Is Your Cat Panting?

Is your cat panting? If your cat is breathing through its mouth, usually with its tongue sticking out, and is taking breaths that are shallow and rapid, then the answer to this question is yes. Even though it is uncommon for a cat to pant, sometimes they will, such as when they have been playing hard for a period of time or if they are taking or have just taken a trip in a car. But, if a cat is panting for no apparent reason, there could be an underlying cause that needs medical attention. This would be the time to carry the cat to the vet and let the vet decide if further action is required.

What can cause a cat to pant? There are several reasons a cat may pant. Anxiety, excitement, pain, fear or even heat are all common reasons for cats to pant. If you can determine one of these events has happened to the cat, then time should be the only thing that needs to happen to the cat and the cat should be just fine with a little passage of time. But, if you can not determine that one of these reasons has occurred with the cat, then the underlying cause may be neurologic disorders, hematologic disorders, cardiovascular disorders or respiratory disorders.

If you catch your cat panting, you need to try to decide what has caused it and also, you will need to watch the cat for awhile, just to watch for signs that a trip to the vet may be necessary. These things to watch for are diarrhea, vomiting, drinking excessively and urinating excessively, poor appetite, weight loss, fatigue or lethargy, difficulty breathing, coughing or cyanosis, which is when the mucus membranes turn blue in color. If any of these symptoms are present along with the cat panting, then you need to contact a vet and do as they instruct you to do.

While watching the cat, there are a few things you can do to help the situation. First of all, remove anything from the are that could cause the cat to stress or move the cat out of the situation that is stressful. The cat will need to be in a cool environment and do not allow the cat to overexert itself. A cat that is cool and in a non-stressful environment should recover without help from a vet if the situation is not being caused by something else.