Lily: mouthbreathing after playing

[Kirsten]

Has anyone else notices this in kittens?

Several times now I saw Lily mouthbreathing with her tongue hanging out while she's playing. Also, her paws are very warm. I never noticed something like this is my other cats, so I was wondering if it could be any sign of disease... But I have to add it's very hot here at the moment.

Anyway, I introduced her to my vet yesterday and she said she looks fine, but I've forgot to ask about this.

I thought maybe she's playing a bit wilder than it's good for her during this heat wave... :?

Kirsten

[jenluckenbach]

Jasper did that as a kitten. Sterling did that as a kitten. And Chevy does that. Most of my cats were adults when adopted, but these were young so what I think is happening is that Lily gets a bit overexcited and probably over does the "exercise". As with anything else, keep watch on her, but all mine outgrew this and have always been healthy.

[RedHedd]

Mishi does it too when he get a bit rambunctious - which is almost all the time. He's a big strapping healthy cat; just overdoes it -- I guess cats CAN have too much fun.

[Kirsten]

Thanks, I think you are right! Of course I'll have an eye on that, but it's really really hot here these weeks so I think it's not the best idea to play so wildly - but well, she's a kitten and is full of energy...

Kirsten

[kimlovescats]

I agree... several of mine did that as kittens too.... they just don't know when to quit, before they get overworked!!!

[Barbara]

She's just panting (sie hechelt ein bisschen) because she is playing so wild. On the other hand kittens can fall asleep from one second to the other.

Filou and Tigris did that a lot when they were younger. Now they stop playing before they get really exhausted.

Today they say it should get cooler -we hope so.

[catlover4ever]

Tigger still mouthpants when she has been running around like a wild child. Mouthpanting is their way of keeping cool. Cats only loose heat from their bodies out of their paw pads, so mouthpanting is their only other way to really "cool" down. We have been having a humidity wave over here in the New England states, and I let Tigger and Smokey out to play last weekend, poor Smokey can running back with his mouth open and wanted back in the house.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by kimlovescats
I agree... several of mine did that as kittens too.... they just don't know when to quit, before they get overworked!!!

Just like kids! I'm sure that's what it is Kirsten. I've been hearing about the heat wave you've been having, and that has to be why she's doing this.

I know most of you don't have A/C and I just don't know how you can deal with such a long heat wave without it. Just one night in a Zurich hotel with no A/C and windows that looked out over a busy street so we couldn't open them because of the noise was enough for me. I slept almost the entire way back home on the plane after that because I got no sleep what-so-ever that night in the hotel....ugh!

Hopefully it will cool down soon for all of you.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Edwina huffs and puffs when we play hard and she isn't even a kitten!

[cubby31682]

Cubby use to do that as a kitten but after he played for an hour he would sleep the rest of the day. When I took him into the vet they told me he had heart problems and that they were slowly going away. And now he will still play to the point where he has to lay down for a few minutes or I will mist him with water if he is getting to hot or panting to much for my liking. Another thing I do to him (well for him) I will fill a frozen mug up with water and let it set for a few minutes and take it over to him and set it down right in front of him and let him lick the sweat from the mug off and that cools him down alot. His heart problems have healed now. So all the playing he has missed while he was a kitten is coming out now. But as long as he is happy and healty I don't mind. Just keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get to bad.

[Uabassoon]

I know most of you don't have A/C and I just don't know how you can deal with such a long heat wave without it.

This makes so much more sense to me now. I've been wondering why so many people are having a hard time with the heat wave. I mean Arizona is really hot when it's under 100 degrees people think it's nice outside. But now that I know that most of the people in the heat wave don't have A/C I understand why people haven't problems dealing with it. We have A/C here or at least an evaporative cooler.

[Kirsten]

This is a good point! Personally, I suffered a lot from the heat and humidity, and the air was hard to breathe in our houses, without a/c. I suppose the cats feel the same way and I guess they suffered as much as the humans did.

I also noticed the kitties drank huge amounts of water during the hottest days here (with temperatures around 100°F here).

Luckily it has cooled off now today and the air is so much fresher.

Kirsten

[Former User]

Kirsten, it has been the same here, 2 kittens running around and playing with each other. Then they stop and pant like dogs, and go and drink water. We asked this from our vet last time we went there and he said it's fine, it's the weather doing the tricks, it's so warm (well, it was, has cooled down here too, thank godness!), we just need to make sure they have fresh water available all the time.

Isn't it great to watch a energetic kitten playing?

[ScantyNebula]

Toby did this a lot, and I thought something may be wrong, but once it started cooling down, he hasn't done it since. Lily does it when she runs around for a long time.

[Kirsten]

Ahhh, so this seems to be very common in playing kitties, thanks everyone! I probably never noticed that before because Luna is so lazy (and so was my Katz).

BTW, I haven't seen Lily doing that again since it has finally (YAY!!!!!!!!) cooled off!

Kirsten