# Pumpkin's loud breathing -- any thoughts?



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

I have noticed that Pumpkin tends to breathe loudly. She doesn't snore or sniffle, no signs of congestion, but her nasal breathing is noticeably louder than that of my other cats. She also seems to breathe harder when she purrs.

The only health issue she's had was some patchy loss of fur on her face a few months ago shortly after her last round of vaccines. The vet thought it might be allergies, but it cleared up after a couple of weeks so we never pursued it further.

Pumpkin will be 2 in August. She's active, a great eater (she eats Natural Balance dry and wet), her coat is beautiful, and her eyes are clean and bright.

Should I be concerned? She seems fine otherwise. I'm hoping she's just a noisy breather!


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*Gizmo is doing the same thing.*

My four year old Gizmo's breathing has been very loud at night and in the morning. She is still happy and playful, but the breathing is very noisy.

I've read that there are a lot of allergens around in this area, and it's been raining for two weeks. Maybe it's just mold, but I'm taking Gizmo to the vet tomorrow to be sure she will be all right when I go away for five days. The vet thinks it could be herpes but she can't tell til the cat gets there. 

Gizmo also has allergies and these could be flaring up with dust and mold in the house.

I will post here again after the vet looks at Gizmo, maybe her diagnosis can help Pumpkin. But Pumpkin certainly is not alone.


----------



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Meowmie said:


> PS:
> 
> Lisa, just one question. Do you _ever_ hear Pumpkin cough?


No, never. Except for the noisy breathing, she has no other symptoms.

Deb, she eats a mix of two Natural Balance dry formulas: Adult Dry and Venison and Pea (allergy formula), plus NB Turkey and Giblets wet. I started feeding the allergy formula simply for variety, because several months ago she seemed tired of the regular formula.

Any idea on possible allergens? Maybe I should try the allergy formula alone and see what happens. And the noise does seem to be coming from her nose. 

Gizmo, I'll be interested to hear what your vet says. Does Gizmo always breathe loudly? We've had alot of rain here also, so I'm sure the mold is high. Interesting.

I only notice Pumpkin's breathing when I'm close to her, not in the course her normal running around. It's definitely louder than my other cats, though.

Thanks for the input. :wink: Looks like I'll be calling the vet.


----------



## lilaccat3456 (Apr 27, 2006)

Chloe has food allergies and before I knew what was wrong, she had noisy breathing too. Once I changed her to ALL wet/canned foods that are low in carbohydrates (because the primary food allergens in cats is wheat and wheat products) she has gotten tons better. Her fur was thin and dingy, she was losing weight and had little pustules all over her back in addition to the breathing thing. You may want to switch her to a low carb wet diet--I feed my cats canned 9-Lives, Friskies, etc. My vet told me that ANY wet food--even the cheapest kind are 100% better than the best dry food. It certainly was true for my cats. Good Luck and let us know how it goes.


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*food and allergies*

I feed my girl California Natural chicken and rice formula. Her coat and (formerlydaily) agonized wheezing improved greatly when I got corn products and wheat out of her diet.

I would rather feed a high quality dry food than a cheap wet food. But Gizmo will only eat cheap wet fish food and this is even worse for her than dry.

anyway, I'll try her on Nutro packs after I am back from vacation. She goes to the vet today for a checkup about the breathing.

And guess what? No noisy breathing last night. The sun came out for the first time in two weeks. Coincidence? I don't think so.


----------



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Meowmie said:


> If you have a basement, even if it’s a finished basement, please be sure to keep Pumpkin out of it until you can figure out what exactly you are dealing with.


Our basement is not finished, but it's totally dry. We've never had any water down there, and it's a daylight basement. I keep their litter boxes down there. 

Funny you mention litter dust, because I did switch to a new cat litter recently...Tidy Cats has a new formula that I'm trying. It seems less dusty than the Scoop Away that I was using, but now I wonder if that could be the culprit. :? 

Luckily, she's not wheezing. It just sounds like someone turned up the volume on her breathing.


----------



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Meowmie said:


> I do hope you'll be able to figure out what is causing the noisy breathing and make it quiet down with one or more simple changes.


Me, too!! Thanks for the info, Deb. Maybe I'll start by switching to a less dusty litter and moving a litter box upstairs, then see how she's doing before tinkering with the food or anything else. 

