Kitten Panting After Play

My Maine Coon kitty, Lucy is 10 1/2 months.  She is pretty active and runs around from and after my 9 year old mixed breed, Sparky.  Occassionally I play with a couple of toys at the end of sticks.  She is very acrobatic and jumps and leaps after them.  She also chase and swats balls and other stuff around the room, on her own schedule and when it strikes her.  The stuff is always on the floor. 

I just got Da Bird and for 10 minutes she went crazy chasing it.  I let her catch several times.  Sparky chased it too, but not as vigorously.  After play Lucy started panting and breathing hard, with her mouth opened.  She seems OK now, 10 minutes later.  It seems to me that it is probably normal, but I'm concerned I overdid it.  How can I tell if it is too much for her?  I thought she would tell me and stop.  Maybe, that's what she did.

That she took around 10 minutes to settle down seems okay, but I'm not sure.  How can you tell what is too much for a young seemingly healthy and active kitten?

Thanks,

Steven

Panting is normal after vigorous play, especially in active kittens It's kind of like how active people go out for a run and at some point need to stop to catch their breath with heavy breathing. I wouldn't worry about your kitten at all. If it will put your mind at ease, take a video of your kitten panting after play and show it to the vet.

It seemed OK to me.  However, it was the first time she exercised so much that she panted.  Just wanted a little reassurance, and you gave it to me.

When my boy plays or runs hard, he pants with his mouth open and tongue slightly out just like a dog, :lol3:
After that he'll just lay on the floor and relax and after a while once he catches back his breath, he stop panting.

LTS 3 is right. It's all the excitement and exertion used during play.
Unless she has medical issues with her heart, then I'll stop vigorous play with her, other than that it's perfectly normal to me. She's still a kitten. There's another 2 or more years before she reaches maturity and who knows, she'll still be just as active.

Hi...my Kit does the same, she's 4 mos. old.  She runs, jumps, lunges after her wand toys and gets really wild and crazy.  And after about 10 minutes, she'll lay down and she'll be panting.  I think this is normal, like the others said  I love to see her running and playing and jumping!  I always laugh and tell her she's a lazy bum for laying down and quitting when Mommy still wants to play.

Ah this brings back memories of my long gone Hazel the Maine Coon. She LOVED to play fetch with crumpled paper. I'd hear her breath as she brought the crumpled paper back to me to throw again. She'd pout when I would stop throwing it so she could rest up. She was not at all good at stopping herself. The acrobatics sounds familiar too. She was my pal for 19 years. She did have some hip issues in her teens so I'd probably recommend not encouraging the acrobatics for too long as she plays. Maine Coons can do amazing things though.

My Simone cat is like that now with the laser light toy.  She completely understands that I am operating the toy and she understands it's not real. But she loves to chase it to exhaustion. She used to not stop herself before she was panting. Now that she's mature, she doesn't do that anymore.

Thanks for the responses.  Lucy will get more play time with Da Bird, and I won't worry about her panting.   She's a fantastic kitten - strikingly beautiful, great personality, smart as can be, and a real gymnast.  Sparky is still the master of the house.

Lucy is gorgeous!

Pip would play with the puppy from downstairs.  They would race up and down the hallway and she would flop down, panting, tongue hanging out.  I must admit it scared me and I now shorten vigorous play so that she doens't get quite so exhausted.  As my vet pointed out to me:  cats are sprint animals not endurance animals so extended high-energy play is not what they are built for.  Think of lions and tigers in the wild:  rest, stalk, chase/pounce repeat.

Every night I play peekaboo with my boy. He'll run and hide n peek at me and he'll run all over.
Last nite after playing I carried him, he was panting with his mouth opened and I knew he enjoyed the play

Lucy is quite beautiful. Enjoy your kitty!