r/AskVet • u/FBI-WeebSurveillance • 12h ago

Cat is breathing fast and shallow

This morning, I found my 9 y/o cat Lola hunched over and breathing quick, shallow breaths, initially through her nose. I called our local vet who told me to monitor her and take her to the nearest emergency vet (4 hours away) if she started breathing with her mouth open and panting, the breathing got worse, or if she hadn’t eaten by tomorrow morning. Her mouth is now open a bit and she is still breathing the same way. I’m very scared and I want to help her. I’m also worried she’ll have difficulty breathing in my car and get very stressed for a car ride that long. What should I do?

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u/always_onward Veterinarian 11h ago

I think you should put her in the car and bring her to the ER now. Abnormal breathing in cats is an emergency situation. Do you have any gabapentin at home you could give her to help with the stress?

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u/FBI-WeebSurveillance 6h ago

Thank you for the advice. I was able to get her an appointment today. The vet I saw is thinking she has some kind of heart disease, so definitely not the best news. I also unfortunately didn’t have any gabapentin, so my poor girl has had a very rough day. Ideally, she’ll be getting an ekg and echocardiogram done on Monday. In the meantime, the vet gave me some diuretics for her.

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u/PokemonJohto 6h ago

You need to take her

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u/FBI-WeebSurveillance 6h ago

Thank you for the advice. I was able to get her in today, it’s looking like some sort of heart disease. She still will need some more tests to confirm what kind and how to proceed.