Ventilation while breathing air and in response to hypoxia was studied in unanesthetized cats after carotid body chemo-defferentation. Hypoxic exposure (FIO2 equal to 0.07-0.12) of chemo-deafferented animals rapidly produced a high frequency, low tidal volume tachypnea. Tachypneic breathing, although usually associated with an increased expired ventilation, was accompanied by an increase in PACO2. In contrast to intact cats, behavioral arousal during hypoxic exposure was not observed after chemo-deafferentation. The response to milder hypoxia (FIO2 equal to 0.14-0.16) occurred with an increased latency, and there resulted a less marked depression of tidal volume and stimulation of respiratory frequency. Elevation of PACO2 to 5 mm Hg above the resting value, by addition of CO2 to the inspired gas, prevented the appearance of tachypnea upon subsequent reduction of FIO2 from 0.21 to 0.07. Depletion of central catecholamine stores, by administration of reserpine, did not prevent the tachypneic response to hypoxia. Following administration of anesthesia (pentobarbital, 30 mg/kg, IP), hypoxic exposure (FIO2 equal to 0.10) led to depression of both respiratory frequency and tidal volume, resulting in apnea within 1.5 minutes. It is concluded that hypoxia (FLO2 equal to 0.07-0.16) acts, in a concentration-related manner, as a powerful stimulant to central respiratory frequency generation and as a depressant of the tidal volume in the unanesthetized cat.