I think my 14 month old cat pants too easily. He pants within a few minutes after playing. This afternoon, I was doing laundry, which is in a seperate building about 20 feet away from my patio door.  I walked to the laundry room to switch loads and as usual, Courage started to howl on the top of his lungs like he always does when I leave the house. I switched loads (took less than five minutes) and walked back home. Courage wasn’t howling when I left the building. Anyway, when I walked in the door, he was sitting their panting.  He pants after I throw his ball down the hallway a couple times (not a very long hallway either) then sits down and pants for a couple seconds with his mouth open. My husband has been a smoker since he was a teenager - he is now 53 years old. Sometimes Courage will pant before Terry becomes winded when they are chasing each other up and down the hallway. The only time he pants is when we are playing or he is upset over something, like me leaving the house without him.

I brought this up to our vet who said he doesn’t think I have anything to worry about because his heart sounded normal when he was there for a complete physical. Nothing out of the ordinary was found in his blood and urine analysis other than his BUN level was 35. That was more than likely from the fact that he had the complete checkup before he was due to be neutered. He hadn’t eaten since the day before plus he was stressed over being at the clinic, having strangers handle him. They checked the gravity for his urine which was fine.  Liver enzymes were normal.

I don’t know much about his background because we found him abandoned at a wayside rest area, crying his head off.  I do not think he was born feral because he wasn’t that hard to catch, when I did catch him, he didn’t try to fight me, and he had no problems eating from a dish and drinking from a bowl. His eyes were in the process of changing from their baby blue color to his green with a gold band. After we got home with him, someone mentioned he looked like a Norwegian Forest Cat, so I did a google search for catteries in the state we found him in and sure enough, there was a NFC cattery about 10-15 miles from the wayside rest area we found him at. When I checked out their website, they have a picture of a stud cat that was born there in 2004. If you hold a picture of that cat up and a picture of Courage, they literally look like the same cat. The website said all their kittens tested negative for HCM.

So I started thinking about why Courage was left there. First case senerio: The website said they are willing to drive to the borders of the state to meet potential buyers.  My first guess is that they had a few kittens with them for a buyer to look at and Courage got loose and ran to hide in the thorny patch I found him in. They either didn’t want to wade through the thorns to grab him or ran out of time chasing him.  They sell their kittens $600 for a pet or $800 for a show cat with breeding rights.  Even if they see cats as property, I wouldn’t think they would just leave him there.  Then I had a horrible thought that maybe Courage did test positive for HCM and rather than say anything about it, they dumped him at the wayside rest area, pacifying themselves with the thought that he is so cute, someone will take him or he will do his part for the local eco system and become coyote lunch.

He isn’t lethargic or anything like that although he does sleep alot.  Courage’s sleep schedule is he is usually up by 5am, takes a nap from 9am - 12pm then takes another nap from 3pm - 6pm, then goes to bed with us at midnight. I think he is there the entire night because when I get up in the middle of the night, he is always in bed sleeping.

If he had HCM or any other kind of heart problem, would there be more signs other than panting for a few minutes after a a couple runs up and down the hallway?

My 13 month old cat, Max, does the same thing.  He has panted after even minimal activity since he was a small kitten.  His breathing does not seem affected.  I asked my vet about it when he was in for his vaccines when he was tiny, but she didn’t seem to be concerned.  I plan on discussing this further with her when Max is due for his vaccines next month. 

Did you find out anything further about Courage?  I must admit that Max’s constant panting makes me worry.  I have had many cats in my lifetime and have never had one that pants like Max.

My two cats, Coco and Max, both pant after they have been playing and running.  I read that cats are not supposed to pant if they are healthy, so I took them to the Vet for a check-up.  The Vet said that if they have exercise intolerance, she would be more worried about their heart than their lungs.  Their lungs sounded good when she checked them, and they don’t have any signs of having heart problems.  Coco is a beautiful black long haired cat who has a shy personality, and Max, who is four months younger, is a Siamese mix and very friendly and outgoing.  So, although they enjoy playing together, in many ways they are opposite, but they both pant.  I have read quite a few other posts about cats who pant, so I’m thinking that it’s not an abnormal thing.

I think you should find a way to get her to your veterinarian as quickly as possible to see what is causing her symptoms.  It sounds like she might be having pain causing anxiety and shortness of breath, which must be miserable for her.  The vet can give her a complete examination to find the cause so that it can be treated and the pain relieved.  Best of luck to you!

I would like to ask for any suggestions of ways to get your cat to go along with other cats? i mean i have 3 cats, but one of them keep on fighting the other. I keep wondering why. any suggestions or comment?

Ronaldo10….I have the same problem with my cats, and I would also love to have some suggestions!  I love both of my cats so much, and they are both sweet and lovable, but they are so different.  My female cat is shy and gentle, and she has an autoimmune disease that attacks her mouth.  I give her medication daily, and have to protect her as much as possible.  My male cat is healthy, outgoing, playful, strong and assertive.  They like to play together, but it ends up with him being too rough and he chases her, so I have separate them and give him “time out”.  He acts like, “what have I done wrong?”, and the “time out” doesn’t seem to be working.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

My new cat Clover who is 11 months did that once after we were playing, he was panting so fast and so much it scared me! I took him to the vet they listened to his heart and lungs and took xrays, and everything was normal. my vet told me some cats just play really hard. she said if he starts to catch his breath doing normal things, then I should be concerned