Trouble breathing?

[ratbrat21]

We have had Tasha on a diet for a few weeks now. And nothing is helping it seems. When she lays down you hear her weezing. I know thats not a good sign. And I honestly dunno what to do. I mean can a vet help? I really dunno what a vet would be able to do if her breathing problem is her weight. I just don't want to wake up someday and find her dead cuz she stopped breathing. She only gets 1/8 of a cup in the morning and 1/8 a cup at night. We let ninja, felix and vickie wrestle with her to help her lose the weight but I worry about her. Jeremy was thinking about taking her to the vet and I guess I just wanna know from cat knowledgable people if its worth it or not?

[Punkygirl0101]

I have an obese cat, Barry..and he never weazes..It could be she has another problem that is not related to her weight at all. I would take her to the vet.

[jackie158]

Ratbrat,
I dont feel that is normal for a cat to do that. When I volunteered at the rescue, there were obese cats and they did not wheeze. Tasha may have a URI or Kennel Cough. I would call the vet and if the vet cannot see you immediately, I would go and see another vet. Normally if you wait on things like this, it gets worse. Good luck. I know its tough seeing our "children" sick. But the sooner they are treated the easier and faster they get better.

[ratbrat21]

Thank you guys :) I will make an appointment for her immediatly. And I should get in right away as we are going to a different vet now. I kinda thought something else was wrong. I had a 20lb cat before (bubba) and he never would weeze.

[onebunnywuv]

Smokey wheezed like that all his life and he was a scrawny little thing. He was put down last September because the poor thing just couldn't breate properly.

Peaches is a fat tubby cat. He never wheezes. He does breathe heavily during the summer when it's really hot though.

A vet visit is probably a good idea. Maybe they'll be able to tell you if it's a physical problem like Smokey's was. :)

[Nell]

The wheezing could be due to allergies or athsma. If that's the case, there are medications that can help, so seeing a vet is a good idea. Its possible it may be so other sort of infection and you'd want to see a vet about that too.

What brand and formula of food are you currently feeding? Does she get any wet food in her diet?
You want to see some results as far as weight loss, but not too much too quickly as overweight cats that lose weight too quickly can develop fatty liver disease. You want her losing about 1/2 to no more than 1 lb per month.

[ratbrat21]

I'd rather not go into what we feed our cats. I'm not in the mood to get yelled at. But at this moment in time we cant switch to a different food. Maybe when we get more money. Anyways....

Yes all the cats get moist canned food once a week or once every few weeks. I try to mostly feed them the dry stuff, i heard its better for them. We did cut back on how much we feed her. Its been awhile since we started cutting back and I can see a little difference. Shes getting more active. Ninja bothers the crap outta her lol. He loves to wrestle with her. And will annoy her cuz he loves to be chased lol.

[Rat101010101010]

I agree, a visit to the vet can't hurt, and if you do wait..
It might get worst.

[Jennicat]

It's not a matter of yelling at you, it's a matter of the food possibly causing allergy problems to your cat.