diff --git a/src/combine.jl b/src/combine.jl
index c172c8d..6cd82a0 100644
--- a/src/combine.jl
+++ b/src/combine.jl
@@ -14,17 +14,22 @@ matchingdims(As::Tuple{Vararg{AxisArray}}) = all(equalvalued, sizes(As...))
 matchingdimsexcept(As::Tuple{Vararg{AxisArray}}, n::Int) = all(equalvalued, sizes(As...)[[1:n-1; n+1:end]])
 
 Base.cat(A1::AxisArray{T}, As::AxisArray{T}...; dims) where {T} = _cat(dims, A1, As...)
+Base.vcat(A1::AxisArray{T}, As::AxisArray{T}...) where {T} = _cat(1, A1, As...)
+Base.hcat(A1::AxisArray{T}, As::AxisArray{T}...) where {T} = _cat(2, A1, As...)
+
 _cat(::Val{n}, As...) where {n} = _cat(n, As...)
+fastcat(n::Integer, As...) = n == 1 ? vcat(As...) : n == 2 ? hcat(As...) : cat(As...; dims = n)
 
 @inline function _cat(n::Integer, As...)
     if n <= ndims(As[1])
         matchingdimsexcept(As, n) || error("All non-concatenated axes must be identically-valued")
         newaxis = Axis{axisnames(As[1])[n]}(vcat(map(A -> A.axes[n].val, As)...))
         checkaxis(newaxis)
-        return AxisArray(cat(map(A->A.data, As)..., dims=n), (As[1].axes[1:n-1]..., newaxis, As[1].axes[n+1:end]...))
+        axes = ntuple(d -> d == n ? newaxis : As[1].axes[d], ndims(As[1]))
+        return AxisArray(fastcat(n, map(A->A.data, As)...), axes)
     else
         matchingdims(As) || error("All axes must be identically-valued")
-        return AxisArray(cat(map(A->A.data, As)..., dims=n), As[1].axes)
+        return AxisArray(fastcat(n, map(A->A.data, As)...), As[1].axes)
     end #if
 end
 
diff --git a/test/combine.jl b/test/combine.jl
index c7eb019..e4c06ab 100644
--- a/test/combine.jl
+++ b/test/combine.jl
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 # cat
+using AxisArrays, Test
 A1data, A2data = [1 3; 2 4], [5 7; 6 8]
 
 A1 = AxisArray(A1data, Axis{:Row}([:First, :Second]), Axis{:Col}([:A, :B]))
 A2 = AxisArray(A2data, Axis{:Row}([:Third, :Fourth]), Axis{:Col}([:A, :B]))
 @test isa(cat(A1, A2, dims=1), AxisArray)
+@test @inferred(vcat(A1, A2)) == cat(A1, A2, dims=1)
 @test cat(A1, A2, dims=1) == AxisArray(vcat(A1data, A2data),
                                   Axis{:Row}([:First, :Second, :Third, :Fourth]), Axis{:Col}([:A, :B]))
 
 A2 = AxisArray(A2data, Axis{:Row}([:First, :Second]), Axis{:Col}([:C, :D]))
 @test isa(cat(A1, A2, dims=2), AxisArray)
+@test @inferred(hcat(A1, A2)) == cat(A1, A2, dims=2)
 @test cat(A1, A2, dims=2) == AxisArray(hcat(A1data, A2data),
                                   Axis{:Row}([:First, :Second]), Axis{:Col}([:A, :B, :C, :D]))