Should I be concerned? He is only 9 months old and makes a thick breathing sound through his nose all the time since the day we found him in a car lot at 6 weeks of age. Last week I awoke and it looked like he was either trying to vomit or gasp for air. No discharge, just a wet nose, eyes are clear, etc. I asked my vet about this 5 months ago, general exam found nothing concerning. She mentioned the only way look in there was some $1500 procedure. Kinda hoping I am overacting, I just never had a cat that sounded like Darth Vader and I wonder if he has some nasal defect.
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My cat sounds like he is snoring 24/7
- Thread starter madara
- Start Date
Is is possible to go to another vet for a second opinion? I had a cat with asthma that breathed very loudly - like a cross between a purr and snore. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but I do think somebody should be able to give you a diagnosis without a 1,500 procedure.
The $1500 procedure is probably rhinoscopy, where they take a tiny camera and look in the nasal passages for deformities, foreign bodies, and infected areas. Sometimes they take tissues samples if they find an area that looks abnormal, and they may be able to extract a foreign body if one is present.
Is the kitty showing any other signs of illness? Is he growing, eating and drinking normally? While rhinoscopy may give you more information, you may want to consider what you will do with that information. I had the procedure done on a cat a few years ago (his symptoms were different and included one-sided nasal discharge). Ultimately in his case there was some sort of bone infection. The vet prescribed some long-term antibiotics. Unfortunately, my kitty's system did not tolerate the vast majority of antibiotics, so despite having the procedure, we didn't really end up with any effective treatment options. Also, if there is a defect that can be corrected, that would require an additional surgery and money. If the problem is affecting your cat's quality of life, then it may be worthwhile. Did the vet offer any possibilities as to what could be going on?
Is the kitty showing any other signs of illness? Is he growing, eating and drinking normally? While rhinoscopy may give you more information, you may want to consider what you will do with that information. I had the procedure done on a cat a few years ago (his symptoms were different and included one-sided nasal discharge). Ultimately in his case there was some sort of bone infection. The vet prescribed some long-term antibiotics. Unfortunately, my kitty's system did not tolerate the vast majority of antibiotics, so despite having the procedure, we didn't really end up with any effective treatment options. Also, if there is a defect that can be corrected, that would require an additional surgery and money. If the problem is affecting your cat's quality of life, then it may be worthwhile. Did the vet offer any possibilities as to what could be going on?
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Jake has been doing something similar ever since I got him, although he has never gasped for air, and I wouldn't call his breathing snoring, it's just that he breathes very loud, almost as loud as a human. The vet never said there was anything wrong with him the three times he has seen him. There is no discharge from his nose or anything, except for sometimes really dried up mucus sticks out from his nose. I'm thinking this has to be why he breathes so loud...From the sound you can kinda tell if it's a problem with the nose or the lungs I think. Jake's sounds like it's coming from his nose. I hope there is nothing wrong with him but he has always been a very healthy kitty and is growing and doing well, knock on wood. I hope this is just a quirk some kitties have that has nothing to do with health...
Sounds like it may be asthma or a chronic respiratory infection aka a "snuffler"--that's what the vet calls my Stan.
Stan has chronic breathing problems because he had a very nasty URI as a kitten. He is a carrier of feline herpes (which we treat with a lysine supplement). From time to time he has breathing issues that may be asthma (we are watching that). He also snores chronically (which is kind of cute)
he can sometimes have a congested sound when he is breathing and he sneezes quite a bit
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I would get a second opinion. Stan lives a very active life and is pretty much a normal cat. We do use a non-clay litter to reduce irritation (for him and me) and I double up his lysine at the first sign of increasing sniffles.
Stan has chronic breathing problems because he had a very nasty URI as a kitten. He is a carrier of feline herpes (which we treat with a lysine supplement). From time to time he has breathing issues that may be asthma (we are watching that). He also snores chronically (which is kind of cute)
I would get a second opinion. Stan lives a very active life and is pretty much a normal cat. We do use a non-clay litter to reduce irritation (for him and me) and I double up his lysine at the first sign of increasing sniffles.
Kitten had all of these same symptoms for a long time.My vet ran so many tests and I was told nothing was really wrong.At one point my vet said Kitten had a URI.After all this time Kitten progressively got worse,My vet took X-rays many times before and never found anything BUT this last time my vet found what looked to be a small mass in the nasal area.My vet referred me to a specialist that deals with tumors and cancers.This vet told me Kitten had pallate cancer and
there was a possibility that it could be shrunk by chemo and radiation and maybe even surgery IF the radiation would reduce the mass in size.We tried chemo first with no success.We tried radiation which only fed the mass and made it bigger.It broke my heart and nearly killed me when I heard the words "we've done all we can".The outcome was not good.I would like to say that maybe Kitten would still be with me if I would have been more adament and insisted on a disgnosis early on when the symptoms started but I did'nt and everytime I think about my boy Kitten it tears me up.When I read about this I felt the need to tell other cat owners about Kitten.Maybe some how I can,in a strange way,make it up to Kitten.I do miss him soooo much.
