th, 2005 at 9:28 am
My kitten panted yesterday after just 10 min of playing
August 10th, 2005 at 9:29 am
My kitten panted yesterday too, really scared me.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
I have three cats and the youngest is only about 1 1/2 years. She’s a bit hefty though, its so hard to control when there are other mouths to feed. Anyway this cat (Sweet) will pant like crazy when she’s out in the yard running around in the heat. This has been an especially hot and humid summer, so I’ve been seeing this quite a bit and have some concern. My initial reaction is that it’s just real hot, she’s a little chubby and she’s still running around like a kitten. So I avoid letting her out in the heat, make sure that at least one room has a/c when I’m at work, and I just keep an eye on her.
I’m glad this post is available, because I will check it out from time to time. I also plan to discuss Sweet’s panting in a few months when her check up is due. I’ve also gotten some good information from some of the other posts.
August 11th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
i have a three month old siamese, and today i discovered a segment of tapeworm on his tail, so i have an appt. for saturday at the vet. i wasnt worried about him really, because almost every time i adopt or find a kitten, it has tapeworm, and i’ve only had Lestat for a few days. but just now i was playing with him, and he started panting like crazy! i didnt notice any signs of heatstroke, he was otherwise normal. . . except that he doesnt look very happy. could the fact that he has tapeworm cause him to pant excessively? i’ve never heard of that before. i mean, i had cats who would pant in the heat, or in the car, but not after playing for less than ten minutes. and his breathing sounded quite labored, and i’m not sure if he was wheezing or not, but it didnt sound normal. i’ll be sure to bring it up at the vet. should i be worried, though?
August 15th, 2005 at 8:25 am
Like everyone else…I just recently ran to my computer to look up ” cat panting.” Goblin is a four and a half month old–but good sized–kitten. Black and white with semi-long hair…mama was a maine coon. Well…guess what toy I just introduced to him this morning? A feather toy on a fishing pole. He went nuts over it, zipping in circles around the kitchen and jumping etc…he started making wierd panting huff huff sounds when wrestling with it, but if I stopped motion, he would stop making the sound–so at first I thought maybe he was just making wierd/ agressive play noises(he already is a cat who chirps and trills etc…) Well, we played about ten minutes, and I literally had to pry the toy away from him and hide it……but the panting continued and really worried me for a bit, I was all checking to make sure he did not have a feather in his mouth or something. He is fine now, about a half an hour later, and is sprawled out in front of my little fan on my desk here. This all came after he peeled a Harry Potter sticker off the top of monitorand ate it a couple hours ago. :: shakes head:: There is a reason I named him Goblin instead of the originally intended Rigoletto.
I am keeping a close eye on him here, and he had some water, so I think he will be okay. there is something else that he does that scares me though…..he twitches really bad in his sleep. In fact, not only does he twitch, but he also tends to sleep with his eyes semi-open, so he can look kind of like he is dead, or having a siezure when he twitches because his eyes will roll and twitch a little too. However, when I reach out and touch him he wakes up instantly, is fine, and grumbles and whines to me, stretches a bit…then goes back to sleep. Even though I have read up that some cats do twitch when they go into a form of REM sleep, and have seen him do it many times….it still freaks me a little. I feel like the mother who wakes the baby all the time to make ” sure”, lol.
Okay, he is curled up in a ball and starting to sleep now, so going to just let him have his rest and try not get him that worked up again. Thanks all for posting here. Though you can find web pages with heat stroke information etc…it is helpful to have regular people reporting the same kind of incidents.
August 17th, 2005 at 3:17 pm
My kitten is about a few months old, we live in a warm area and have noticed that Cosmo will pant after he runs around, even if it’s in the morning when it’s cooler. But once he’s done he stops. For those who say they are worried, I would recommend contacting a few vets for different opinions and keep in mind many will recommend bringing them in immediately. But this is to cover themselves if something should be wrong. (which is understandable)My theory is if your cat seems fine for the most part then just mention it to the vet at his/her next visit as the kitten should be getting check up visits. From what I have read, I haven’t yet read that a cat pant being anything serious, just something not very common.
August 18th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
You all freak out way too much. It’s August, for crying out loud! My 3-month-old cat Monty insists on following us around the block on our evening walk, and there’s nothing we can do to stop him. It’s hot out. He paw foots along a while then has to sprint occasionally to catch up with us. At the end of the first go-round (1/2 mile) he’s PANTING. Surprise, surprise. He calms down after a bit. It’s all to be expected. No biggie.
These are animals, folks, with their own internal signal for when to stop. You have to trust that.
August 22nd, 2005 at 6:44 pm
It can be a serious concern when a cat pants. Although cats may pant when
overheated, they may also pant when under stress. I noticed a few writers mentioned they had Maine Coon cats. This breed is known to have a genetic predisposition to HCM or Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. One should be especially concerned when a cat or kitten coughs in conjunction with panting. One should also be concerned when a cat pants in conjunction with an underlying heart murmur. This may be indicative of heart and/or lung disease. My cat often pants after stressful events (seeing the vet). Her sister never pants. The panting cat has a heart murmur – which only recently developed. I am deciding whether or not to follow up with a DVM cardiologist.
