When we first got Chris he would lie across my neck or on top of my head. Rose used to joke that, “You can wear him as a hat, you can wear him as a scarf…” Because we could hear his heartbeat when he did that, we noticed early on that his heartbeat was incredibly fast. It seemed as though he just finished a marathon, and since Chris was such a busy kitten, we concluded that he was exhausting himself.
Besides the fast heartbeat, Chris would also breathe very quickly, taking in many breaths of air in a short time. My concern led me to do some research where I found this to be somewhat normal for kittens.
Fast forward about a year where Chris and Tigger were napping on the bed. I noticed Chris was breathing very quickly while he was napping. I decided to count the breaths. Chris took in 88 breaths in one minute while Tigger only took in 11. That was an incredible 8 to 1 ratio.
I thought about taking him to the vet but we couldn’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on endless tests for a cat that had more energy than an atomic bomb.
I was reminded about this problem this morning when he woke me up and I could hear his heart racing. The good news is, Chris and Tigger are napping here now and I counted 23 breaths for Chris and 32 for Tigger. I hope I don’t have to worry about Tigger now.
Chris and Tigger, just took this picture as I was writing. To the left was Abbey’s bed.
Bad Cat Chris 
Hopefully they were just chasing squirrels in their sleep! 😛
Knowing Chris, it would have to be lizzards.
Oh, even better!
Reblogged this on Bad Cat Chris and commented:
Three years have passed since I wrote this and he still seems to burn the candle at both ends.
Hopefully all is ok! If in doubt though, heart issues can be found with xrays. They did with my Angel Bobo. All he had was xrays. Keeping paws crossed that all is ok!
Thanks. He seems fine and I have mixed feelings about bringing him to the vet for expensive tests when he seems perfectly healthy.
We hope that it’s just the way Chris is and nothing else. 🙂
Thanks. He is a ball of energy, even at his advanced weight.
That is a sweet photo. I am glad he is healthy.
Thank you.