[Randall]

My nine month old cat goes out very rarely, seems to be scared by another big cat that often goes around our roof; also he does a strange breathing, such as wheezing, while he comes back running from outside, or even sometimes when he plays with me for few second... but does not cought so I do not think might be asthma (?)... think more being afraid of the big cat might be the reason (once developped a nasty infection from a scratch of the other cat).
Slowly more and more new objects scare him out... sun glasses, cucumbers, and so on...
he was completely different some months ago...
anyone had the same experiences with cats wheezing or hiding inside the house?
or I should check him for asthma?
Thanks

 

[2sillycats]

Randall, I recommend taking him to your vet. It isn't normal for a cat to wheeze. Better to be safe than sorry. It could be that he is hiding because he doesn't feel good and is stressed because of it.

Something similar happened to my Scrappy one time. I was playing with her as I usually did but this time her breathing was really hard. She was panting! That was very unusual. I took her to the vet and it turned out she had larynxgitis (sp?). She was on a round of antibiotics for awhile. It cleared up thankfully.

Take your boy to the vet. Keep us updated. And post pictures of you kitty as soon as you can.

 

[Randall]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I shall check him with the vet... actually I just been two weeks ago for vacination and the vet said he was fine... but I did not mention about him gasping or wheezing...
I will have to go again on Monday for the recall of the vacination... should I go before? what do you think?

 

[2sillycats]

You could try calling your vet and give him/her a discription of the symptoms and see what he/she says.

Does the problem seem to be getting worse? or staying the same?

 

[Randall]

It is the same.
many times he is just gasps for few seconds... rarely more than that.
Seems to be his way of 'dealing' with different games... today we were playing and he would not gasp while making him running behind a ball up and a down the house, but would do that playing with a fake mouse that I would make flying on top of him, without making him moving too much.
Also, as I said, he started doing that while coming back home running away from a bigger cat... sometimes would just go straight into a hole in our bathroom, and hide there for some minutes, other time lying close to me gasping for less than half minute...

 

[Padunk]

Allergies or asthma is a possibility. My Punky has similar issues, the vet x-rayed her and there was fluid in her lungs. He gave her a shot (steroid, I think... can't remember) and it cleared up for a while. She still does it on occasion, but not nearly as bad as before. It seems stress and fear bring on the coughing/wheezing fits.

You're probably best letting your vet examine your kitty.

 

[Tigeress_R2]

Although I do recommend a visit to the vet. It kind of sounds like you cat is doing what all cats do when they are around other animals. I can't remember what it's called but the cat opens it's mouth as though it was showing it's teeth and they breathe deep and fast. There are glands in the cats mouth that they use to read other cats chemical "messages". Most cats look scary when they do this. When I remeber what it's called I'll post it unless someone else remembers first. This is just a suggestion.

 

[Tigeress_R2]

Oh, about him becoming scared of objects now...get his vision checked. Maybe he is acting different because he's having problems differenciating things now.

 

[Randall]

Although I do recommend a visit to the vet. It kind of sounds like you cat is doing what all cats do when they are around other animals. I can't remember what it's called but the cat opens it's mouth as though it was showing it's teeth and they breathe deep and fast. There are glands in the cats mouth that they use to read other cats chemical "messages". Most cats look scary when they do this. When I remeber what it's called I'll post it unless someone else remembers first. This is just a suggestion.

That sounds really what I was trying to describe, it exactly looks more a kind of 'behaviour' rather than an 'illness'. I was not really sure that was right to define it as my cat wheezed or gasped; I would say, as you did, he opens his mouth and breathe deep and fast, but also moving his tongue. (As you might notice, English is not my first language)
Would be very good if you could remember the name for it, but your reply was already very useful.
I shall thank everybody for the kind replies. I am new in this chat and find it very nice.
Hope I can give some good reply to all of you too in the future

Best wishes for all of you and your cats

 

[2sillycats]

Here is a link to an article describing this type of behavior.

http://www.metpet.com/Reference/Cats/Be ... n_cats.htm

 

[Tigeress_R2]

I'm happy that you may have found out what could be going on. The first time my kitty "Precious" at one time she was HUGE...Maine Coon, she looked really scary. BUt later I figured out what was happeneing and I thought that she looked kinda funny. Glad it helped...OH! and thanks for finding that article. Me not being about to remember what it was called was driving me crazy! :?

 

[Randall]

Great! thanks very much! I am going to have a look at the link now...