A common cause of cats having shortness of breath or respiratory diseases is allergies. Cats suffer from shortness of breath or pleural effusion and lung disease, and the mortality rate is close to 100% due to feline infectious peritonitis. The cat has shortness of breath or cardiovascular abnormalities.

The cat has shortness of breath or respiratory disease

One of the causes of shortness of breath in cats is problems with the respiratory system. Allergy is a common cause, and in severe cases it can even cause asthma attacks. In addition, viral infection and pulmonary parasitic infection are also possibilities, such as feline herpes virus infection (also known as feline nasal branch), calicivirus infection, and pulmonary spiral worm.

In addition, there are upper respiratory tract infections, feline bronchial asthma, bronchopneumonia and other respiratory diseases that may cause shortness of breath in cats. If you want to confirm and rule out, you must go to the hospital for professional examination.

The cat has shortness of breath or pleural effusion and lung disease

When there is fluid in a cat's chest and abdomen, the fluid will compress the chest and make it difficult for the cat to breathe. If the abdomen is still distended and there is a fluctuating feeling when patting the abdomen (that is, ascites), then it is probably feline infectious peritonitis, which is very dangerous and has a mortality rate of nearly 100%.

There is another high-risk disease that can also cause cats to show shortness of breath, and that is pneumonia and pulmonary edema. Pulmonary edema will cause the cat to die immediately, with light blood-colored foam appearing in the trachea, throat or nasal cavity.

So when a cat has shortness of breath, you need to hurry up and go to the hospital for examination and treatment. After all, once these high-risk diseases occur, they may be irreversible and you can only race against time.

The cat has shortness of breath or cardiovascular abnormalities

The last cause of shortness of breath in cats is heart disease, the most common of which is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. When it comes to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, many people must be familiar with it. Internet celebrity cat Lou Lou passed away precisely because of this disease.

The reason why hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is worrying is that many sick cats do not show obvious symptoms, and the attacks are often acute and cannot be cured.

In addition to shortness of breath, which is relatively easy to detect, reduced exercise, purple and white tongue, and cough are also typical complications.

Although hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is affected by cat obesity, it is not the most direct cause. In fact, it is a genetic disease, and the incidence rate of male cats is higher than that of female cats, and it is not restricted by age. , as young as 4 months oldCats up to 16 years old can become affected.