My feeling is that your vet is best to evaluate your cat's symptoms. I also get that your pet won't do this behavior at the office. I have a young male labrador who has issues that he won't do at the vet either. It's a tough one. You mention you think this is associated with stress, but if it were stress, wouldn't the cat be doing it at the vet's office if that was what it was associated with?? Do you get where I am going with that thinking?

I realize these wonderful people at the forum are informed and well-intentioned, but I think this is an issue for your vet. If it were solely a behavioral question, then I would say have at it. When it comes to a health issue, the doc has the answers. If you aren't confident with your vet, perhaps it is time to find another.

Best of luck to you and your kitty (who by the way is gorgeous!).

Thanks Labmomma. I really do agree with you and know I'll have to let the vet solve it. I trust them completely but I like to go in there loaded with information and I can't find much on this subject.

I didn't mean to imply in my post that I think the breathing is brought on by stress, just that her breathing seems stressful, as in 'forced'. It's like she's working hard to blow all the air out of her lungs each time. She's even kind of barrel-chested, like a person with TB or chronic pulmonary disease.

Please go to your vet and give him/her the symptoms and frequency. Labored breathing can also be a sign of a failing heart. When our part Main Coon Cromwell started sounding like he was having problems, we took him in to our vets (a husband/wife team). Unfortunately they were at a week long conference and had a retired vet substituting who failed to pick up on the heaart connection. He diagnosed an allergy and after a shot and a prescription, sent him home, still sounding terrible. The meds didn't work, and when we went back in, it was too late, even though our regular vet tried a heart drug and kept him for hours in an oxygen cage to get him re-oxygenated. I still feel guilty that I didn't get a second opinion from another vet when our vet wasn't available.

Yes, that's definately something that needs to be evaluated by a good vet. There are MANY things that can cause labored breathing, most of which are treatable but only up to a point. Allergies, bronchitis, certain parasites, heart failure, FIP, fungal infections, bacterial infections... the list goes on, but the sooner diagnosed and properly treated, the more likely Crazy Putter will be around to torture your vet!

Good luck at the vet with your girl. She is quite a beautiful kitty.

Do you have one of those cell phones that take short videos so that you could bring the phone in to the vet and show him? Could you borrow a friend or relative's camcorder? My new dog, Bina, breathes in and out so fast at times that if it were me, I'd keel over from hyperventilation! She does this in her sleep, too. I figure it is either panting or anxiety.

I pray that your cat is ok. She is very pretty!

Thank you all for your answers! You have convinced me to get her in to the vet asap. My mother died just a few weeks ago after a fall in February and everything has been a blur. Life gets put on hold while you deal with death, I guess. I kept looking at Putter in the evenings when I was home thinking 'I really need to get her back to the clinic', but it just didn't happen. I've made the appointment and will do it this weekend.

I really like the short video idea! What a great way to show the vet behavior that they never see in the office.

Thank you thank you to All.
Kate

Kate, first I have to say kitty is gorgeous!

But ere is an excerpt from a post on my Feline Heart board at Yahoo (my cat Oscar is HCM+CRF and went into congestive heart failure at the beginning of Feb. - he's still with us, we were able to get the fluid off his lungs), this is how to count kitty's breathing:

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This is from a feline asthma site:.

*What is the normal breath per min. rate for a cat?*

1. The cat should be asleep enough so that if you pass a hand in front of their eyes the shadow won't arouse them.
2. I like to use a watch with a second hand although I have used the VCR clock and just counted a full minute.
3. The final number is based on a full minute. So you can either count for the full 60 sec. or count for 15 sec. x 4 or 30 sec. x 2.
4. Count the rise and fall as 1 breath.
5. Great is 17-24, normal is 24-30, fast is 30-40 and labored is 40 and above. These measurements are for during deep sleep only.
6. My opinion is any cat breathing 40 or above during sleep has underlying inflammation whether or not coughing or wheezing are present.
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Oscar these days comes in around 28 so I'm happy about that. Your vet will probably ask you what Crazy's respiration rate is so it's good to have it handy and to check it often (I rechecked Oscar on Sunday when he wasn't looking and still came out at 28). The video is a great idea too. I had to do that with Oscar after he came home from his vet stay, we e-mailed the video to both our vets and they were able to see how he looked and how he was breathing while he was on the meds to clear up the fluid.

Good luck!
tess

I had a similar issue with my cat. She was heaving/coughing when she purred. I brought her to the vet.. but like your cat she certainly didn't relish being at the vet's and certainly didn't purr there, so the vet couldn't see what I was talking about. So I decided to videotape it (with my digital camera that also takes video) and my boyfriend then played it back for the vet on his laptop. Although it didn't really help the vet with her diagnosis at least she could see what I was talking about.

Please get her checked, x-ray's included. This could show you a number of things. You mentioned asthma, and the x-ray could show you if it was. My cat's chest also expanded a huge amount everytime she took a breath near the end. But she was over 18 and it ended up being cancer (which the x-ray revealed). I sure hope it is something more manageable with your baby. PS mine was a calico too :)

I had a one year old Maine Coon mix who started stress breathing. It turned out to be hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. I was unable to save her.

I hope your kitty is ok - she is beautiful.

My poor Crazy Putter! First of all I have to say thank you to everyone who encouraged me to get her in to the vet right away. I'm so glad I did.
Initially they were very concerned that it was feline leukemia or feline AIDs. Both of those tests were negative. The secondary concerns were FIP or cardiac disease. An xray showed that Putter's lungs were about the size of large walnuts. They should have been about 8 inches long and 4 inches at the widest part. Seriously, they were these tiny roundish things about 2 inches across. They did a thoracentesis to draw fluid off the lungs and took more than 300 ccs off! No wonder she couldn't breathe. A second xray showed that one lung responded very quickly and the other was more slowly filling up the space again. After examining the fluid they have determined that she has a condition called Chylothrax, where lymph fluid builds up in the lungs. We're going to see how she does this weekend, then decide on the best treatment. It may require draining her lungs every few months. That doesn't sound good but its a whole lot better than so many of the other things they thought it might be. Our vet closes at noon on Saturdays, but they just locked the doors and kept working on my little buddy. We finally got out of there around 2pm.

If she ever comes out from under the bed I'll take a picture of her. You won't believe the shave job they did on her before the thoracentesis!

Kate

Poor Crazy Putter! Glad you got her to the vet. Cats are so darn good at hiding their health problems. Chylothorax isn't so bad; hopefully at least the one lung will continue to be OK and Putter won't have any more serious problems from it. Most cats recover from it after some time. I'm sending good thought to CP and your family during this difficult time.

Sending good thoughts to you and Crazy Putter, she is a beautiful cat.

Here's a picture of my beautiful baby after they shaved her for the thoracentesis. Poor thing. That's her shoulders sticking out. Doesn't she look pitiful?
She is breathing easier tonight and she's loaded up on antibiotics.

{{!gwi}}