Kitten, 8 months old, breathes very fast sometimes. Should I worry?

My 8-month-old, spayed kitten seems to breathe quickly sometimes, even at rest. Just now, at rest I counted her taking 70-80 shallow breaths per minute. But, she was purring at the same time (I had been petting her), her mouth is not open, the breathing doesn't seem labored, she's not panting and does not appear to be in any discomfort. The ONLY time I notice the rapid breathing is when she is winding down a play session or being petted... at other times, her breathing rate is around 30 bpm.

She shows no other abnormal signs. She eats and uses the litterbox regularly, has tons of energy, does not hide or go off by herself, and her gums are pink. She's a very affectionate, sociable cat and we figured that she breathes fast sometimes because she is excited... she has done this since we got her 3 months ago, so this didn't develop suddenly. But searching for this on the internet has some scary results, so: Catsters, should I be concerned?

Asked by Member 1088425 on Jan 30th 2012 Tagged purring, breathing, kitten in Health & Wellness