Difficulty breathing when purring

[surfnirvana]

Hi there - can anyone give any advice or say if they have experienced this with their cats?

Harry my lovely Ginger moggie, is 20 years old and has over the last few year started to really slow down ie sleeps most of the day etc.  However since a couple of months ago, he has had difficulty breathing whenever he starts to purr.  He's fine the rest of the time, but as soon as he jumps up on my lap and starts to purr, his breathing gets very laboured and raspy and he has to jump down and find a quiet place where it takes 5-10 minutes for him to get back to normal breathing.  

I've obviously taken him to my vet, who is a little bit stumped.  Harry has hyperthyroidism, and is in the first stages of renal failiure.  He has had a course of antibiotics, on diuretics and on thyroid tablets.  He has had an x-ray and that was all normal.  His blood tests came back all within the normal range for his age.

It has become a real shame as we can no longer pick him up, stroke him for long, or sit on us as he has such difficulty breathing.  He is still eating quite well and doing all his toilet habits OK.

Would really appreciate your thoughts / comments.

Many thanks

 

[vball91]

Hi and welcome to TCS. By strange coincidence, there is a member who has a very similar thing going on with one of her cats recently. The thread is below. It goes through a lot of different thoughts on it and the testing done as well. I hope it helps you some.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253783/opinions-please-is-flowerbelle-having-a-mild-asthma-attack

 

[ldg]

vball, thanks for sharing the link to the thread about Flowerbelle!

Surfnirvana, please take a look at the video in the thread and let us know if it anything similar?

I understand why the vet is stumped, even if the symptoms are different. If your kitty had asthma, the episodes would be triggered ONLY by purring - which just doesn't make sense. :dk:

Have you been able to take a video and get that to your vet?

 

[nycklis]

Any update? My cat had the same thing.

 

[Shehcat]

I have a colony of semi socialized feral cats, one I have is now very loving, comes in the house, sleeps for hours, but is still feral. She is doing the exact same thing, the only time she struggles with her wheezy breathing us when she purrs. She eats fine, grooms herself and others in the colony. I guess her to be around 12, but she could very well be older. I am hesitant to bring her to the vet as she is feral & I am not sure how she will react & don't want to stress her too much, curious if the original poster found out the possible cause?