My cat breathes heavily and struggles to lose weight. What can I do?

Question

CiCi breathes heavily, and it's noticed the most when she takes a deep breath or is racing around the house and then stops. I feed my cats good quality food and keep them on a strict diet, but CC struggles to lose weight. I think her weight is causing her to breathe more heavily. My vet monitors her weight and breathing but says she's healthy. I don't know what else I can do. Are there any treatment methods or strategies to suggest I try with helping her weight loss and heavy breathing? Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 10 lbs

Dr. Strydom, DVM · Accepted Answer

I really think you should video tape her "heavy breathing" so your vet can see it. When you take her in for an exam she is likely not doing the behavior so your vet just sees her as normal. I think the vet seeing the behavior on video will help a lot with diagnosis/recommendations. X-rays of her heart and lungs would be a good idea as any problems with either of those organs can cause breathing issues. Sometimes the problem is not evident with just a physical exam. Finding out the underlying cause for her abnormal breathing is best. Heavy breathing as you have described in not normal in cats. As for helping with weight loss I would say she should be on prescription weight loss diet like Hill's r/d or w/d; you need a prescription from your vet. That being said, if she is 10 pounds as you stated above, then that is a normal weight for most cats. I personally would not be worried about a cat being overweight until the weight is over 13-14#. A cat that is 10# would not have breathing issues due to weight. Are you sure you are not just seeing the flap of skin on the belly that happens after they are spayed? Many people see that and think their cat is overweight. I think you need to discuss this more with your vet.

My cat breathes heavily and struggles to lose weight. What can I do?

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