You might want to check out the entires under cardiomyopathy and cardiovascular disease
at http://www.vetinfo4cats.com/catindex.html
August 25th, 2005 at 9:20 pm
Our little kitten is about 3 1/2 months old. She’s a little black kitten and is usually very active around the house, harrassing our old fat cat. Today, we broke down and bought her some toys since she seems to be getting bored with the other things we have laying around the house. Of course, we got her the fishing pole with the feathers on it and after attempting to make it slowly skip on the ground to little reaction, I started hopping it around. Wow, our little Evelyn started bounding in the air, jumping and sprinting after it like her life depended on it. After a few minutes, probably about 10 or so, she started to pant really badly. Having never had a kitten before (we adopted the older cat) I panicked and became extremely distressed when the panting continued with her breathing being extremely rapid and shallow. She was meowing every once in a while and seemed to be distressed. After a while, probably about 10 to 15 minutes (and also after I overreacted and dipped her in some cold water and wrapped a damp towel around her, to which I have claw marks to show for it) she stopped and is now moving around quite normally. Nothing different and she seems very content and is investigating the now limp feather rod. I’m thankful I found this sight because everything appears to be normal now and I’m going to chock it up as it’s a hot night and she played harder than she ever did before, so most likely it seems she simply overheated, got some rest and a cooldown and got back to normal. I seriously think they should put a warning on that fishing rod with feathers on it saying “CAUTION: Cat may pant in hot weather while using this toy, do not play excessively with it” because that thing gave me a real scare. I’m thankful for everybody’s postings before this, otherwise I’d still be freaking out about it. It’s good to know that other people have seen and experienced this as well without much complications.
August 27th, 2005 at 6:46 pm
Hi!
I have a long-haired black male cat and when he came inside from outside not a while ago, he was tottaly crazy! He was running around (back and forth down the hallway and EVERYWHERE!) and he was panting! its not hot outside at all…i was wondering….whats the matter? he’s tottaly OFF THE WALL! so…we locked him in the garage…now what?
September 6th, 2005 at 10:58 am
I have a long haired black kitten – almost 5 months old. My situation is almost exactly like the one Nicodemus describes above.
He runs around the house full boar and all of a sudden he will stop and lay down and start panitn greally hard. His breathing is not labored – no wheezing or coughing. Then about 15-30 seconds later he is off again running around.
My vet had a heart ultrasound done to rule out cardiomyopathy abnd everything was fine. He is being neutered on Friday and I just spoke with her cuz he still pants after a hard workout. She said she could do a chest xray just to make sure – there is some sort of herniated diaphragm condition. Probably is nothing but just to be sure. I will post back with an update.
September 11th, 2005 at 2:54 pm
As someone has already posted, BE CAREFUL and DO WORRY! Heavy panting is not normal at all, no matter how hot it is. Maine Coons, Siamese, Ragdolls, cross breeds — just to name a few — have a predisposition to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is heart failure, and is seen quite often in male cats. My 7-month-old male Ragdoll was just diagnosed on Friday with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He sometimes pants after 10 minutes of vigorous running, then is fine. He has no other symptoms. Early detection and treatment will give these cats a fighting chance. Most live only two years but in some cases can live as long as four or five years with early diagnosis, treatment, and diet. Better to be safe than sorry; don’t rely on advice and opinions of others who have not consulted with a veterinarian before giving their advice: Please, if you really love your pet, spend the money for an echocardiogram ($300 to $400) if your cat pants! On X-ray and through stethoscope, my baby’s heart seemed normal; with the echo, it wasn’t normal. If you can rule out heart failure, then other underlying causes must be investigated to determine the reason why your cat pants.
September 17th, 2005 at 10:02 am
My 1 yr. old Maine Coon had a panting/hyperventilation episode yesterday in the car. We had left for a trip (he is normally an excellent traveler–not a peep). Forty five minutes into the ride I notice that he is breathing extremely fast and shallow. It was not especially hot (75 degs) air cond. was on. I thought this might be transitory, and allowed another half hour for symptoms to subside; they didn’t , so we returned home. He was in this panting state for a couple of hours; and when we got home, he was knocked out, seeming to have been through an ordeal. Today he seems fine. I have never seen this in him before. Could stress and emotions of the trip have triggered this? Is hyperventilation and panting a common reaction to panic or stress? Getting him checked out today anyway.
October 15th, 2005 at 10:42 am
hi, recv’d this site from a client of mine. PLEASE READ OR SCAN. i’ve been a professional catsitter for 5 years. this client found a kitten who is now about 6-7 months old and she has been trying to find a home for her. another client of mine was interested so arrangements were made for them to meet kitten, which was her original name. (if only i had a matchmaker!) after a great amt of playtime, kitten panted heavily, her tongue turning bright red, sticking out dramatically! kitten’s foster parent said she had panted like this once before, a few weeks ago. needless to say, prospective parents were concerned–they have an 8-year-old cat, so they are not first-time parents. i was concerned as well and will tell my personal story with my own kitten’s panting in a few sentences. before prospective parents would consider kitten, kitten was taken to vet for x-ray, ultrasound and tests were normal. prospective parents consequently decided not to adopt kitten as husband was very concerned and fearful of kitten’s health.