It reminds me of having babies, eliminating one possible cause at a time. 8O :lol:


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*dusty litter*

Tidy Cats litter is a clay based litter with high dust. I know because Gizmo was delivered with a bag of it and I dumped it out when I started gagging as I changed the box--the dust tracked everywhere too.

There are some good natural brands. I use NATURE'S MIRACLE litter though some cats might not like it. YESTERDAY'S NEWS is newspaper based; and some folks like SWHEAT SCOOP and WORLD'S BEST CAT LITTER. All of these save the newsprint one have a terrific advantage over clay litter--they can be flushed in the toilet.

Good luck. I hope that both our cats are better. My Gizmo is going to the vet's in about a half hour.


----------



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Thanks for the suggestions, Gizmo. I'm making a trip to Petco early next week, so I'll look for some of these brands. 

I looked at World's Best last time, and it was quite expensive. With 3 cats I go through a fair amount of litter. But I am concerned about the dust :? 

How did the vet visit with Gizmo go?


----------



## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I think if Pumpkin can be active without any sign of being "winded" and she has no problem getting enough air when more air is required, then the noisy breathing may just be some physical irregularity in the sinuses that produces more noise. To put it another way.....if it's not causing her a problem, then don't worry about it. :wink: 

Rocket likes to lie on my chest when I'm on the couch and when his face is close to mine I notice that his breathing is noisier than the other cats. But it's never bothered him.


----------



## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

That's a heartfelt caution. But we also need to keep in mind that nobody (meaning people and animals) is exactly "normal". Every individual has some variation from the "norm" because the norm is really just the average. If every variation from the norm is seen as the first harbinger of a potentially devastating illness, then we'll go nuts with worry.

Furthermore, vets are simply incapable of diagnosing when the symptomology is so slight or is too incomplete to tell them what (if anything) is wrong. So then they'll just send us home saying "there's nothing wrong with your pet."

I think what it takes is a certain pragmatism, along with an intimate knowledge of one's animals. If we observe (and with a vet's concurrence) an animal in seemingly perfect health, it most probably is in perfect health. Something that seems a little different calls for close attention mainly when it's an unexplained _change_, or when it causes a change the pet's normal activities. Let's be cautious, let's be responsible, but let's also be reasonable.

My point of view. 8)

The noisy breathing I've observed in Rocket has always been that way; it's never gotten worse; his health has been checked and found to be perfect several times; and he has no limitations to his activities. Therefore I can only conclude that's just the way he is. If only he could talk, then I'd know for sure. But sometimes it's not possible to know....


----------



## jab (Oct 20, 2005)

lymekaps said:


> I looked at World's Best last time, and it was quite expensive. With 3 cats I go through a fair amount of litter.


World's Best has a great buyers program, buy 9 bags of the same size and get $28 in coupons (four were $5 off large bags). Info at http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/mainContent/rewards.htm

I switched to World's best to help my asthma as all the clay based liters made the asthma worse. I have two litter boxes with two cats and go thru a large bag every six weeks or so. 

I have heard that World's Best is really chick chicken feed. If there is a feed store close supposedly one can get the same thing for a lot less. I live in the city so I haven't tried it.


----------



## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

No she didn't, but Rocket won't stop purring in the vet's office, so it's impossible to listen to his chest. It sounds to me like it's coming from his nose, anyway.


----------



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

jab said:


> lymekaps said:
> 
> 
> > I looked at World's Best last time, and it was quite expensive. With 3 cats I go through a fair amount of litter.
> ...


Ooh, good info!! Thanks Jab. I'll look into the buyer's program and the feed store option. I live in the country so we have feed stores nearby.  

Tim, too cute about Rocket  My cats don't love our vets quite that much :lol: 

Deb, I'm sorry to hear about your experience  I see your point about being careful when something isn't quite right. Our babies are worth it :wink: Pumpkin is my daughter's special friend and is loved dearly, so we want her to be around as long as possible  

OK, for the good news...Pumpkin's breathing seems to have quieted a bit!  Still louder than the others, but quieter than it was. Like Gizmo, we had been dealing with a prolonged period of rainy days, so perhaps she was reacting to the much higher than normal mold count in the air. :?: Just to play it safe, I am going to switch litters and keep listening for changes. 

Thanks for all the support and advice, everyone


----------



## TheMeThatYouKnow (Mar 18, 2006)

Hmm, Mr Wendel has had loud breathing, almost like a light snore, ever since I met him at the shelter 2.5 months ago. After I got him home a vet treated him for an upper respiratory infection and eye infection which cleared up after about 2 weeks. The loud breathing however remained, although I'd say it's a bit quieter. The Vet said that it was likely scarring from this or previous respiratory infections and that I shouldn't worry. 

