Kitty hyperventilates whenever she has to go in the car - is that o.k.?

My two kitties and I have moved twice in my minivan, and both times Tubby Girl starts breathing extremely fast, like 2 or 3 times her normal breathing speed. This last time we had to move all the way from Michigan to Texas, so it was about 24 hours in the car. After a few hours she would calm down and put her head down, even though she couldn't fall asleep, and that would bring her breathing rate down a little, but anytime I had to stop the car or leave the car and start it up again, she started the super fast breathing again.

Can anyone tell me if that's dangerous? Is there anything I can do to prevent that (aside from the obvious not putting her in the car!)? Or worse, is it a sign of some other problem? (She had a check up a couple of months ago and everything was normal.)

Thanks!

mp413

You might ask the vet about it, but it sounds like she's just stressed. Perhaps you could help acclimate her to the car. You could start by putting her in the car and just sitting there in the driveway with the car off. Give her treats, and pet her. Slowly, over a period of several days to a couple of weeks, depending on her reactions, work your way up to turning on the car, and eventually to driving around the block. Since most cats will need to ride in the car at some point, it's useful to make the car a less stressful place to be so that she isn't hyperventilating on top of being sick (hopefully she won't get sick, but you never know).

Sounds like she's extremely afraid of being in a car and stresses out. I'd talk to the vet, work on getting her used to being in a car, but also ask the vet for a tranquilizer to give her to make being in the car easier for her.

Stephanie

I agree with the others about getting them used to the car. We took Bijou and Mika almost everywhere with us when they were little and both are now very comfortable in the car.

I'm not a fan of tranquilizers myself. The effect they have on cats can vary in range from good to horrible. I personally don't even believe in tranquilizers for humans so I for sure am not going to give them to my animals, but that's just me.