this was background info to my story. i adopted isaac when he was 2 months old and he played with his 6-month-old sister (adopted the same time) like kittens do. at 3 months or so, isaac would stop in his tracks to pant for a few seconds then continue to play, then pant, etc. i became concerned when this “behavior” continued and seemed to get worse. isaac was seen alot by the vet during this time for shots, gastrointestinal and weight issues, neutering. each time vet (diff ones) would listen to isaac’s lungs, heart and say everything sounded normal and also say that alot of kittens pant and they often grow out of it. (my friend’s kitten did the same when he was young.) at one visit, i asked vet to really listen deeply–surprise! this was when “something unusual was heard.” i had informed vets earlier that it sounded like isaac was snoring when he slept and he would “cough.” FAST FORWARD: isaac has FELINE ASTHMA and his panting was him trying to get his breath after playing, his “snoring” sounds was him trying to breathe, much like people who have sleep apnea. his coughing was serious because it is the time that it is the most dificult for him to breathe and could eventually cause his lungs to collapse. initial`ASTHMA diagnosis was made without echo, ultrasound, etc. because with what the vets “now” heard from his lungs and the symptoms i gave, it was a clear case of asthma. TREATMENT: twice daily treatments of albuteral given by a pediatric inhaler over his nose/mouth for a week and then treatment were weaned. he was such a great patient!! he is now only to get his treatment when he coughs (trying to breath) or pants for an extended period. i had to give him his treatment “only” once in the last year. however, he STILL pants and coughs for a short amt of time. who knows what happens when i’m not home!! for issaac and robbi and myself, i bought a super vacuum which picks up dust, dander, etc, unlike any other standard vacuum. i changed litter to wheat-based which is 100% dust-free. i don’t use perfume (never did) or use sprays which could affect ALL OUR BREATHING. ultimately, isaac did have an ultasound and echo about 2 months after initial diagnosis as vets thought they heard fluid around heart. no fluid was seen but the “confirmation” of asthma was made as well as as isaac having an enlarged heart due to his size. he’s a big boy at 2 years old.
if your vet has ruled out a medical problem, that’s great but PLEASE TAKE YOUR CAT TO VET if your cat’s panting increases or “coughing “continues or see your cat in a crouching position while panting, coughing! she’s not coughing, she’s trying to breathe. i mentioned earlier that i have a friend whose kitten, smokey, also panted–her cat didn’t “grow out of it.” ultrasound determined he had asthma as well!! as you can see, i can go on and on but i hope you got my message. some cats can pant due to the heat, overexertion, etc., and they don’t have a heart or lung problem (like kitten, remember her); some cats can pant and they do( like isaac and smokey). thanks for all your time in reading this long “blog message.”
November 18th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
I’ve had 5 cats over the last couple of years, and I’ve seen a few different forms of panting. Nurgle, who was nearly 10 when he died, had FIV. He died three weeks after diagnosis, in that time he was panting a lot and it was the only sign we had that he was in pain. I guess cats don’t whimper, they just pant and put up with it. Velcro on the other hand, is 7. He’s a big fluffy boy, one of his parents was persian. So he’s got a very thick coat, but also I suspect he’s inherited a tendancy towards heart disease. He pants when he plays, and often has to stop and rest after a couple of minutes. Apart from this he seems fine. My main concern is that the anasthetic our local vets use is known to cause heart failure in susceptible cats so if he ever needs a general I will insist the vets check him out and find an alternative if necessary. Last panting episode was just this morning – Tiger, a robust 3 year old tabby, was demanding to go outside so we put her out in the cat run by herself. 30 mins later she’s wailing to come in – and also panting with huge dilated pupils. So thats how I found my way here – was it heatstroke? No, seems like she’s walking ok and gums look normal – it is cool today but cats can soak up a lot of sun. Best guess is anxiety at being left alone. Normally we would put her and Roddy out together (they fight when they are inside but it seems like the cat run is neutral territory and they don’t fight there). I’ll be watching her to see if she winds down a bit.
November 23rd, 2005 at 12:07 pm
Hi all,
I have a calico-tortie and white, 8 month old female. Whenever she is around any boy cats she pants. Is panting ever associated with any sexual activities? I wanna know if my cat is trying to lure these boys or what….and this only happens when she’s around these boys or if she’s been playing for quite some time…..can anyone shed some light on this? thanks
December 14th, 2005 at 10:18 pm
Hi. I am not a vet, but I am a physiological ecologist who has studied thermoregulation in endotheric homeotherms. Panting is a form of thermoregulation by counter-current exchange by means of evaporative water loss. One interesting fact is that the air flow is unidirectial (air in through the nose and out through the mouth). This unidirectioal flow allows for a quite efficient mechanism for dissipating the heat load from an increase in metabolic activity. One question that I have is when the cat increases the rate of respiration there is a shift to the left in the oxygen dissociation curve, but cats regulate blood pH in order to compensate for the change in blood carbonic acid.
Thanks Mark…
December 29th, 2005 at 10:12 pm
Hi, I adopted a 2 month old kitten a few months ago, and was told when adopting him that he had a heart murmour. This site has been helpful, as my kitten often(many times in a day) pants. At least I think it is panting, he will run around for not even 5 minutes sometimes then will stop, breath very hard and his stomach will heave in and out. When I first adopted him, this only happened maybe once a day that I noticed. Now it’s happening multiple times a day, at least 5 times. Has anyone had experience with it happening this frequently? Temperature is not a problem as I live northern Canada.
January 1st, 2006 at 7:16 am
Hi, well i’m in Sydney Australia and today we had the hottest January 1 (about 45-48 degrees celcius) ever. Went to my parents house an hour ago to find my mum’s cat panting very heavily.
I’m one to panic so have now locked her in the coolest room I could find after putting her feet and tummy in cool water and giving her iced water to drink. She has been panting for at least the last hour and I will watch her for another 1/2 before deciding to bite the bullet and call the vet for a check up or not. She must be overheating (cause the only other time i have seen her pant is when she goes for a car trip – ie stress) and none of my other cats have ever done this before.
I was hoping to find other ways to cool her down, but will let you know if i find anything else that works well.
Happy New Year guys (2.15AM)
Neala
January 14th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Hey ya’ll.
I have a ten month old (cat that is) and after play time he pants. I wasn’t really concerned as I assumed it was just him being hot and needing a break from play. (After all, big cats like tigers, leopards etc. pant) However, now I’ve read all the posts on this site and I don’t know what to think! I wish I’d never looked it up! Now I’m paranoid he might have a weak little kitty heart or something… I hope he’s just hot from running around chasing that crazy feather on the string on the pole thing. At least I know I should keep an eye on it now, just in case.
