Veterinarians: how serious is this? (cat)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Background: we moved apartments a week ago, and because we’re broke and couldn’t hire movers it was an epic 17-hour ordeal and extremely stressful for the entire household, including my cat. He was shut in the bathroom with food, water, and litter box for nearly the entire time; when it finally came time to move from the old apartment to the new one, he was definitely scared and upset and didn’t want to go in the carrier. Upon arrival at the new place, we once again shut him in the bathroom with food, water, and litter box. He was calmer there, but this is where I first saw him panting. It was fairly hot in the bathroom, so I figured that to be the explanation and just worked as fast as we could to move things in so we could let him out.

The new apartment was empty for a month so it has been freshly cleaned, painted, and the floors refinished. The cooking gas had been off, so it was turned on the day we moved.

A couple days ago I saw him panting again; this was also a very hot day – 85 degrees the day after a 50 degree day – so while it wasn’t usual for him to pant when the weather is hot, I figured that there was a little bit of not having any time to adjust given that it had been so cool just the day before. All of us were feeling crummy from the heat.

Where I got worried was that yesterday (day after the hot day) I saw him panting again, a few times, and yesterday was 60 degrees. His ears feel warm, but it’s hard to tell. The weird thing is he has absolutely no other symptoms – he’s alert, active and energetic, interested in playing and in the birds outside the window, wants attention as much as ever. His eyes are clear, no discharge from ears or nose, and his tongue is pink and normal-looking. The skin in his ears is a normal color, not yellowed or red. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain. He’s about 10 years old but still acts like a kitten. He’s always been a chatty cat, mostly chirping and mewing, and he’s been yowling a little bit more.

He keeps leading me back to the kitchen, but I have no idea what he’s trying to tell me. His box and food were at opposite ends of the kitchen/dining area in the old place, but here litter is in the bathroom and food/water is in the dining room. He’s eating, drinking, and eliminating normally, as far as I can tell.

I’m wondering if this is basically stress-induced and will sort itself out given a couple days? Is this serious? We are broke and can’t afford a vet trip – if it’s absolutely necessary it would have to go on a credit card with no idea how we might pay it off (and I’m still paying off vet bills for my other cat from a year and a half ago).

Other than “go to the vet!” (yes, I know) is there something I can do?

2

I am not a veterinarian, but in my experience, panting in cats tends to be a symptom of a serious problem and may indicate heart trouble. It may be that the move stressed him and caused the symptom to become more pronounced. I would take him to the vet.

3

Also not a vet; panting definitely can be fear/anxiety. what about trying Feliway (a calming pheromone).

4

Can you try moving his litterbox back to the kitchen? An older cat seems more likely to get set in their ways, and if he’s been pooping in the same room he eats for years then maybe it’s really bothering him. And if this is just a stress-related thing (which I can’t comment on since IANAV), replicating the old environment as accurately as possible seems likely to reduce it.

It’s free and worth a try anyway, as long as you have the kitchen space to accommodate it.

5

Seconded. My cats pant when I take them to the vet for mere checkups; in these cases, it’s obviously stress. But better to be safe than sorry, so try the vet just to double-check.

If you get the all-clear, do give Feliway a try. I’ve mentioned this a few times on the boards (and I swear I get no kickback from 'em!) but when I first brought my cats home (a momcat and her two kittens), one of the kittens was so stressed out she wouldn’t come out from under the bed–and when she did, she’d just jump on top of the bed and piddle on it.

Bought the “Comfort Zone” / Feliway plugin, which is used like a Glade plug-in; it goes into a socket and silently (and with no scent noticeable to humans, thankfully) releases feline pheromones into the air. Sophie came out of her shell and stopped bed-piddling within 24 hours. I kept it plugged in for a few weeks just to be on the safe side, and once it was used up, I didn’t need it anymore. It’s a little expensive (I think $20 or so for the plugin plus two refills, this was back in 2003) but both Sophie, and my bed, found it more than worth the money.

It doesn’t work for every cat, but it can’t hurt, so if your vet says your cat’s physically okay, give the Feliway a try. Good luck!

6

Veterinarian here. While panting in cats is rather unusual, it can sometimes occur due to stress or over-heating. But as Pyper pointed out, it is also often associated with heart problems. The recent yowling is a bit concerning, as this often occurs with hypertension in cats. Given his age, I would wonder about the possibility of hyperthyroidism. Thus, the only reasonable advice I can give you is to have him evaluated by a veterinarian.

7

Update:

So we had to do some fundraising, but we got him to the vet this morning. The vet thought his heart and lungs sound fine, and was really kind of impressed with how healthy and active he is. I asked specifically about the panting, and the vet thinks it was stress. They took some blood for labs and we’ll have those results in a couple days.

