Meowing and leaving the mouth open

Today I have had to keep my cats locked up in my room while the repairmen came. They are both indoor cats and wouldn't survive outside. I joined them and one of them started meowing and keeping her mouth open. I am extremely frightened right now and really would appreciate any advice and any help. The repair work is for the air conditioner; so could it be heat? Whatever it is the keeping the mouth open after the meowing frightened me enough that I immediately turned the computer on to ask for help here.

Should I schedule an emergency house call or vet appointment or is there some other potential explanation besides sickness?

MagnusStultus said:

 
Today I have had to keep my cats locked up in my room while the repairmen came. They are both indoor cats and wouldn't survive outside. I joined them and one of them started meowing and keeping her mouth open. I am extremely frightened right now and really would appreciate any advice and any help. The repair work is for the air conditioner; so could it be heat? Whatever it is the keeping the mouth open after the meowing frightened me enough that I immediately turned the computer on to ask for help here.

Should I schedule an emergency house call or vet appointment or is there some other potential explanation besides sickness?

Click to expand...

it could be stress.  Have they been let out of the room yet and if yes, is it continuing? Open mouth breathing isn't good, medically it is often significant, but this seems stress induced.  The first thing is to remove the stressor and see if she gets better soon.

She hasn't been let out yet; the reason I joined her was to try and make her imprisonment more bearable but the open mouth breathing is very frightening to me; I don't know how long the repairmen will take. How long after she is let out should I wait (if any time) before scheduling a vet appointment if it continues?

I have no expertise in cat health so understand I might be over reacting at this point.

StephenQ said:

 
it could be stress.  Have they been let out of the room yet and if yes, is it continuing? Open mouth breathing isn't good, medically it is often significant, but this seems stress induced.  The first thing is to remove the stressor and see if she gets better soon.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the answer I am grateful although I am watching it again now as I type.

If it just started it may just be the stress of being confined and possibly the heat. Is she actually panting? If she's not panting, wheezing, or showing other signs of distress I think I would wait till the repairman leaves and see if she keeps doing it. If so then I'd call the vet. If you think she's actually having trouble breathing I would definately get her to a vet immediately.

She isn't consistently panting; she is definitely not wheezing although she is meowing very intently and right now pawing at the door.

sorry about double posts but she put her paw into the water bowl which is extremely unusual for her.

and now she is definitely panting.

We took our cat on vacation with us and had to hide her when the maid came, as we weren't allowed pets in the room. I took our cat out to our van and ran the air conditioning for her, but she began to meow and pant after a while. I think it was a combination of heat and stress that caused this. I think your kitty might have the same problem, especially with her dipping her paws in the water, which they sometimes do in order to cool off. If she doesn't stop within an hour of the repair guy leaving and everything back to normal, I would probably take her to the vet if she seems stressed or still panting. FWIW, my cat was pretty long hair, so the extra fur might have caused her to overheat more easily.

Jim

What's so wrong with letting them out while the repair man is there? Why force the cats to be together? Put them in separate rooms? Is the room they are in hot?

Thanks for your advice everyone; I have called a vet about a housecall and I dearly hope that I am over reacting. The reason for their being locked up is neither has any street smarts so if she wanders out of the house...., about them being together it is in order to lock the door (in case it is opened accidentally) which can't be done from the outside.

Thanks again for the advice and I pray for the best result possible.