Second kitten panting with play.

I'll endeavor to be brief.

Artie, 6 month old Ragdoll gets to panting during play or even ANTICIPATION to play. Vet checked him out, lungs look fine... sent to cardiologist, heart is fine. Conclusion - it is his personality, he gets excited easily (although I'll bet that heavy coat has something to do with it).

Flash forward, because of single cat syndrome developing, I get him a little sister, Jessie... 4 month old ginger short hair. Although she is half his bulk, she can just about keep up with his rough play (part of her description). I still try and play with them separately - but she tends to dominate the play.

So, this morning I played with her for a few minutes with a cat catcher - she goes crazy over it. In just a few minutes of play she got to panting! I understand that this is a rare behavior so imagine my concern to see it in a second kitten, a short hair...  and Jessie taking just as much time to recover from it as Artie. This is an insane coincidence IMO.

The only thing that comes to mind is maybe something in my old carpet (which Artie was pulling up when he was single and bored) which probably should have been replaced 10 years ago. Yeah, old condominium.

On the other hand, within the past year I had a roommate who was highly sensitive to fumes, mold, etc. and she was fine. So unless something has changed in just the last year.....?

I wouldn't even know HOW to check for environmental issues (cats being low to the floor), but on the other hand, the NATURAL environment is dirt.

Confused and concerned. This is very odd. The major difference is that Artie gets to panting from sheer anticipatory excitement. This is the second time I've seen Jessie pant with play.

Incredible coincidence, eh?

How long to they pant for? I have read that cats do pant when they get tired out and it should last about 30 seconds.It is probably a good idea to get her checked by a vet if she is panting for a long time. 

I just want to throw out another possibility. Yesterday, I played with one of the strays that I am feeding, and he started making this panting/huffing noise while playing. He was just so excited. I had never witnessed that before. Is that a possibility?

vball91 said:

I just want to throw out another possibility. Yesterday, I played with one of the strays that I am feeding, and he started making this panting/huffing noise while playing. He was just so excited. I had never witnessed that before. Is that a possibility?

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That was the conclusion of the vet for Artemis, in essence saying it was part of his personality. Jessie is a little firecracker, but she has to actually play to get there.

I haven't actually timed it for her, next time I will. It was really deep breathing - fish breath from a couple of feet away, LOL.

I had 2 cats previously and I NEVER saw them panting - apart from the day I took them to my mum's in the car and didn't realize the car heater was on full and blasting at floor level for an hour. The poor mites were totally over heated and dehydrated by the time we got to our destination and I felt so bad!  Now, my current boy is a different story. He had me in panic the week I brought him home. The first day he was settled enough to play we had a manic feather wand chaser session on the bed and after about 5 minutes he was flopped on the bed panting like mad.  He lay there looking at me for about a minute then he was up begging for more. I was SO worried he was going to collapse and die on me.  Perfectly healthy and no heart problems, just very over excited when he plays and goes at it full pelt till he drops.  I did need some reassurance from the vet before I ran him crazy again but he's fine - now 2 1/2 and still runs round and round till he drops on the covers panting away, then starts all over again.  He has a few 'old man' sessions now, where he sits in wait and watches me play with the wand like I'm an idiot, but the rest of the time he's still daft. He doesn't pant when he's excited but he does look hyper and ready to take off, he looks me in the face all anticipation and readiness: when he's like this he sometimes has a faster, shorter breathing pattern almost like dogs do when they're excited.

He's a short hair and so were my girls, he has much longer legs and runs much faster though! 

I read somewhere that cats are designed as sprint animals and not long distance runners, and this is why they get breathless in longer play sessions.