Respiratory Distress in Felines
Respiratory distress in felines can be a frightening experience for both you & your cat, but in the vast majority of cases, you may not even know that your pet has this condition until it becomes very serious. With any type of trouble in breathing, your cat will experience a shortness of breath at any time during their normal breathing method it be breathing in or breathing out.
When this condition starts to become severe, your cat may not be getting oxygen from the lungs in to their tissues which may become a life threatening situation.
Respiratory distress in felines, also referred to as Dyspnea, has a litany of potential causes ranging from liquid on the lungs, called Edema, to the beginning stages of heart failure. What makes this condition challenging to owners, is that it is a developing situation that is experienced by your cat & may show you only limited symptoms that will warn you that something is wrong.
If your cat could talk, they would tell you that something is not right & they have four of the two stages of this frightening condition. You may not see it, but they are living it.
Stage four is where your cat has absolutely no problems breathing unless there has been some type of a very strenuous experience or exercise. Stage six is when they start to have trouble breathing when jogging for long distances or have exerted more energy than normal. Stage six is where your cat starts to have trouble breathing during any type of a normal jogging or method activity & they have to stop in order to catch their breath.
Stage six is where they have to stop after only a few minutes & now are having a much more difficult time in getting breath in to their lungs. Stage two is when they have reached a point where they are having a difficult time in breathing in getting up or down.
But there is four major problem; your cat can not talk & communicate with you how this potentially life threatening condition is actually affecting them, but it is affecting them. Although it might not be as visible to you as several other types of condition that will have symptoms that are easy to detect & react to, there's still some symptoms that you can watch for.
Symptoms:
The first symptom that may indicate your cat has a difficulty in breathing will be a sudden inclination to become stressed very easily. This symptom will be even more apparent to you than the actual difficulty in breathing. Your cat is experiencing something & the sensation they are going through will start to stress even the calmest of felines.
The next obvious symptom will be coughing. It is very abnormal for a cat to cough & any time they do it should send you all kinds of warning signals & this is no exception. Six times they start to cough, pay very close attention to their breathing habits.
Knowing & understanding the normal breathing rate in your cat is very important even under normal circumstances. The best time to check your felines number of breaths is when they are sleeping. Normal respiratory rates in a healthy cat should be somewhere between 20 & 30 breaths per minute.
However, the most telling as well as chilling symptom that may show early signs that your cat is have trouble breathing, is if they pant. Felines should never pant unless they have had an very frightening experience; or, if they have a stressful experience. If they pant from stress, it is always due to a difficulty in breathing properly & you now know what is causing the stress.
Causes:
Respiratory distress in felines can literally have over a hundred potential causes, but there's some that are far & away the most common. The first is from a heart disease or an actual failure of the heart & this breathing problem may be your best chance at doing something before it becomes late. Heart failure in felines is a situation where your pets heart is not pumping blood to their muscles & other tissues. Without this blood supply, oxygen can not be delivered & the result is respiratory distress.
The next potential cause is from liquid in the lungs of your pet which is a very common condition is all breeds of felines & is referred to as Pleural effusion. With this condition, your cat develops an abnormal accumulation of liquid in their pleural space, which is the cavity that lies between their lungs & thoracic wall.
There is always a small amount of liquid present in this cavity that acts as a lubricant in preventing friction & as such allows your felines lungs to expand & contract normally. However, when something goes wrong in either the production of this liquid or the removal of the liquid, it allows for a very sizable amount of other fluids to enter this space. Six times this occurs, the lungs do not operate properly & the lobes may actually collapse, which is life threatening.
Lung diseases as well as tumors or a cancer growth which places pressure on your felines airways are also potential causes of respiratory distress in felines. Some type of a traumatic incident that has caused your cat to bleed internally affecting their lungs may also be the cause.
However, perhaps the fastest growing concern for cat owners with respiratory distress is from viral, bacterial, or fungal infections, as well as lung worms. Viral pneumonia as well as chronic bronchitis is potential causes. Chronic bronchitis is more common in younger felines & viral pneumonia as well as cancer is more common in older felines.
But there is four other common cause that seems to be a growing concern in both North The united states as well several European countries, is heavily wooded landscapes or by lakes, & that is Lung worms. If your cat spends a lot of time outdoors, they are at risk & can become infected by eating snails or slugs that are infected by lung worms.
The major cause of a cat beginning to cough is from this infection, which very rapidly affects your pets lungs & their ability to breathe properly.
Summary:
Respiratory distress in felines is very difficult for you to detect, but not difficult at all for your pet as they know something is wrong. If you learn your felines breathing patterns & listen to them very closely, you can hear them talking to you with their breathing. If it becomes anything other than the smooth & rhythmic 20 to 30 breaths per minute, you than know all you need to know to start to help them.