Cat with strange breathing - no other symptoms.

ares

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Hey everyone,

So I may just be a worry wort, but I've been recently upset over my kitten, Ares, breathing. Sometimes he breaths just fine - around 35-38 breaths a second (I looked up online that the average cat breaths 20-40 times a minute.) Other times he gets up to around 60 even when he's just sitting down. Even when asleep sometimes he starts to breath around 50ish breaths a minute, while other times he'll go down to about 25 in deep sleep. I've also noticed that when he is breathing quickly when laying down, he tends to sigh every few minutes - not sure if that's important.

Things that have been done - including already going to the vet:

* He's been on lung worm medication, so the vet doesn't think that's the cause (on top of it being so rare for a 6 month old indoor cat.) My last vet gave me 2 weeks of lung worm medication when he couldn't come up with a reason why my cat wasn't getting better from antibiotics (I went to another vet, the guy just hadn't given him the right one. He needed something stronger for his URI - which has now been cleared up for 2 months.)

* He has been tested twice for parasites and the tests came back negative.

* The vet listened to his heart and lungs and said everything sounded fine. No strange breathing and a normal rate of breathing for being in a vets office.

* I had X-rays done of him during his URI fiasco. His lungs obviously looked a little enlarged then, due to the infection, but the new vet who looked at the older x-rays said his heart looks just fine. So in the heart department, not too worried. She says he may have heart worm, but if he did she has no idea where he could have gotten it from. So testing him for heart worm may be next on our list of things to do.

* Vet says he is a healthy weight of 6.4 pounds at 6 months old. Healthy coat, eyes, skin - gums a good pink color so I'm assuming that means he's getting good oxygen flow.

At this point, I may just want to play it by ear. Other then the rapid random breathing every now and then, he seems fine. Eats well, sleeps through the night but also has boundless energy during the day, and has a normal amount of bathroom visits for a cat on wet/raw diet (several pees a day an normally 1-2 poops depending on how much he ate.). Am I over reacting? Should I just give it some more time and see if any other symptoms come up? All I really have left to test for is heart worm, and for a test that expensive I don't really want to take a random shot in the dark - especially since he doesn't have any of the symptoms.

Does any one have any suggestions on what It might be? What I can ask the vet to check for when I do go for my next visit? Thanks. (and sorry for the crazy long post!!!)

I am having trouble uploading videos of my cat, so I found on on youtube who is breathing about the same as Ares does. I also uploaded his X-rays for anyone who wanted to have a look.



 

vball91

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His breathing does seem a bit fast, but given that there aren't any other symptoms and you've already had him tested for the most common causes, I would probably just keep an eye on it for now.
 
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ares

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His breathing does seem a bit fast, but given that there aren't any other symptoms and you've already had him tested for the most common causes, I would probably just keep an eye on it for now.
Thank you, I will continue to see if anything else comes up.

I'm not sure if this is possible, as I've only read about in a few places, but could his lungs be damaged? He had a month long URI that resulted in sneezing up blood and not being able to move for several days. We had to force feed him for more then a week as a kitten - the vet was surprised he even lived. He breaths very fast, and pants very easily after playing (only 5 minutes of some running around and his tongue is lolling out), and all of this only started to happen after his infection. Is there anyway to see if his lungs are damaged other then through an x-ray?
 

kel1985

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I know your pain as I have a cat that has just been diagnosed with hmc so I have been watching breathing alot lately. I wouldn't wait and would get a second opinion on his current condition. Levi has an enlarged heart but the diagnosed had to be confirmed by a ultrasound. Sometimes deep sleep / dreaming can increase bpm and I have been informed by my vet to watch the way he breathes, ie panting, abdominal breathing and big breathes- not good signs and need immediate attention. Hope he is ok but put your mind at rest sooner rather than later :)
 
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ares

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I know your pain as I have a cat that has just been diagnosed with hmc so I have been watching breathing alot lately. I wouldn't wait and would get a second opinion on his current condition. Levi has an enlarged heart but the diagnosed had to be confirmed by a ultrasound. Sometimes deep sleep / dreaming can increase bpm and I have been informed by my vet to watch the way he breathes, ie panting, abdominal breathing and big breathes- not good signs and need immediate attention. Hope he is ok but put your mind at rest sooner rather than later
i'm so sorry to hear about your kitty! It really sucks having a beloved animal be sick. The vet said he sounded fin when she listen to his chest and heart,and that his X-rays looked alright - I would love to get an US done to see if there was anything that the X-ray didn't see, but I sadly don't have $300 to spend on it. I've already spent way more then I ever expected to spend on a kitten in his first 6 months! I think I may just watch him for a bit more, try and see if I notice any more signs of problems. As much as I want to have every test I possibly can done on him to see what the problem is, I just don't have the money.
 

kc1223

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I know it's four years later but it's worth a shot - did you ever figure out what was going on with your cat? My little guy has pretty much the same issue. He seems normal in basically all respects, but breaths very fast. It doesn't seem labored at all. We've brought him to the vet multiple times and have gotten all kinds of tests done, but with little to no answers.
 

PoppyCA

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I'm going thru this as well. My kitty will be 6 mos. old tomorrow and I've been chasing this for 3 months.
Upon vet exam, all looks and sounds fine but xrays showed lung inflammation (bronchitis - but I think that is a catch all for anything affecting the lungs). Took him to a veterinary internist and cardiologist who performed an ultrasound which showed his heart is fine. Did lungworm meds which didn't make a dif. He is on antibiotics now, which will be followed by yet another set of xrays in about a week or so. I've got a bronchoscopy scheduled for the end of the month, if needed.

I would also love to hear if anyone was successful in isolating anything.
 
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