The bad news is that he has pretty bad dental disease, and will need a full cleaning and almost certainly some extractions or crown amputations. I’d budgeted some of our kitty fund for this, but it looks like it will be about 3 times as expensive as I thought. :frowning: We’ll wait for the labs to come back (which may affect his course of treatment), and then see about getting the dental work done.

Required kitty pics:

Feathers!
Basement cat is severe.

8

Pretty kitty! So … vet said what you thought is a problem isn’t a problem, but, oh yeah, we did find this other problem? (Ain’t that the way it always goes?) For whatever it’s worth, bad dental health tends to lead to other problems - due to all the bacteria, etc. in the infected gums - so at least maybe this vet bill will prevent or at least delay further vet bills … ?

9

I’m happy to contribute for his dental care. If you set up a paypal account you’ll likely get other donations as well.

10

We really appreciate it. Here is the donation page. Thank you!

11

Years ago when I was unemployed and just dead broke, my kitty ended up needing two teeth extracted and that $1000 vet bill seemed as insurmountable as Everest. Some very kind and generous friends covered the bill. So I’ll pay it forward a bit. :slight_smile:

12

Thank you. There aren’t words enough to express how grateful I am.

And yes, we want to take care of his teeth ASAP, as he seems to be having difficulty chewing, too, which we noticed about a week and a half ago. (Along with knowing that bad teeth can cause septic issues further down the line.) I’m just really glad it’s not dental on top of some other heart or age-related issues. We have some Feliway going in the bathroom (he likes sleeping in the tub), and soak his kibble in water to soften it, along with supplementing with some canned food.

I’m pretty positive about it. My childhood cat had similarly bad teeth when she got older, and she was basically a brand-new cat after the cleaning.

13

Artemis the Fangless Wonder was a different cat after her teeth got fixed.

If he’s really having trouble eating, you can also try baby food (lamb baby food was all she’d eat right afterwards).

14

He’s doing okay for now. We actually have a bunch of cans of prescription z/d, which is hypoallergenic and super soft, basically paté, because his buddy Merlyn was on that in the week before he passed. And for now he seems to be dealing with the softened kibble okay, too.

He LOOOOOVES the canned food, so we have to feed small portions of that so he doesn’t gorge himself and vomit it back up. Silly kitty.

15

Be aware that extensive tooth business on pets is expensive.

We had a geriatric cat with extremely bad teeth. One surgery on his teeth was $500, and he needed a second surgery. He didn’t live long enough for the second surgery.

My kids’ dawg (medium-sized mutt, about 12 years old) just had six teeth removed, and we paid for it. $1000. Ouch.

My diabetic cat had major tooth problems with bleeding and FORTUNATELY his blood sugar was stable enough for him to have surgery. He was in a LOT of pain afterwards and was given oral morphine. I think his was in the $500 category.
~VOW

16

Well aware, yes. The vet sent us home with a price list on dental care. :eek:

17

Now with cute kitty video.

Forgot to mention, we also discovered why he was obsessed with the kitchen. Apparently we had a mouse living underneath the dishwasher. We learned this when we caught him playing with a dead mouse. He’s never seen a mouse before, so he hadn’t eaten any of it; I don’t think he realized it could be food, he was just wondering why the cool toy stopped moving. :smiley:

18

Argh.

His blood tests came back. All three liver enzymes are slightly elevated, which means we need to test his liver function before we can consider anesthesia. The levels are not so high as to indicate anything scary like liver failure, but we need to know if his liver is capable of doing its job well enough so it can filter the anesthesia out of him after the dental work.

So, three options: a month of liver-support supplements and another blood enzyme test; a liver function test, which measures levels before and two hours after eating; and an ultrasound, which would be the only test which could see if there’s a physical defect of the liver (tumor, cirrhosis). The first two would cost roughly the same (about $140), but the ultrasound is, of course, a lot more expensive ($360).

So, we’re trying to figure out which direction to go. His teeth will still need to be addressed eventually, too. We’re still fundraising if anyone would like to help. Or just pass the link along. We’d really appreciate it.

19

He’s a gorgeous kitty, hope it all turns out all right for him.

To take up the topic of panting in cats: one of mine, when young, would begin panting in the middle of playing, specifically when jumping after his feather toy. Some googling told me he was in all likelihood simply overheating (he’s a semi long hair with a plush, dense coat) and that this is a more worrying sign if the panting is accompanied by a bluish colour to the gums (possibly indicating a heart problem). What I did was keep a watching brief and stopped playing when he started panting, no matter how much he wanted to carry on. He grew out of it :slight_smile:

20

I’m so glad you set up a paypal account so I could do something for this handsome kitty. Good luck to you.