Cat has difficulty breathing and opens its mouth to gasp for air

① What does a cat’s normal breathing look like?
② Reasons why cats open their mouth to breathe
③ How to measure a cat’s breathing rate

How does a cat breathe normally?

Breathing is an unconscious act. Everyone breathes naturally through their nose. Breathing seems to be done unconsciously, right?
The same is true for cats. Under normal circumstances, cats breathe through their noses. Even if it is a little difficult to breathe air, they will try to inhale through their noses first.
Under normal circumstances, the normal average breathing rate of cats is about 20-40 times per minute.
That is, for a healthy cat, it takes about 20 to 40 breaths per minute.
Of course, depending on individual differences, if this number is regular and slow, it means there is no problem.
If the cat breathes irregularly for more than 60 times, has a large upper and lower chest or abdomen, and has abnormal breathing methods, we can usually detect the abnormality immediately. We must pay close attention to it and send it to the doctor if necessary.

Why cats breathe through their mouths

Cats open their mouths to breathe. In fact, this phenomenon is not difficult to see, because the reasons for mouth breathing include normal physiological reasons and pathological reasons. The most common ones for us may be physiological reasons.

Physiological reasons

The environment is too hot:

Cats’ bodies are covered with thick hair. Cats do not have sweat glands. The most common sweat glands are located on the cat’s flesh pads.
When the cat’s body heat balance is balanced, heat can be dissipated normally through the body surface and flesh pads. However, if the environment is too hot and stuffy, the heat cannot be dissipated in time, and the body temperature rises. In order to protect its own life, it must pass through other means. At this time, the cat will open its mouth to breathe and dissipate heat through its mouth.
This may be our legendary “hot dog”.

Vigorous exercise:

We gasp for air after running or strenuous exercise, and the same is true for cats. When cats exercise strenuously (including parkour, playing with cat sticks, jumping around, etc.), they usually open their mouths to breathe.
The reason why cats open their mouths to breathe is that strenuous exercise accelerates the heartbeat, speeds up blood flow throughout the body, overloads the heart, and requires more oxygen supply. Simply breathing through the nose can no longer meet the demand.

Stress:

Cats will also open their mouths to breathe when they are stressed, because when a cat is too nervous or suddenly frightened, it will cause the heartbeat to accelerate, the body temperature to rise, and a series of stress reactions, including opening the mouth to adjust its breathing. .

Pathological factors:

Respiratory system abnormalities:

The main reason why cats open their mouth to breathe is that there is some abnormality in the respiratory system that makes it difficult to breathe through the nose.
The cat’s respiratory system consists of the airway system (nose, mouth, pharynx, larynx, trachea) and the alveolar system (bronchi and lungs), which are responsible for the exchange of gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen.
① “Cat cold (feline viral rhinotracheitis)” and “cat asthma” are diseases that are prone to abnormalities in the airway system.
Cat colds include infections with herpes virus and calicivirus. It is called a cold because it has cold-like symptoms: runny nose and sneezing. Too much nasal secretions block the nasal cavity, causing difficulty in nasal breathing. Therefore, cats Only breathing through the mouth
Feline asthma is caused by the inhalation of allergens. Spasm and narrowing of the bronchial tubes can cause difficulty breathing, leading to open-mouth breathing.
② Diseases prone to occur in the alveolar system include bronchitis and pneumonia.
Symptoms of bronchitis are similar to those of feline asthma, but chronic mouth breathing requires caution because when a cat’s cold worsens, it may cause the bronchitis to worsen, and if the bronchitis is severe, it may develop into pneumonia.

Heart and blood abnormalities:

The cause of cats’ mouth breathing is not only the respiratory system alone, but also heart and blood abnormalities.
Cats with original heart disease need special attention. If the heart disease causes poor blood circulation, diseases such as “pulmonary edema” and “pleural effusion” will occur, leading to breathing through the mouth.
Additionally, there is a genetic disorder called “cardiomyopathy” that causes common abnormalities (such as oral breathing or respiratory failure).
If the cat has reached middle age, it is recommended to have a health check-up every year to check whether there are any abnormalities in the body and to detect and treat them early. It is also best to check the heart.
If there is heart disease, the blood may cause turbulence, causing blood clots to form, which may lead to blood disorders such as thromboembolism.
When a blood clot forms, it is difficult for blood to reach the heart, causing circulatory collapse, symptoms of paralysis of the body (especially the hind legs), and, if progress is slow, respiratory failure.

While I feel that very few people would immediately associate breathing abnormalities with heart and blood abnormalities, this serious condition can be hidden in the background of mouth breathing, so don’t ignore and discount it.

Heat stroke:

Cats rarely sweat, so they are not good at regulating their body temperature.
If a cat suffers from heat stroke, breathing through the nose cannot regulate body temperature very well. It can only breathe through the mouth, which instinctively promotes water evaporation to release higher heat to the outside of the body.
Since every cat is at risk for heat stroke, adjust indoor temperature settings year-round to accommodate your cats.
Regarding first aid and prevention of heat stroke, you can click: It’s really too hot! ! Beware of Cat Heatstroke!

Body damage caused by:

① Rupture of the diaphragm: This will cause the cat to have difficulty breathing. It can only breathe through the mouth to allow more oxygen to enter the body and maintain the amount of oxygen required by the body.
② Cracked palate: usually caused by a fall (falling from a building, being thrown, etc.), which causes the cat to be unable to breathe normally, and the mouth cannot be closed and can only open its mouth to breathe.

How to measure a cat’s breathing rate

If you want to know the normal number of respirations of a cat, you can take it to the hospital for measurement, but it is not recommended! Because cats tend to breathe more rapidly when under stress, measurements cannot yield correct data.
Therefore, our home measurements will be more accurate and scientific:
① You need to wait for the cat to lie down or sit in a place quietly, and measure in a calm state. There should be no intense exercise before the measurement.
②Measurement method: Measure the number of times the cat’s chest and abdomen move up and down
③ If it is difficult to measure in one minute, please measure the number of times the cat breathes in 10 seconds, and then multiply by 6 to calculate the number of times in one minute.
Additionally, when cats sleep, they breathe 15 to 25 fewer times than when they wake up.
Finally, we must remember that the cat’s mouth breathing represents abnormal breathing. At this time, we should not leave it and observe the abnormality. If the situation becomes serious and there is a risk of suffocation, please take it to the pet hospital immediately.