Cat pants after exercise

My cat pants after exercise.

I have read a few articles in which people say this is normal and some saying it is not.

I asked a vet on ask a vet and got the most vague answer money can buy.

Can anyone help? 

I can only relate - I played with my cat tonight and he started panting after awhile.   I stopped at that point and he's fine. 

I also tried that 'ask a vet' once for a different issue; yeah I wouldn't do that again.  Just generic information. 

Here is the answer, let me know what you think:

On panting:

While this is not particularly common, it can happen in some cats after very strenuous exercise sometimes, especially in younger cats. We can also see this in cats with a heart condition though. If Caesar seems healthy and the vet has not heard a heart murmur, and the panting stops quickly as you say, then I would not be particularly concerned. You could certainly have some chest radiographs taken to double check that his lungs and his heart appear normal if you wanted to be extra safe.

Well yes, that makes sense.  In my case, my cat has a heart murmur, a rather obvious one.  Yet, he's never panted outside of his exercise regime, so I'm not too concerned.  Nor am I going to pay over $700 for an echo, but that's another story. 

I used to have a Ragdoll female that would pant after exercise. She wouldn't want to stop playing either, but I didn't think it was too safe. So I'd tone it down/stop, and let her catch her breath. But she was always alert/looking for that toy again, and eager to go. You can usually tell when a cat has really "had enough"; they'll either flop over and show no more interest, or simply walk away. i never knew a cat would work itself up like a dog, with all the panting, until I acquired her.

yeah, I think it's ok.

It seems that vet was saying it is "probably" nothing but "could" be heart related.

ander35 said:

 
yeah, I think it's ok.

It seems that vet was saying it is "probably" nothing but "could" be heart related.

Click to expand...

I think he was saying: some cats with a heart murmur will pant, even when not exercising.  That's not a good sign. 

A heart murmur takes all of under a minute for any Vet. to check for.  He just listens with a stethoscope. 

In your case, your cat panted the same as mine did, he/she was a little pooped out.    It's rare for my cat, but then again I played with him for longer period tonight.