Cheers!
Karen.
Melbourne Australia.
January 20th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
We play with the feather on a fishing pole with our cats, oh my gosh best cat toy ever! One of our cats was slightly over weight and would just bat at it but now with just over a week of feather play he’s looking much better, jumps higher, and plays more even without the feather. We told our vet about it when we took them in for routine shots and her answer? She makes her fat kitty chase the same type of feather toy until he pants each night to make sure he’s getting some exercise. I hadn’t seen a cat pant before, but my bf had and the vet does it to her cat. I imagine you give a cat good exercise, they get wound up and pant. If they pant as a response to stress, they will to exertion as well. The bodies response isn’t that different to either.
However, by no means do I mean to trivialize panting. I imagine if your cat is healthy its no big thing, just let them rest when they get that worked up, but if you aren’t sure, always ALWAYS take your furry buddy to a vet. Better safe than sorry.
January 20th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
http://home.ivillage.com/pets/symsolve/0,,lk7w,00.html Fabulous article with quotes from an actual vet as opposed to us silly civilians passing back and forth scary stories. – JennyKat again
January 22nd, 2006 at 12:03 am
I have to thank everyone. I was so concerned about my kitten Beckham. Named, after the soccer player ( he plays with a ball like no other, my kitten) But his panting was really disturbing me. I feel a lil better after reading everyones input, but i still think i will bring it up with my vet. It was just so wierd to see our new kitten pant. But our other kitty is an outdoor “tiger” and he’s 8 years old- so i could just be outta kitty conduct shape.. Thanks.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:35 pm
I bought my 5 month-old kitten the fishing pole with a feather on it on my way home from work tonight and we played with it like crazy for about 10 minutes. When we stopped, he started panting for breath–I thought I’d killed him and almost called 911! He’s back to normal now, like it never happened. Thanks to everyone for sharing your stories. I may actually get some sleep tonight. We do love our little ones, don’t we?
April 15th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
I was just playing with my cat with a torch and have done the same with a laser pointer, he was goin insane, jumping and everything, he started panting very heavily and LUCKILY i caught sum great shots and even a great clear video of him panting away just like a dog
HERE IS A GREAT FACT – cats do sweat, they infact sweat through their paws so next time u make him go wild and he starts panting you just feel his paw pads,
FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME FOR VIDEO OR PICTURES OR ANY QUESTIONS
April 16th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
My cat, Pixel, had an extreme panting episode while at the veterinarian’s office yesterday. It appeared to be caused by anxiety. My vet was very concerned and advised that we stay at the office (in a quiet dark room) until Pixel calmed down. It took more than a half an hour before Pixel was able to stop panting and start breathing normally. He would pant, then try to slow his breathing down, then start panting all over again. His eyes were dilated, his tongue, gums and ears were bright red. He even vomited white frothy foam a few times during this episode. My vet stated that it is NOT normal for cat’s to pant and he has even seen a cat die from panting like that! I have had a cat with congestive heart failure and he would breath rapidly, but not pant. I have seen cat’s breathe with their mouth’s open in excessive heat, but even though they were breathing more rapidly thank usual, it’s not panting. I wasn’t concerned at first when Pixel started panting because I just figured he was having an anxiety attack, but when I saw how alarmed my vet was, I got really scared. My advice, if your cat is panting for more than a few minutes and you can’t attribute it to exercise, call your vet. At least have them checked for heart disease – which, unfortunately, is common in cats. My vet ultimately gave Pixel a shot a valium to calm him, then proceeded with the exam. It was a very scary episode!
June 4th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
My orange kitten started panting today after he was playing and running around with the other cat for a while. So, this is normal?
June 6th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
I don’t know who Jeff Boultrer is..but thanks to all these replies on his weblog, I feel a little better…..I guess.
My Maine Coon cat is already huge and 6 months old. He pants nearly each time we play “da bird” (the feather on a fishing pole). He has always growled like a dog with this toy..so we figured the panting might be some sort of predatory “thing”. We told our vet about it today (just there to get the FIV booster) and she seemed a tad concerned. She said to watch him and consider possibly seeing a feline cardiologist if it worsens, etcetera. Well, I just don’t know now, reading all these posts. I certainly do worry over him–! I’d hate to stop playing with him–he lives for those play times!
June 6th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
oops..sorry misspelled our hosts name..meant to write: Jeff Boulter.
June 7th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
I have two kittens,brother and sister and the are 10 months old. they are very active and we live in a warm climate, they pant to cool them selves off. they love to chase the goffers in the fiels beside our house and will return to pant and lay on the basement floor(concrete) to cool off and all is well in avery short time. Don’t worry this is natural, look ant the big cats in the desserts they all pant to cool down. K
June 12th, 2006 at 10:37 am
This is in response to Patti, I have a Maine Coon and he has a heart murmur. Maine Coons are predisposed to cardiomyopathy, so you’re vet was correct. You may need to consult a veterinary cardiologist. I don’t want to scare you though.
June 19th, 2006 at 8:20 am
I have a 10 month old long haired grey tabby. He tore out the window screen today and got outside for the first time. It is 32 celsius out there, and he came in panting like crazy. I wrapped him in a wet towel and that helped cool him down. Now if I could just get him to stop begging to go outside…
June 24th, 2006 at 7:52 am
HI MY CAT CAME IN meeowing today and panting at me and running around does anyone no why he did this.
