My cat is agitated and breathing fast after flea treatment. Vet?

Rapid breathing can be caused by pain, stress, fever or overheating. If you struggled to catch and treat your cat, it is possible that you are seeing a stress response. If this is the case, your cat's breathing should start to slow down and return to normal once the stressor has been removed (i.e. You are no longer restraining your cat). If it doesn't improve or gets worse, your cat may be having an adverse reaction to the flea treatment. Some flea treatments that contain permethrins and pyrethroids are toxic to cats, so check the packaging to see what type of active ingredients were in the flea treatment. If pyrethrins, permethrins, or pyrethroids are the active ingredient in the flea treatment, contact your veterinarian or go to a 24-hour emergency clinic immediately.

Baymax needs to be seen by your veterinarian as soon as possible. The problem could be related to the flea treatment (possible allergic reaction to that), or completely unrelated, being respiratory or cardiac. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation (where you can post pictures ) if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Panting is usually a sign of serious respiratory distress in cats and I would not expect this as a side effect of nitenpyram or piperazine. I would recommend taking Pudge to an emergency veterinarian if you continue to see him panting. If he has fleas it's not uncommon for them to cause discomfort or increased itchiness as they start to die so I wouldn't be concerned about scratching. Nitenpyram only lasts about 24 hours so you should follow up with a longer term flea preventative.

Poor girl. Panting and drinking a lot of water can indicate that she is having a hypersensitivity reaction to the product. Although this product is considred safe for pets, it has been known to have more side effects than some other products on the market. If she is settled now then that is a good sign that she may be recovering from this. The Benadryl should help her with her mild reaction. Continue to monitor Legend for any signs of a serious problem which includes: excessive vomiting, continuous panting for more than 30 mins or so, severe lethargy (unresponsiveness, etc), lack of appetite, or pale gums. If seen then Legend needs to see your local vet (or ER vet) right away for treatment. I hope that Legend continues to improve with the Benadryl, and I would definitely recommend avoiding this medication in the future. There are safer products out there such as Nexgard, Bravecto, Simparica or Advantage. Best wishes moving forward with Legend. Take care!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While panting and open mouth breathing can be due to nervousness to some extent, this most likely signals a respiratory condition such as asthma, heart disease, among many other possibilities. I highly recommend you consider taking Fluffy to your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They will likely recommend starting with an exam and chest radiographs. Hoping for the best! Good luck and have a great day!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! While it may be unrelated, this may be due to ingesting something he was not supposed to. If this continues or more importantly he develops other concerning signs such as not eating, vomiting or having any discomfort, please have him evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Otherwise, he may be fine if he improves and does well on his own. Have a great day!

Yes I would be concerned, as this can be a sign of flea treatment toxicity. I would put her into a bath immediately, and gently wash the treatment off with water water and Dawn dish soap. Continue to monitor her for signs of toxicity, including vomiting, diarrhea, muscle tremors, hyper salivation, and depression. If you see any of those signs, take her into your vet immediately. I would make sure that the flea treatment you put on Annie was for cats and not for dogs, as it's very important to have a cat dose for cats because they are so sensitive to the flea medication. I would wait a few days before reapplying a flea treatment, and I would use a different brand than what you just used. I recommend using Advantage or Revolution.