Snoring cat

Does anyone else have a cat that snores? My guy Oreo snores loud enough that I can hear him in another room or to wake me up at night. Poor baby. I have found that if I rub from his nose up the bridge to the top of his head and under both eyes it seems to help. Could this be a sinus problem? We also have dry heat in the house and that could be causing part of the dry snores. He's almost 5 years old and I can only imagine the next 10 plus years of snoring. When he gets to really zzing, I can reach over and pet his back paws and it won't wake him or disturb him enough for a tail twitch.
Just wondering.

You are NOT alone! We have a cat, Grendel (Gren or Grenny for short), that snores so loud that a.) I can't fall asleep and b.) often wakes me up (not my husband of course!) I've often thought it was him snoring!

On one of her yearly visits to the cat vet (the vet is a feline only vet), we asked worriedly about this problem (she also weazes, burps (we hope it is burping anyways =) ), and makes misc. breathing noises). The vet checked her out and believes she may have had damage from a respitory illness when she was a kitten (she, like the rest of the cats (we're up to a total of 6 inside now) is a rescue).

The winter is the worst for Gren and her normal weezing and snoreing is accompanied by weight loss. However, this year we bought a humidifier and she is A LOT better and quieter. We also noticed a big difference when we moved into our new house and think she may be allergic to dust mites.

Have you seen your vet to rule out any illness?

Thanks!

Heather V. Havel
Michigan - USA

Hi Heather,
I haven't brought it up to the regular vet, but the emergency vet I took him too in Jan. looked at me like I was crazy when I told her about rubbing up to the top of his head and under the eye area. I know if my sinus' hurt, that helps me. It must do something for him, because it stops for a while.

I have a humidifier (a little one for when my son is sick) but haven't run it this year. I tried putting water in a dish on the radiator like we've done all my life, but they think its another watering hole.

As for dust mites, it's possible. When I vaccum, both cats stay far away and when he does venture in, it's usually accompanied by a sneeze or two and then no more.

That's the only syptoms he has - no weight loss etc.

Thanks for the response.

Is the cat overweight? I know that this can cause snoring with people, so I thought I'd ask about the cat

Hi Anne,
The vet didn't say he was overweight. I can tell you he is about 22 pounds, stands just below my knee on all fours, and can reach the top of my kitchen sink (with his front paws) when he is standing about 8 inches away from it and wanting my attention. I'm 5'4" and he was stretching one day and actually got his front paws up on my backside while I was standing at the kitchen sink. That was a shock - never had that happen before. I can also tell you that he can get comfortable while I'm in the floor combing him and he can stretch out at least along my inseam of 30". We have our days.

Wow, are you sure you don't have a mountain lion there? Actually, we have one who snores,too and she is a little, tiny ,torti-furball. She has such a tiny nose that I think that is why she snores. The vet has never found anything wrong with her and I think the snoring is kind of funny. At least I always know what room Bessie is in

I bred persians for years and this is a very common problem with them because of their compressed nasal cavities. There are a couple of things that will help(pretty much just like humans). Anithistamines...could make them sleepy, like you could tell the difference. Vetalog (a corticosteroid to help with inflammation and Gentocin Durafilm opthalmic drops to help with eye drainage. We also found that using the Gentocin as a nose drop was very effective in treating symptoms. All these can only be gotten through your vet.

Kathryn, thanks for the suggestions. I'll check with my vet.

Kaaren, there are days I wonder myself. I forgot to mention in the previous post that just before New Year's (booster time) the vet said (humorously) that I should take him off the beer nuts and give him only lite beer.

I can usually tell how "deep" asleep he is by the snoring- the louder the deeper. That's when he will let me pet his back paws, and it doesn't happen often. Do cats have REM sleep?

I'm pretty sure that cats have REM sleep - At least mine do!

From http://library.thinkquest.org/25553/.../remanim.shtml


Not all animals experience REM sleep, but some do. The amount of REM sleep an animal gets seems to be related to its safety in its environment. The more danger for the animal, the less REM sleep. The amount of REM sleep is also related to how developed the animal is at birth. Animals born fairly mature, such as sheep (whose REM Sleep is only 1% of their daily sleep), have less REM sleep than animals that continue to grow and develop more after they are born, such as humans.

Amphibians and Fish have never been found to have any similar experience to REM sleep (1).

Birds spend about 5% of their sleep time in REM sleep. They seem to have very brief dreaming episodes. (2)

Most Mammals experience REM sleep. Ruminating animals, animals that chew their cud, get very little (if any) REM sleep.

Dreaming
Not all animals that experience REM sleep dream. Some think that perhaps only mammals seeming to be more advanced in thinking than others dream during REM sleep. However, dolphins, thought to be highly intelligent do not have any REM sleep whatsoever! Dreaming mammals besides humans include: cats, dogs, chimpanzees, horses, cows.

Observing REM Sleep in a Cat or Dog
Cats and dogs have dreaming periods usually about 15 minutes into their sleep.(3) Their REM sleep is easy to observe. Simple indicators are movements under the eyelids, changes in breathing patterns, twitching of the ears or whiskers, or occasional spasms or jerks of the face. They may even make running motions with their paws. If someone placed food before a sleeping dog's nose, the dog may even start chewing.