Open mouth panting after laser light play

[cattoys]

any update with your pet? i hope your pet is doing fine now...

 

[tdonline]

She seems okay, but I temper the play time and if she gets chased by her sister for too long, I step in. That way it prevents the panting from even starting. Her cardio visit will be next Friday. Will post results.

Thanks Mew, how do you monitor a heart murmur? Dory has seen multiple vets and none have detected a murmur.

 

[mews2much]

I take Meeko to the vet so they can listen.
She was there in Jan last.
She never breaths like your cat though.
There are other heart problems it can be.
I hope the can will be ok.

 

[aswient]

My Patch had a heart murmur, I didn't know it until he had a bad UTI blockage and the doctor told me he had a murmur Level 3. He had to undergo surgery for the UTI and I was afraid because of the murmur. When he gets excited or I have to chase him around to put him in his carrier he pants. Last check up for UTI, they told me that his murmur seemed to be worse, so they gave him an echocardiogram and chest x-rays and found he had an enlarged heart. Now I give him Atenonal for his heart and 1/4 low dose aspirin every third day. I took him back after 3 months for another echo and they said his enlarged heart came down quite a bit. He is only 5 years old. but he seems to be doing good. I was devasted when they told me all this but as long as he has his medicine, he is doing so well. In fact he is more lively, and walks around a lot more then he did.

Prayers and

 

[tdonline]

Will have the cardio appointment this Friday. If this helps for more info....Dory has always had more rapid heartrate compared to her sister. Even when resting or napping I can see her body rising/falling at a faster pace than Josie. When she pants, her heartrate goes into overdrive. Josie will run after the laser light and not only does she not pant but her heartrate never reaches the rapid pace of Dory.

 

[ut0pia]

Any update on Dory?

 

[tdonline]

The cardiologist gave Dory a clean bill of health! Wow, what a relief. She said Dory's had the best ticker she had examined in the last couple of weeks. She recommended I go back to my vet and get a heartworm test just to rule that out. She doesn't think it's asthma either, but since she still pants and we don't know why, I think respiratory would be the next thing to check. The cardiologist did write that this issue may be behavioral and Dory should be monitored but no medical action would be needed. I certainly hope so.

A next month is coming up and time for the flea topical...I'm tempted to bathe again...

 

[mews2much]

I am glad her heart is ok.
It does not sound like asthma either.
I have a cat with asthma.

 

[darlili]

I've recently read that heartworm is being diagnosed far more frequently now in cats, even up north - that's one reason I started Revolution this year, even though mine are indoor cats.

So glad you were able to rule out one area of concern, and let's hope for good findings continue.

 

[carmelb93]

I've just used the lazer on my 6 month fur baby and she was panting like crazy, so glad I found this blog to find out that it is normal. She's stopped panting now so I am relieved. Will continue to monitor her overnight, etc. I'm a new kitty mama and look up almost anything and everything.

 

[valandpokey]

I just lost our 15 month old cat, and we think she had a heart defect. As I look back, I see the signs but didn't think anything of it till now. She would pant after playing with her, and lately she was sleeping a little more than usual. After reading on a site catster.com "what causes sudden death in somewhat healthy young cats?" And the answer is heart disease, that can only be detected by echocardiogram. Panting is not normal in a cat, it's most caused by an enlarged heart due to heart disease. Go to your vet with this.

 

[tdonline]

I clicked on the 2nd page and it took me a few seconds to remember I started this thread,

As I'm here, an update.  Dory pretty much stopped panting after the cardiology visit.  The cardiologist did mention that some kittens pant...and grow out of it.  Luckily, that seems to be what Dory experienced.  Having said that, I definitely recommend a vet check if your cat pants to be on the safe side.

 

[autumnrose74]

 Panting is not normal in a cat,

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/abnormal-breathing-cats

Panting is a normal process after exercise. It is one of the chief ways in which a cat lowers her body temperature, as water evaporates from the mouth, tongue, and lungs and warm air is exchanged for cool. Cats also cool themselves by licking their fur and by perspiring through the pads of their feet. When panting is rapid, labored, and accompanied by anxiety, heat stroke should be considered. Some cats will pant and breathe with an open mouth when they are frightened.

