Cat Blowing Out Nose Hard

What does it mean when my cat blows from her nose loudly? At first I thought it was just an attempt at blowing out something stuck in her nose, but that is not it.

I have two cats, and both exhibit this behavior, usually when they are concentrating on something and seem to be annoyed or vexed by something like a fly they are trying to catch or something like that.

I have also noticed this behavior when I am playing with them. They do this and then walk away.

Reply

I have two cats myself and they both display this heavy breathing through their nose. From what I can see it is like a sigh. I see no reason why a cat would not sigh as we do. I know that sometimes I sigh for no particular reason.

There is a train of thought that it may be related to the heart missing a beat. This happens to all of us and is not a sign of illness.

Some cats may snort from their nose of sniffle due to allergies. If you notice your cat displaying this behavior at particular times of the year or when chemicals have been used around the home, then it may be related to that.

You say that they blow hard when they are looking at flies or some other object of prey. So It could be the cat chatter sound, but this is usually quite distinctive.

Although the chatter sound can vary in cats as to how exactly it comes out. Sometimes it is like chattering the teeth for other cats it can be a sort of puffing sound from the nose.

I have a video on my site of one cat displaying this sound. Scroll down to the cat chatter video on this page here.

best wishes Kate

Comments

Cat puffing through nose by: Anonymous 

My cat does the same thing, I've always had cats and never seen this before....I also thought it might be a frustration 'huff' based on the fact that it usually happens when she does not get what she wants or when I move her around when she doesn't want to be moved.

Cat blowing air out of nose by: Anonymous 

Hi
my cat does it too. I thought it was a sign of exasperation or frustration, like if I move her from a nice sleeping spot or play with her toy in a way she doesn't like she would do it and walk away.

It seems to be a way for her to communicate and now I am rethinking the negative connotation. ?
Can't find any answers online, closest would be the chuffing big cats make as greeting but that's not when my cat does it. 

Its a little asthmatic sounding, not chattering.
Best of luck

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