My cat is panting and acting strange after flea treatment. Why?

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Fast respiration, panting, agitation are well known side effects of some flea products. This happens particularly often when a cat mange to lick and ingest some of the product. These symptoms are usually mild and go away after 1-2hrs. If your Fennekin was acting like that, I suspect it was reaction to the flea treatment. If she is calm now, you need to monitor her at home for the next few hours. However, if she continues to breath fast or breath with open mouth, please take her to your nearest vets without delay.

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.

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.

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!

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!

This presentation may be due to a respiratory or cardiac problem. Sudden onset is usually compatible either with feline asthma or a cardiac issue. A clinical examination at your local veterinarian is immediately essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

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!