Breathing rate?

[catcora]

Pepper is 2 years old, male, and neutered

I’ve noticed that sometimes when he’s resting and laying down, his breathing will go fast for a few seconds, and then he’d go back to normal- 33 breaths a minute when he did do the rapid breathing for 3-4 seconds, and when it was completely normal, 25 breaths a minute. Is this sort of thing normal? It’s not a super consistent thing he does, but it happens enough for me to notice it, and at first, assume it was normal since his breathing goes back to normal afterwards. Otherwise, everything else is fine

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
I've read that the best time to review a cat's breathing rate is when they're fully asleep (although that doesn't take into account a chase dream) so I assume it's because of this inconsistency - they smell something when they're still awake and breath faster to take it in, etc.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Or it could be tied to dreams when your cat is actually asleep. Given the intermittency and short duration of these events, I would just continue to monitor it, and look for signs of changes in breathing in other scenarios. If it stays the same as it is now, then just make a point of mentioning it to the vet when Pepper goes in for his next checkup.

 

[catcora]

Hi
I've read that the best time to review a cat's breathing rate is when they're fully asleep (although that doesn't take into account a chase dream) so I assume it's because of this inconsistency - they smell something when they're still awake and breath faster to take it in, etc.

cats breathe faster when they’re smelling something?

 

[catcora]

Or it could be tied to dreams when your cat is actually asleep. Given the intermittency and short duration of these events, I would just continue to monitor it, and look for signs of changes in breathing in other scenarios. If it stays the same as it is now, then just make a point of mentioning it to the vet when Pepper goes in for his next checkup.

I’m not sure if he was 100% asleep, he was curled up with his eyes closed on my lap, but still appeared conscious when i was counting his breaths. It doesn’t happen often enough for me to catch a video of his short bursts of rapid breathing and i haven’t noticed anything else other than what i had mentioned

 

[Furballsmom]

cats breathe faster when they’re smelling something?

Sometimes - watch his sides when your cat is in front of an open window or door. They're busy drawing smells into their nose so they can work to determine what things are