 

[MyaLias]

Yeah, it scares me sometimes when I see my boy cat panting, but I think it's just rigorous play. My cat plays real rough, he gets real excited chasing after toys too. I just stop when he starts to pant to let him rest.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I clicked on the 2nd page and it took me a few seconds to remember I started this thread,

As I'm here, an update.  Dory pretty much stopped panting after the cardiology visit.  The cardiologist did mention that some kittens pant...and grow out of it.  Luckily, that seems to be what Dory experienced.  Having said that, I definitely recommend a vet check if your cat pants to be on the safe side.

I recommend talking to your vet as well, if there are several occasions when your kitten pants. There could be a variety of reasons (heat in the summer, rambunctious play, even heart conditions, as some have mentioned).

Also remember that some antibiotics or medicines can have certain side effects, esp. if your kitten or cat is on them for several weeks or more. If your kitten or cat is having any side effects that are listed for a drug, contact your vet right away to find out how to proceed.

My kitten Milly is on the antibiotic Azithromycin at the moment, and some of the possible side effects --though more rare-- can be heart arrhythmias and/or tachycardia. However, if Milly plays especially hard (usually with a wand toy), she can sometimes pant. She has done this once so far while on azithromycin. It doesn't hurt to just make sure with the vet that a kitten's heart is doing okay, esp if they are on some type of medicine.

 

[judah kingdom]

If you have your temperature INSIDE at 80+ degrees that is WARM...Cats have fur and all that running around overheats them.  If you were all bundled up and in 80 degree weather you'd be hot too wouldn't you?  There is no way I could feel comfortable in over 80 degrees.  That temperature causes me to become lethargic...

 I have the temperature (winter) at 70-71 degrees inside and after a good session with the Laser Pointer my Russian Blue boy gets to panting too.  He is addicted to the toy and whenever I stop he complains and tries to find it, as if he will be able to make it work without me.  No matter where I put that toy he locates it and he doesn't want me to stop using it, but it is clear he needs my intervention.  

 

[rasalghul]

My kitten does it all the time after playing.  He loves to play fetch and goes insane over the laser.  He'll run around at full speed for a few minutes, lay down and pant for a few minutes, and back at it again after he catches his breath and cools off.  At first I was a bit worried but that's just how they cool off, I guess. 

 

[Hkf98]

Hi, new to the site but joined because of this thread. I have an 11 month old kitten, his name is Bentley. Lately after playing with his feather toy or the laser pointer for a few min he gets tired and pants and breathes super heavy. This has been happening for a few weeks now but, the other day he was breathing really heavy and panting after like 2 min of playing with the laser pointer so I was confused because in the past it had taken like 5 min to get to this point so i was watching him and he was panting on and off for about 20-25 min after. Although the panting wasnt as bad as it was right after playing I still didnt think he should be that tired after not playing for about 20-25 min. Because of this, I made an appointment at the vet for the following morning. He was acting normal once we got there but the were concerned because of what happened obviously and I had video of the panting that occurs after playing for about 5 min so I showed him. So they listened to his heart and said everything sounded normal so they did an xray and that looked fine but from the doctors just holding him still for the xray and him trying to squirm away that he started breathing heavily so obviously something is wrong. So they wanna do an echocardiogram to hopefully get a better idea of what's causing this. Im just worried if I do schedule the echocardiogram that after they do the test if they still dont see anything im not going to have answers and its also $500. I am currently in college and living on my own so I dont have a lot of money to pay for all this testing if it isn’t something that is necessary. I will do the echocardiogram if needed but I wanted to see if anyone else had anything similar with their cat. Ive grown up with cats and have never had anything like this happen to any of them. Also just to put it out there, it is not asthma because he doesn’t cough and he is also an indoor only cat!

 

[Bobbarian]

Yeah my kitten Atreus has always done this. He's a big boy for his age (weighed 14 lbs at 6 months, now he's maybe 17-18 at 10 months), very long and muscular and likes to play very aggressively. He'll honestly die before he stops playing. When he starts panting heavily I let him keep the toy when he catches it next to make him feel like he has won. He'll lay down and pant for a minute or two, but then he's fine. Then 10 minutes later he wants to play again. He was born from ferals so his aggressive play habits may stem from a strong prey drive. As far as my vet says he's as healthy as can be. Meanwhile, my tiny 7 lbs scottish fold almost never pants. And when she does its for like 10 seconds. I really think the norm varies greatly.