July 14th, 2006 at 7:44 am
My long haired cat went to the vet the other day with panting, but it wasn’t just the panting that sent us there. He pants a lot after playing outside, but this was different. His tongue hung way out, it was very red, and most importantly, he was scared. He ran around as if he was scared of something. At the vet, his temp was over 104. They put him into an oxygen cage with ice. x-rays showed his heart was ok, but the vet says she sees this in cats with heartworms and asthma. Heartworms can cause sudden death. Or, the cat may have just been overheated. Don’t assume your long-haired cat will come in on a hot day in time to cool off! Watch them for signs of distress.
July 17th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
My wife and I went camping over this last week and left our 3 yr. old, ‘Da Bitty’ at my brothers house. Every time he’s been in the car, it’s been to the vet for neutering, shot’s etc… so never the less he was scared, and was panting…
To make a long story short…
He’s fine!!! Panting is still there, and he’s missing a leg now but we all deal with stress in our own ways… We now refer to him as, ‘Tri-Bitty’ and the name hasn’t ’sunk in’ for him yet. Any suggestions? Are names and panting somehow connected? Will ‘Tri-Bitty’ stop shitting on that one good leg?
July 19th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
I have a ten month old female named Ashe. She is well behaved and very playful. One of her favorite things is pouncing on and fighting with stuffed animals. She has more fun if we animate the toys. We began to notice that when she really begins to rough house that she will make a panting noise and stick out her tongue. This response does happen when she is playing all by herself. The entire time, her eyes are dilated in “hunt” mode. She demonstrates no wish whatsoever for the play to stop. When I have had enough of the play (and am laughing too much at her antics), she will lie down beside me and purr.
While many have described the reaction of panting as a health condition and probably rightly so considering the associative environments related to the panting they reported, in this case, the panting seems to be a psychological response. If it is medical in nature, it could possibly be asthma, but I doubt this. The animal demonstrates no distress whatsoever.
July 21st, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Hi. I found this site on google and the comments are interesting. Anyways. My cat is about 11 years old and he does pant sometimes in the hot weather. He has never panted after exercising for a long time though. He also pants when he gets very scared, like when he’s at the vet. I’ve never seen another cat do it but I never have thought it was abnormal. The vet sometimes comments on it but it never seems to worry her. I’m more worried about my guinea pigs getting heat stroke than him, lol.
July 24th, 2006 at 10:19 am
i just found this site through google. both of my cats are pretty much panting non stop. i dont have a car and cant afford to take them to a vet. i dont know what to do, ive been giving them ‘ice baths’ at least 5 times a day for the past few days. (i rub an ice cube all over them– they love it) they only just started panting today. i live in san jose and we have been going thru a severe heat wave. the temp goes into the hundreds and doesnt dip below 80 degrees until after midnight. the temp has been at least in the 90s for the past 2 weeks. i dont have AC just a fan. what else can i do to keep my cats cool?? i have been giving them ice cold water every so often but they barely drink any of it. please help!
July 29th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
My cat was panting today, her breathing was very heavy too. So I called the vet & we went in. She was dehydrated & running a fever. So, they treated her and told me that if I need to cool her down to rub alcohol on her paws (not too often ’cause that might drop her temp too much).
August 7th, 2006 at 8:11 am
I have a cat named Moonshadow, he is a bit chubby! But when he starts to play theres no stop! So me and my friend Morgan had been playing with him for about ten minutes when he started to pant like a dog. Morgan has two dogs and I thought that he had just picked it up from them, Oh was I wrong. I got on this website and it told me all I needed to know. So thanks Jeff Boulter.
Sincerly,
Haley
September 7th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
I am fostering a young feral cat with her newborn kittens. They are just 5 days old. I noticed that the mom is panting. At first, I though she was hissing at me then I noticed that she was indeed panting. It’s not that hot out and she is in an enclosure which is also not hot. She doesn’t seem to be in distess just light panting like a dog does when he’s sitting around. Anyone??
September 20th, 2006 at 7:20 am
I was just told that my kitten has a heart murmur.
He is 3 months old; the vet said that things to watch for include panting beacasue cats do no pant.
This vet specializes in felines.
Lisa
September 21st, 2006 at 9:20 am
I recently took my 1-yr-old male tabby to the vet for updated rabbies shots. I asked the vet about him panting when playing with my 7-month-old female tabby. He immediately went to listen to my baby’s heart and mentioned something about a type of hernia, which would cause difficultly when listening to the heart. He also said that cats need an amino acid called Taurine in their food or they can develop a flabby heart. Needless to say, he heard the heart fine and wasn’t overly concerned. And the food I use (Castor and Pollux Natural Ultramix Indoor Feline) does contain Taurine. I’m still worried about my baby, but there’s not much to do other than keep monitoring as he goes to the vet.
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:13 am
Ok, here’s the deal… I’m a veterinary technician in a feline practice. Cats should not begin panting after a relatively short burst of exercise. They are built for “burst” activity, rather like a sprinter on a track team. (Dogs, on the other hand, are long-distance runners.) A short vigorous game of “get the mouse” or feather dancing should not elicit panting. And, unless it’s extremely hot, the temperatures inside a house or even out under a shady tree should not cause a cat to pant if there is fresh water available. Cats are originally desert animals.
