could use a little help!

I'm not as familiar with cats as dogs but, I have some experience dealing with canine diseases. I had a dog that was an inside-only dog. He was littler-trained and we lived in a high-rise with a newborn. Anyway, he had the same sort of situation except that it went on for two days...not one. An animal, just like a human, can have cancer and not present signs for years. They can look and act normal and, unless they have bloodwork done (which is not routine), they don't get diagnosed. Cats are known to be more succeptible to certain diseases, too. There are new cases that support not giving indoor-only cats yearly rabies shots because this has been linked to certain kinds of cancers. My dog only got sick after I got married and moved into my husbands home. I did not have bloodwork done after he died because I also didn't have the money. Looking back, I think he probably died of cancer because he went from a large non-smoking home to a small smoking home. He only weighed 6lbs and I think his little body just couldn't handle inhaling the nicotine. People don't realize how bad cigarette smoke is to their pets. I apologize for jumping around so much in my response. I've studied the effects of the environment on animals and have found out a lot of startling information. With everything that is in the air we breathe...our pets can develop allergies. For example, I am highly allergic to fire ant bites. Toddlers have been known to die from them because their bodies can't tolerate the same amount of poison I receive. It's the same for a smaller pet. Their little bodies just aren't as tolerant as ours. Tick bites can paralyze a dog and chocolate can kill dogs and cats. All that being said, I hope I didn't bore you too much. It breaks my heart when I hear about people losing their pets. It's especially hard when we don't know why. As far as your other three pets are concerned, I would sanitize anything that they all came into contact with. If you do find out what happened...please, post so we know you got an answer. I have never owned a cat until I inherited mine about two years ago so, I'm still learning about them. God Bless.

Sounds like to me the cat could have gotten hold of something that was poisionous to cats.
A healthy cat just does not up and die. I would rule out cancer unless the cat was not eating as usual. It could have eaten a plant or was bitten by some spider or something like that.
Wish I could tell you why the cat died but I am no vet. I would suspect poision of some sort.

Pho

Duckbean - my most sincerest and extreme sympathies! Within the last two years, I lost 4 cats - two to age and two to cancer.

Now, as a former (for 10 years) licensed Veterinary Technician - I can only offer up possibilities. It could have been anything from cancer (many forms are easy for a cat to hide the symptoms of, it's not that you didn't notice symptoms) to a poison - to something as horrifically simple as a spider bite. I don't know what types of spiders/insects you have in Ohio, and it's not common, but a cat playing with a spider indoors can possibly have that spider manage to find the one and only soft spot inside their mouths that a spider's teeth can bite through.

Also, genetic problems can predispose a cat to stroke/heart failure just like it can w/humans. So that a seemingly healthy cat can simply drop dead. Not common, but again, possible.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions - or want to discuss feline diseases/vaccination worries for indoor animals, or anything! It's tragic, what happened to your dear Cleo. Again, my sympathies are with you.

oh, poor Duck and Cleo, you have my deepest sympathies. i have also heard that eating some bugs can be fatal to cats, like the new asian lady bug that has infested our area here lately.

but from the symtoms you have described it does sound like a toxin that brought on Cleo's premature demise. it's never easy to lose a loved one. especially an innocent pet. again, my deepest sympathy for you and your family,

KD

Sorry to hear of your loss, Duckbean. My deepest sympathies. My boxer has cardiomyopothy, which is a heart condition, and the dr. says he can go anytime. He is on human heart pills, but they say it is quite common in boxers. My only suggestion is to find some kind of cat website that has a forum and ask there. I found boxerworld.com, and they have been SOO helpful. I hope you find out so you can keep your other babies safe.

A while back I worked as a vet. assistant, and what keeps coming to mind are all the pets with bowel obstructions (one of our most common emergency operation). So many different things can cause it. Basically, it can happen when a pet eats something it shouldn't (Example. Cat's eating string, tinsel etc., the really bad one I remembered was of a dog gulping cow feed down and it was starting to ferment when it was opening up - the dog lived by the way)

Tends to be more common in dogs (because of their habit of rapidly ingesting food) than cats. But then again, most cats responses when they are sick is to seclude themselves. So when you find them it's too late or they recover and you may not have known they were even sick.

It's something that needs to be caught right away because toxins start building up behind the blockage and only have one place to go into the body. Death can certainly happen fast.

Odd how some pets can luck out and eat certain potentially dangerous things and have no problem, whereas some will have problems immediately.

So sorry to hear about your loss. It's such a shock to suddenly lose a healthy pet.

I couldn't agree more. I had to put my last dog down while I was pregnant with my daughter. Our neighbors must have thought that I had miscarried my daughter because of the way I was acting afterwards. All I could do was cry and say, "They took my baby". It horrible knowing the pain of losing a pet but, comforting to know that you love your pets so much. Too many people see a pet as a piece of property. It's wonderful to know other people who think of their pets as one of the family.

As far as the spider possibility...I am extremely allergic to spiders, fire ants, and many other poisonous bugs. I have seen what a simple tick bite can do to a dog and my current dog is allergic to almost every dog food made. I've heard that cats are more susceptible to sickness and disease than dogs but, I don't know if thats true. I wish I knew what happened to your cat just for your peace of mind.