How much playing is TOO much playing?

I don't know whether to put this in the behavior or health section of the forum, but I think health makes more sense.

So my cat, Venus, is a little over a year old. Since she's just out of the kitten stage, she still has a lot of energy. She normally gets three play sessions a day - just before work, just after work, and just before bed. While normally the sessions last maybe ten to fifteen minutes each, she plays HARD, and could probably keep on going twenty to thirty minutes before she lost interest. However, I stop the play at around ten to fifteen minutes, because by around that time, Venus starts to get very out of breath - either breathing through the nose or panting. She isn't wheezing and the breathing doesn't seem labored, so I think it's just normal "I'm wore out" breathing, that takes about five minutes of rest to go away. However, even when she's out of breath, she wants to play. Part of me wants to keep going because when I stop playing with her "prematurely" (in her eyes) she sometimes doesn't seem satisfied and can still be rather needy of playtime even when I've played with her three times in the day already. This isn't always the case, but sometimes it can be.

So my question is, even when she seems out of breath and overexerted, would it be wise to stop play or would it be safe to continue playing with her? Or maybe allow her to catch her breath and then continue play? I want to be able to satisfy her playing needs, so she isn't so whiny and needy of my attention 100% of the time. (As much as I would love to sit around and give her attention indefinitely, I, sadly, have things that need to be done!) I want to throw out there that I am gone around 10-11 hours of the day, and while I do have things like a cat tree and toys for her to play with, I am slowly trying to add to the arsenal of "things" and ideas I can do to keep her mind occupied while I am away.

My Aby did that all the time as a kitten - play hard for 10 minutes or so and then stop to just lie on the floor and pant really hard for several minutes. Once rested enough, he wanted to play again  I took a video and showed it to the vet and he said it was absolutely normal My previous cat had the activity level of a slug so I wasn't used to a cat who actually played and ran around after toys.

Definitely give your cat a break after playing. Do you only have one cat? Consider getting another cat if you can. I had to get a second cat because my Aby was literally bouncing off the walls with energy  I had toys, cat furniture, etc but it wasn't enough. He needed a frend to help burn off that energy Once I got a second cat, my Aby was much happier and while he still had energy, he wasn't wound up during or playtime.

LTS3 said:

 
My Aby did that all the time as a kitten - play hard for 10 minutes or so and then stop to just lie on the floor and pant really hard for several minutes. Once rested enough, he wanted to play again 

I took a video and showed it to the vet and he said it was absolutely normal

My previous cat had the activity level of a slug so I wasn't used to a cat who actually played and ran around after toys.

Definitely give your cat a break after playing. Do you only have one cat? Consider getting another cat if you can. I had to get a second cat because my Aby was literally bouncing off the walls with energy 

I had toys, cat furniture, etc but it wasn't enough. He needed a frend to help burn off that energy Once I got a second cat, my Aby was much happier and while he still had energy, he wasn't wound up during or playtime.

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I did have another cat who turned out to be very cat aggressive after a while of trying to introduce him, so ultimately, I had to give him away. (To a friend, rest assured! He's fine.) I would love another cat but I've decided if I do, with Venus' activity levels, to get a kitten, probably in the few month old stage, or maybe around her age or a bit under. While my other cat turned out to be very unfriendly towards other cats, Venus herself is very cat friendly, so when I gather the money for the pet deposit, I will consider a kitten for sure. But until then, as my own medical bills are taking a toll on my finances, I am trying to make due with my current means. I have a cat harness from my previous attempt at harness training my other kitty left over that Venus seems to do MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER with than my other cat. (He wasn't having any of it.) She overall doesn't seem too distressed when she has it on, so I think she might be a good harness candidate. I'm hoping some time outside might sate her crazies.

My Diego is the same way! I have a harness and a rope that lets his roam the whole yard and it helps so much! Everyone always knows if he hasn't gone outside for a couple days because he's bouncing off walls. Just have to make sure he's supervised so he doesn't get tangled up... which is so easy to do. He sure loves it though