Cat breathing audibly?

[RebeccaAndTheGirls]

Hi everyone. My cat, Kesi, who is 8, has been breathing audibly since yesterday. She's not hyperventilating and I'm consistently getting 30 breaths per minute as she sleeps. I'm worried because she keeps trying to hide from me. She was spayed last Monday, so it is day 9 now. Is there cause for concern here?

 

[RebeccaAndTheGirls]

I should say between 20-30 breaths per minute, which is said to be normal. I'm just worried about the noise. She has no seepage from her eyes or nose, she's vomited once in the last 24 hours (though she did have wet food and sometimes she gets excited and eats quickly). She was also playing earlier, lightly of course because of her spay.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! It wouldn't seem that the breathing would be related to a spaying that occurred 9 days ago, but it is curious that you have never been able to hear her breathe before. The hiding from you is concerning, but the fact that she is eating and playing - and, I assume drinking and using the litter box fine, makes it less concerning. Have you been giving her meds, and perhaps that is why she keeps trying to hide from you? Also, if you are watching over her like a hawk since the breathing noise occurred, and she wasn't hiding from you before, she might be annoyed a bit that you are bothering her.

I take when you say she is 8 - you mean as in years (not months)? What kind of testing did they do before her spay, especially if we are talking about an 8 year old. The vet would likely have wanted to do full blood work, including a cardio BNP, and possibly a chest x-ray to determine her current health before putting her under anesthesia for the spaying.

If you can, you might want to take a video of her breathing, and not only share it here but send it to your vet as well to see what they think.