Although it is true that panting in cats is usually due to some physiological rather than pathological problem, such as exercise, stress or heat, our little felines can also pant due to diseases or conditions that they can be very serious and have a great impact on their quality and life expectancy, not only dealing with pathologies that affect the respiratory system.
If you want to why do cats pant and learn how to differentiate normal panting from pathological panting, continue reading this article on our site.
Normal panting in cats
Panting consists of dysneic, labored and excessive breathing that can be caused by natural causes that are not abnormal or by diseases in cats. When they pant, what cats do is breathe very quickly and with their mouths open, something that is not common in this species, since they are used to always breathing through their nose.
It is normal and expected for small felines to pant in certain fully physiological situations such as the following:
- Excitement or exercise: If you are wondering if it is normal for your cat to pant after playing or for your cat to pant when running, the The answer is yes. Especially kittens are more energetic, playful and active than cats of older ages, so they are constantly in motion wasting energy, so it is normal for younger cats to breathe faster and more intensely than older cats. greater. After exercise, whether playing or running around the house, in cats of all ages, the heart rate and body arousal increase, which translates into an increase in respirations that can make them gasp.
- Cats during childbirth: the effort and exhaustion that childbirth causes a female is such that the body reacts, among other things things, panting. Because of this, it is normal for female cats to continue panting even hours after giving birth. However, if this panting continues for days, you should go to the veterinary center, as there may have been some type of problem or complication derived from the cat's birth.
- High temperatures: if you look and think "my cat sticks out his tongue and panting" or "my cat is panting and drooling" it could be a normal act in the heat or dangerous depending on how extreme the temperatures are. Cats tolerate temperatures between 17 and 30 ºC well, but when these begin to rise, cats begin to suffer as they practically lack sweat glands, so their body temperature begins to increase and panting is activated to try to lose weight. heat through evaporation. If you observe this together with hypersalivation, weakness and search for cool areas, you should hydrate your cat more frequently with fresh water, and if he tolerates it, refresh his body surface with wet cloths or wipes. The more you pant, the higher your body temperature will be, which is worrying when you go into heat stroke due to the risk of dehydration and alteration of vital functions.
- Fear or stress: "my cat is panting in the car, is it normal?", yes, when the cat is scared or When faced with a situation that causes a lot of stress, be it noises, car trips, renovations, guests, new cats at home, fights or confrontations, this change in your homeostasis or body balance produces signs such as panting, dilated pupils, piloerection or increased heart rate, and more.
Why is my cat panting a lot?
If you say "my cat is panting a lot" and the causes do not seem to respond to any of the above, especially if it is more or less constant over time and not something specific, it is possible that your cat is Something more serious is going on. You may also have pain, as it can also cause this type of breathing agitation.
Among the diseases that most commonly cause panting in cats are those of the respiratory system, severe anemia, heart disease, some endocrine disorders or high blood pressure.
Respiratory diseases
Regarding respiratory problems that can lead to panting, we can mention a fairly common disease in our cats: feline asthmaIn this disease there is a constriction of the lower respiratory tract that makes it difficult for air to pass through and, consequently, causes poor ventilation. Specifically, it consists of the inflammation of the bronchial tubes of the lungs, which causes them to contract to prevent irritating substances from penetrating the lung. These irritating substances can be tobacco smoke, pollen, mold or chemicals. Symptoms of an asthmatic cat include panting, coughing, lung wheezing, labored breathing, and nasal discharge.
However, asthma is not the only pathology that produces wheezing, pleural effusion as well. The pleural effusion consists of an accumulation of liquid in the space between the lung and the membrane that covers it called the 'pleura'. This liquid can be of a different nature, highlighting blood (hemothorax), water (hydrothorax) or lymph (chylothorax), and is produced by high pressure in the blood vessels or a low amount of blood proteins. One disease that can cause pleural effusion in cats is wet feline infectious peritonitis.
Severe anemia
Cats can suffer from various types of anemia, some of which are very serious as they reduce the hematocrit too much (percentage of red blood cells in the cat's blood volume) and result in poor tissue oxygenation as they are the red blood cells which, through hemoglobin, distribute oxygen to them. Signs associated with anemia in cats are tachycardia, increased respiratory rate,panting, weakness and pale mucous membranes
Heart disease
Heart disease is another clear cause of pathological panting in cats. These include congestive heart failure, often caused in cats by a heart disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, sometimes related to feline hyperthyroidism or cardiomyopathy restrictive; although chronic kidney disease, by increasing the cat's blood pressure, can also predispose to the development of congestive heart failure that produces a pleural effusion and makes it difficult for cats to breathe, causing them to pant.
Poisoning
Some drugs, foods or plants that are toxic to cats can intervene in the animal's respiratory center, making it difficult for the correct lung expansion for gas exchange and causing them to present respiratory difficulty(dyspnea) and therefore wheezing.
Diaphragmatic hernia
Cats may also pant when the thoracic lung expansion space is reduced by the presence of abdominal viscera in the thoracic cavity, as occurs with diaphragmatic hernia. In diaphragmatic hernias, there is a discontinuity of the diaphragm, a structure that separates the abdominal cavity from the thoracic cavity and, therefore, allows the passage of viscera such as the stomach, spleen, liver or intestine to the cavity that naturally belongs to the lungs and the heart.. Cats with diaphragmatic hernia will have a respiratory distress with gasping, costal breathing, and may also have other signs such as chest rumbling, reduced lung sounds, regurgitation, vomiting, anorexia, and dysphagia
What to do if my cat is panting a lot?
If your cat has started panting, the first thing you should do is differentiate between physiological and pathological panting, that is, if it is produced due to natural and normal causes such as after exercising, experiencing excitement or stress from playing, climbing, running, fighting with another cat, a trip in a carrier, a visit to the vet, the arrival of visitors, renovations at home, etc. In these cases, you should not overwhelm or stress your cat more, you should try to calm him down as soon as possible on his own, offering him affection without overwhelming him and placing him in a safe and quiet place as soon as possible. If the stressful or exciting stimulus is unavoidable, you can consider using synthetic feline pheromones to comfort the cat by improving the environment it is in.
Also, keep the following tips in mind:
- Keep your cat hydratedAlthough cats love sunbathing and good temperatures, they should not do it when temperatures are very high, especially in summer when they exceed 30 ºC, because their body temperature can rise to the point of being dangerous to their he alth and predispose them to suffer heat stroke, compromising their integrity. When temperatures are high, it is worth cooling the house, hydrating the cat well, cooling it down and preventing it from going outside, especially between 12 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon.
- Prevents it from ingesting toxic substances On the other hand, you must prevent your cat from ingesting any unsuitable food, toxic plant or any type of poison or contraindicated drug for the feline species, as it may make you pant while producing symptoms that can even end your life. Likewise, you should prevent your house from being dirty due to the accumulation of more dust mites, avoid smoking near the cat or using irritating chemical products for its respiratory tract.
- Control your weight Obesity and overweight can also worsen the diseases that we have discussed that may be behind panting in cats, so keeping your cat in good body condition is going to be essential when it comes to preventing and treating panting.
- Go to the veterinary clinic If your cat is panting for abnormal reasons, it remains with or without the clinical signs mentioned in the pathologies that We have indicated as causes of panting, you should go to a veterinary center, because your little feline may be suffering from some process that compromises its life; the sooner you act, the better for your cat.