One of the most common causes of panting in cats is feline asthma. Another less-common cause is heart disease. Several posters mentioned that they have long-haired or Oriental breeds of cats such as Maine Coons (longhair), Birmans, Siamese, etc. In our experience, long-haired breeds such as Maine Coons and Birmans and Orientals such as the Siamese are more prone to heart-muscle problems (cardiomyopathy– there are several types: hypertrophic; dilatative; restrictive; etc.) than other cats, and that males have more trouble in this area than females. In fact, I have a 15-month-old Siamese tom named Schrodinger who has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. His first symptom was panting after a brisk tear about the house. The first time I saw that, I took him in for a checkup. X-rays did show a slightly enlarged heart, but there is/was no murmur. However, we did an echocardiogram just to be sure– and there it was: moderately thickened heart muscle and mitral valve and small ventricular lumen. He has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, HCM. So, he gets aspirin twice a week to prevent blood clots (don’t try this at home without a vet’s guidance!) and Lasix as needed for fluid buildup on the rare times it happens. Being a vet tech makes it a little easier to care for him. My 4-year-old Birman mix also pants and coughs– she has asthma, as we saw on her X-rays. She also gets meds to keep it under control. I had another cat that began panting recently– in her case, she was 14 years old. Her panting was due to a high-grade lymphoma near her heart. Unfortunately, we put her to sleep since the cancer had already become very advanced before she showed any signs. A year earlier, her older sister also developed a soft cough. Turns out, she also had lymphoma, but it was on her liver and spleen, which pushed her organs up into her diaphragm and made it hard for her to breathe. Yet another panting cat that I had was panting due to heartworms! We had been treating her for asthma because her bloodwork at first was negative for heartworm disease. At that time, we put her on preventative… but it was too late. She was already infected. The first test was falsely negative, but another test a year later was positive… and confirmed on ultrasound .
So– five coughing and panting cats with four different diagnoses: heart disease, asthma, cancer and heartworms! See why it’s so important to check these things out with a vet rather than relying on anecdotes and comments found on a blog? Not to be smart, but your kitty’s health is just too precious to take chances. If it’s enough of a concern to ask here, then it’s enough of a concern to ask your vet
September 26th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Here’s a twist — no panting, but a four-month-old kitten with hot ears, very wet nose, and he was sweating profusely from all of his paws. The temperature at the time was about 68F. He wasn’t playing with any feather toys. Maybe it was just nervousness. But he was fairly weak and just wanted to lay on the floor and not move. At first I thought a “kitty cold” but that usually means their nose is dry and there’s no paw sweating, certainly not like that. Hopefully by tonight he’ll bounce back to normal. Never seen this before.
September 28th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
My 6 month old kitten got her tail stuck in a cupboard and flipped out. She was literally jumping away from her tail and causing a huge fuss. I ran in to “save” her and cannot move my fingers now as a result. She is now very nervous, jumping at anything, looking behind her for the culprit and is panting. I hope it is due to stress and not fp – feline peritinitus which cost me 600 dollars to put my last cat to sleep years ago. I found this website by typing in… cats pant after stressful situations so I am hoping she will be fine. Now to take her to the vet and add more stress to see if she broke her tail which is hanging limply at the end where it was caught. we’ll see.
October 6th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Folks..it’s normal for a cat to pant when over excited and playing hard. Of course if a cat is sick which other signs will tell you this..they would pant possibly too. But..for normal playing and getting excited..this is normal. My 23 year old cat (obviously wasn’t a heart problem) used to pant when she was younger and played really hard…and she played HARD…mostly air born..but the first time I saw her do this I nearly had a panic attack and called the vet..I thought she had rabies or something because her eyes were all buggy and she was panting so hard..she just finished doing about 50 laps running up and down the hallway like a lunatic…her vet said she was just over heated and was playing too hard and it’s normal and not to worry.
I now have a kitten and when she gets all excited over something she pants and pounces like a dog. But then again…I’m not quite sure she’s a kitten..she acts more like a dog every day!
But don’t panic if your kitten pants after playing hard…it’s just like if you ran a 10 mile stretch…well..I’d collapse and pass out..but you get the picture. If the panting doesn’t stop and an hour or so later your cat is still panting non stop and hasn’t played any more..yeah..then worry.
Usually when my kitten (Lucy) pants, I rub an ice cube on her lips to cool her down some..she seems to like this and then on her head, ears and back and if she rolls over..her belly too!
October 13th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Does anyone have ideas on a cat who occasionally pants and frequently yawns? My son’s cat will yawn in the middle of a meow. He is a young neutered male, less than one year old. The yawning, coupled with the panting now and then, makes me wonder if oxygen is having trouble getting somewhere. We’re in Brisbane, Australia, but we haven’t hit summer yet, so I don’t think heat is a factor with the yawning. There is no coughing.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Hey everyone. It’s 3am here and I was finishing feeding my cat when I noticed her kittens (now 5 days old) were all panting. They were clumped together to keep warm but I assume they were hot because of the panting.
This is my cat’s first litter, and I haven’t had her or the kittens checked by a vet yet because I simply cannot afford it (I’m a student with next to nil cash after bills and whatnot). I have no experience with cats and newborn kittens. I was tehre when my cat had her kittens, she followed me around everywhere until I sat and patted her while she had them.
I read up a fair bit on the net, just to get basic understanding of what I should be on the look out for. However the kittens feed regularly, the mum is making sure they go to toilet properly, I keep them in a nesting box with enough room for all of them and the mum but not so it’s cramped… I make sure they’re kept at a sufficient room temperature (I live in Brisbane, Australia and it’s not cold here at the moment).
Anyway, to the point. PANTING! Freaked me out! I thought they were dying or something.
Now I’m even more freaked out, because of all the difficulties panting could entail. I’ll make sure they get to the vet soon either way… but I hope it’s all just because they got too warm.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Having never had a kitten before (we adopted the older cat) I panicked and became extremely distressed when the panting continued with her breathing being extremely rapid and shallow. She was meowing every once in a while and seemed to be distressed. After a while, probably about 10 to 15 minutes (and also after I overreacted and dipped her in some cold water and wrapped a damp towel around her, to which I have claw marks to show for it) she stopped and is now moving around quite normally.