I'm pretty sure it isn't a food allergy because of the variations I've made in his diet over the last 2.5 months. I never really considered a litter allergy, but I haven't been to happy with the current one lately, so maybe it's time for a change regardless. 

He seems otherwise healthy and it doesn't seem to affect his playing although I can't really speak for his endurance because he loses interest easily. 

So my question is, should I have him checked out by a second vet? The first has seen him a total of 4 times including his neuter surgery, and he's also been seen by a different doctor at the same animal hospital. They seem competent enough, but should I get a second opinion? If I do, what more might they do to check him out?

Thanks for any advice.


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*loud breathing and diet*

Gizmo was eating rabbit 'food' for five days while I was away in New York.

Her loud breathing has stopped. She breathes normally in bed instead of making the strange sounds she made on a chicken diet. She had one small wheezing fit yesterday after playing, but the house is dusty and needs a clean.


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*EKG*

Gizmo is going for an electrocardiogram tomorrow as a direct result of the warnings on this site.

I hope that she has nothing worse than allergies, but the vet confirmed that she had a heart murmur. We will know tomorrow afternoon if it is a symptom of somthing worse.

I hope Pumpkin only has allergies, too. I had no idea that cats were so fragile. 
Gizmo is cuddling on my lap now and not complaining when I told her that she was not going to play rough games of Mouse tonight. She has not had a wheezing attack since the small one she had yesterday.I'll write back when I know something tomorrow afternoon.


----------



## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Don't send us the bill.  

But do keep us posted. :wink:


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*she probably has insurance for this...*

I'm pretty depressed, actually. There's a lot of horrible information on the web as to what this could be.

I am hoping that it is just allergies.


----------



## Lisa 216 (Oct 25, 2004)

Oh shoot  Wishing you and Gizmo good thoughts. I hope the vet has some good news for you.

Thanks for your good wishes to Pumpkin. She's has quite a time of it lately, but she seems to be OK. I'm keeping a close watch on her, though.


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

*went to the hospital today*

Gizmo was so well behaved during her exam that it took half as long as they originally do. The staff called her a 'perfect angel'. Just the same, I don't want her to go to Heaven just yet. I have to hear from the vet this afternoon to see what the diagnosis is.

I am glad to hear that Pumpkin just had a fit of the vapors. I hope Gizmo is fine..she's never fainted, but she has too many other strange symptoms to rule out something bad.


----------



## Cat Daddy (Aug 3, 2005)

After being informed of food allegies via this thread I stopped feeeding the cheaper indoor formula's to Poo-poo, and have not heard her snore or breathing loud since, 

Max Nutrition and Special Kitty where the 2 latest I was feeding, now it's just Nutural Balance, which I put out only after the canned food has been out for a while. I am more convinced it was a food allergy, it has been about 2 weeks since I cut it out of her diet and I am still trying to observe her, 

but I thank you all for bringing this to my attention, and we have a new Petsmart in town, as I learned when I was in Petco asking why they were cleaning and rearranging stuff, so more competition and I am hopefully going to find good things at Petsmart this morning, but they don't open for 2 more hrs.


----------



## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Cat Daddy said:


> ....when I was in Petco asking why they were cleaning and rearranging stuff, so more competition...


Oh, they'll get tired of doing that and go back to their old ways. Just like here. :?


----------



## Cat Daddy (Aug 3, 2005)

> *Since noisy breathing can be caused by food allergies, the first thing you might want to try is a diet change. If that doesn't help, you will definitely want your vet to do an exam to find out where the noisy breathing is coming from. If it's food allergy, your vet might tell you it's coming from the nose, even though your kitty doesn't snore or sniffle.*


Bringing this up again, because as we had to revert back to the poorer quality store/corn/wheat stuff trying to get the other cat to eat, Miss Poo had started loud breathing while sleeping again. It has since disappeared, she's on Natural Balance and canned, amazing what you learn here even when you don't realize there's a problem.


----------



## gizmocat (May 22, 2006)

My cat's noisy breathing stopped when I got her completely off rice, corn, and wheat-based foods. The stuff I'm feeding her now uses millet, which seems to agree with her. Anyway, the only allergen she now responds to is dust.


----------