December 4th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Hey, I know this was posted a long time ago. My kitty is panting. She is always panting. Not like with her tongue out of her mouth or anything. But she breathes in and out very very quickly. Did you ever figure out what was with your kitty? Was it a heart condition or what? I’d certainly appreciate it if you have any thoughts. My kitty’s just under 6 months old. Thanks.
December 16th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
Hi, I found this site after my 8 mo old cat Oreo was panting. I had never seen this before. She was playing long and hard with a laser light. Up and down the stairs a hundere times
March 18th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I also have a cat name oreo, and she pants also. She did it when she was a kitten, and she still does. i think it may be some kind of heart problem. could an actual VET insert something?
Oreo will be a year old in april. Thanks!
March 24th, 2007 at 5:06 am
My 9-month old Maine Coon-mix recently started panting after 5-10 minutes with Da Bird. He leaps up into the air and practically does somersaults, so I try to calm him down a bit. I have 2 other kittens the same age, and he won’t let them have their share of play. Anyway, he just had an echocardiogram less than 2 months before this started when he was having asthma-symptoms. He doesn’t seem to have asthma (it was a false alarm), and his echo came back clean. I called my Vet and asked if I should be worried about the panting; she said it was normal as long as he doesn’t pant when he’s not playing hard, and as long as he’s not wheezing. I don’t like to see the panting, and always worry when I see it. But since he just had an echo, I’m not sure there’s any benefit of bringing him into the Vet. He’s fine otherwise, and the panting only lasts 10 seconds (and I usually stop playing with him at that point).
March 28th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Boy was I glad to find this website!
I have to cats 1 short haired (Kitty) 2 yrs old & the other long yellow haired (Garfield)8 months old. well… to make a long story short came home & Garfield had been running wild since I got home he finally settled down next to me when I noticed he was panting like a dog. Yes I panicked (sort of)I picked him up & checked him nothing physically wrong with him but would not stop. Well it has been hot so I figured he was hot so I gave him a cool bath & that did the trick. YES A BATH! I began giving him baths since he was 6 weeks old so he is used to it now. After his bath he was back to normal & no more panting. He is now laying down relaxing looking out the door. Hope everyone has a great evening
May 28th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
My 5 month old kitten has panted his entire life. It is very hot here, I live in the desert. After hard play, his tongue hangs out, he pants, and breathes so fast and heavy I was getting worried. I decided to look it up online and found this site. I now feel better that he just needs to rest when he starts panting. This kitten will keep playing non-stop if you don’t settle him down.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
I was kind of worried when my kitten starting panting. I had just taken her outside and we were sitting on the grass in the sun when she began panting. Other than that, she seemed fine so I just blew it off. Although, I brought her outside again and the same thing happened. I’m glad that I found this website, but I still mentioned it to her vet. Luckily, she doesn’t have a medical condition that could show itself through panting, but there are some conditions that you should ask your vet about.
June 19th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Our cat has panted on and off, but not related to temperature. The other day he was panting and started to dry-heave. He started to dry-heave so violently, he was throwing himself a couple feet across the room. In less than 10 minutes he ended up collapsing, dead. After speaking with the vet, they determined it was an underlying heart condition that eventually his body could not handle with age. I’m not saying all panting indicates a heart condition, but be careful and try to observe patterns. We noticed our cat would pant most often during stressful experiences.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I was starting to feel better about my cat’s panting until I read Jeff’s post. I know that my little female has a heart problem (it’s a birth defect), but the vet said that everything was okay, and all I could do was watch her. She pants sometimes in the heat, and because of her heart I pay very close attention. It was making me less panicky reading that other people’s cat occasionally panted, and were fine. Now after reading about Jeff’s cat, my obsessive worrying has returned. Ah well, I’ll just have to keep her as calm as possible.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
My cat came in the house one night panting……she wouldn’t drink or eat anything she just ran through the house as if she were going crazy….then we haven’t seen her in a week and tomorrow will be a week and a day.
July 25th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Wow! I am more alarmed at the amount of cat owners here now than I am about my two female all black 13 month old cats panting. I am alarmed by the sheer lack of knowledge that so many cat owners have who have posted. After so many posts about cats panting after playing rigorously for at least 10 mins it should be obvious to those who read this that cats pant. Ask yourself this question, after you run around rigorously, don’t you breathe deeper and more frequently immediately following? Yes, of course you do! So why would it be of any surprise that a cat would too? A cat will stop playing and calm down when he/she has had enough. One of the 2 kitties that I have is more fit and trim than the other… and even she was panting tonight. They were both tearing around together playing and running through the house and then came to a stand still in my front room. They rested, panted, layed in the windows… and eventually stopped panting. Now, certainly, there are health issues with some kitties and my reason for this post if not to take away anything from the importance of seeking medical attention when necessary. But, it seems to me (and this frustrates me) that more pet owners need to read books about being a responsible and ‘knowledgeable’ pet owner. Let nature take it course… most animals know what they need to know, it is us humans who have the harder time trying to figure that out. I am always wary of vets who will put an animal an anything just to put them on something. It is a natural occurrence that an animal without sweat glands will pant.
To Alva who posted a little ways up, be careful when putting a kitty that is very warm into cold water as it will shock his/her system. Hopefully the water is more room temperature than ‘cold’. Better yet, just let the kitty cool down naturally… by panting and resting.
July 25th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
You will never see your dog with sweat rings under his arms or your cat wiping his brow with a handkerchief. Dogs and cats don’t sweat the way people do for the simple reason that they have hardly any sweat glands at all. (The few sweat glands that they do possess are on the pads of their feet.) One exception is the sphinx cat, which can sweat a surprising amount.
Unlike humans, who can shed jackets and sweaters when they start feeling warm, dogs and cats wear their fur coats all year-round. Having so few sweat glands makes them very sensitive to heat, but they do have another way of staying cool: They pant. Which is why, after a walk in the park or a fast game of chase-the-string, they will be puffing away with gusty, window-fogging breaths. (Cats are more discreet than dogs, and you won’t see their tongues hanging out very often, but they also pant when they are feeling warm.)
“Panting is the main way that dogs and cats have of getting rid of body heat,” said C. Dave Richards, D.V.M., a veterinarian in private practice in Valdosta, Georgia. “If they weren’t able to pant, they would collapse from the heat.”
Dogs and cats also pant when they are feeling nervous after a scolding, for example, or when they realize that they are going to the vet. In fact, fear is a common cause of panting.
If your pet is panting even when he is cool and relaxed, there is probably something wrong, says John Daugherty, D.V.M., a veterinarian in private practice in Poland, Ohio. A fever often causes panting. Anemia, a condition in which there aren’t enough red blood cells to deliver adequate oxygen to the body, can cause pets to pant. So can problems with the thyroid gland, which may make your pet’s metabolism run too fast, causing him to heat up too much. Poisoning is another cause of panting, Dr. Daugherty adds.
Perhaps the most serious thing to watch for is heatstroke, in which a pet’s temperature can shoot above 104 °F, causing very heavy panting and extreme exhaustion. Signs of heatstroke also include drooling, glassy eyes, deep red gums, and excessive weakness. Heatstroke may occur when a pet has been left in a parked car or if he has been exercising too vigorously in hot weather. This is an extremely serious condition that can cause brain damage or even death.
See Your Vet If…
* Your pet has gotten into toxic substances
* He has been exercising vigorously
* He is drooling, has deep red gums, or is very weak
* Your pet’s temperature is 1048#176;F or higher
* Your pet’s voice has recently changed.
* Your pet is panting excessively
* Your dog or cat is coughing, wheezing, sneezing, or gagging
* Exercise makes him unusually tired or causes him to cough or wheeze
* Your pet has recently begun snoring, wheezing, or panting at night
* He is breathing rapidly or taking shallow breaths
* His belly is heaving when he breathes
* His nose is dry, crusty, or bleeding
* There is a discharge from his mouth or nose for two days or longer
* Your pet’s tongue or gums are blue or pale
November 29th, 2007 at 9:18 am
I’ve got an 8 month old Maine Coon cross and he pants after heavy play sessions or when he’s anxious. Unless the panting continues for a long time or is accompanied by more accute symptoms (such as a cough, or discoloured gums) I wouldn’t worry about the occassional pant. Like dogs, cats have to get rid of the extra body heat, this is especially true in the longer-haired breeds. Although they can get rid of some heat via. their paw pads the do not sweat and panting is one of the best means of evaporative cooling that they can do.
May 25th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
My kitten started to pant at 5 months. First it was after she got over-heated lying in the sun, but then it was after even a small burst of exercise. She’s now 8 months and going in for a day of tests tomorrow, as she also has a cough. The cough is soft and wet, and an x-ray showed a shadow in front of her heart, which could be anything from a tumor to fluid, from the lungs or from a heart problem, or even a ‘thymic mass’, ie a tumor. If it’s so normal for cats to pant, then why do vets ALWAYS say “cats should not pant” ???
June 10th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I brought my 4 month old kitten in to the vet today based on the similar observations that everybody above mentioned. It turns out he has asthma. If you are really concerned about your kitten or cat panting excessively, you should get them checked out. It may or may not be serious, but regardless, it will definitely bring your mind to ease.
February 13th, 2010 at 3:21 am
I lost a cat today!
I picked up Yoshi (Bengal cat) from my friends house today. I gave Yoshi to Ana (my friend) 3 yrs ago but Ana is in remission in cancer, she then decided to give back Yoshi to me. I was planning on giving him to my sisters. My niece and nephew are waiting for me to arrive. On my way there, at first I know Yoshi was uncomfortable. She meowed alot but become relax after awhile. the trip took about an hour and a half to my sister’s home. Then suddenly, she meowed again and crawled to me while I was driving as if he was giving me a kiss ( he is affectionate and likes hugs alot) …then I noticed his mouth is half open and eyes are wide open (pupil is so big) and meowing. As soon as we arrive at my sisters house, he meowed and again, his mouth is half open (this is an odd look) and when he tried to get up, he is so weak and collapsed all of a sudden. Then he didn’t move after that! We lost him 
I do not understand. He goes to vet and had regular shots he needed, he is healthy strong and happy cat. Did it sounded like a heart attack? He is only 3 years old 
This is heartbreaking!!!!
February 13th, 2010 at 3:23 am
I lost a cat today!
I picked up Yoshi (Bengal cat) from my friends house today. I gave Yoshi to Ana (my friend) 3 yrs ago but Ana is in remission in cancer, she then decided to give back Yoshi to me. I was planning on giving him to my sisters. My niece and nephew are waiting for me to arrive. On my way there, at first I know Yoshi was uncomfortable. She meowed alot but become relax after awhile. the trip took about an hour and a half to my sister’s home. Then suddenly, she meowed again and crawled to me while I was driving as if he was giving me a kiss ( he is affectionate and likes hugs alot) …then I noticed his mouth is half open and eyes are wide open (pupil is so big) and meowing. As soon as we arrive at my sisters house, he meowed and again, his mouth is half open (this is an odd look) and when he tried to get up, he is so weak and collapsed all of a sudden. Then he didn’t move after that! We lost him 
I do not understand. He goes to vet and had regular shots he needed, he is healthy strong and happy cat. Did it sounded like a heart attack? He is only 3 years old 
This is heartbreaking!!!!