hoping for any sort of an answer about why my cat died

by april

Our cat died yesterday. I just want to know if anyone has heard of anything like what he had. I don't know what it was. The emergency vets around here are greedy. Pay upfront (the cheapest basic fees were 150 dollars flat, not counting other treatments given). Otherwise we don't care enough to treat your animal. So sorry.

Anyway, sorry for the small rant. I guess it started when I noticed that his nose was severly dry and rough. Almost like it was scabbed over, but I couldn't see any. Then he started sleeping in the bathtub or the bathroom sink. A lot. Yet he'd come out and sleep wedged between me and the arm of my chair as usual. He was eating and drinking normally.

Then it changed. He started sleeping in a two handled pot in the kitchen. How our 10 lb cat curled up into the pot I'll never know. Once he started sleeping there, he only got up to use the litterbox, to eat, or to get water.

He slept next to me on my chair once or twice after that. He still seemed to be eating and drinking. Then I finally got the rest of the pots in the kitchen cleaned. I had to move him and wash the one he was sleeping in. He started sleeping on the kitchen floor.

I don't know exactly when things went pear shaped, but one day he was on my lap, and he started getting sick. This cat always went somewhere else to get sick. Never on the bed, or furniture. He'd get down on the floor. Not this time. I had to set him down. When he did vomit, it was milk white, with unidentifed chunks. No furballs. He had very few furballs. He only got sick that one time.

It was after that that he stopped eating as much, but he was still drinking. THen he just seemed to sleep mostly in one spot. He stopped eating. Stopped drinking. Seemed to sleep all the time. The next to last time I saw him stand up, was a day or two before he died. I was petting him, and he didn't want me to stop. He was so unsteady. The last time I saw him walk was before he died. He lurched down the hallway to find a quiet place, and barely had the energy to collapse in my roommates mom's room. Later I moved him back to the kitchen on a towel (it was warmer there). Then he was gone. The last part of his sickness, when he went downhill, it was fast. In maybe 3-4 days. Before that he seemed mostly normal, other than his weird sleeping place (the pot).

I will tell you that we've had a hell of a flea problem this year, and we've been fighting a loosing battle. Our dog is allergic to fleas, and his hairless, mostly. Our cat however, his coat was glossy, soft, shiny, thick. We didn't realize how bad he had them, until he was very ill. He was not allergic to them. They just merely annoyed him. His coat didn't start looking bad until the day before he died. Mostly I think, because he'd stopped grooming by then.

I should also mention that during all of this my roommate's mom fell and broke her hip. Two to three days after her surgery, My mom fell and broke her hip. So between hospitals, and therapy treament centers (aka the nursing home), we've been run ragged. Stressed beyond reason. The brakes on our car went out. My roommate's brother has a car, but works from very early in the morning until late in the evening, if not until early the next morning. So no transportation, and emergency vets around here don't seem to care. I (We) loved our cat very much. We would have done anything for him. The timing was horrific. If anything could go wrong, it did go wrong.

I looked up symptoms of feline lukemia, and parvo, but the symptoms didn't match. He only got sick once, he didn't have the runs, he didn't have half the symptoms. Not even a fever. (My sister made me panic. Said we can never bring another cat in the house again, because they'd die too. She dislikes cats, specially house cats.) Have you heard of anything like this, or have any sort of idea of what could have went wrong? I'm sorry this is so long, but right now I feel so lost. Will it really be dangerous to bring another cat in, in a few months? A year or more? (Who knows when we'll find one, once the hurting stops.)

Thank you for your time, and any help you can offer. Again I'm sorry this is so long.

Reply
Hi
Oh April what a terrible time you've had and I'm so sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately the symptoms you discuss could have been caused by many things. Cats can get cancer too and i lost one of my cats that way too. She too started to sleep all the time in odd places and eventually stopped eating much and got thin and passed away. but there are also many nasty little viruses out there that can make a cat go down hill fast. The Calici virus for instance is a nasty little one that is constantly changing and so is difficult to fight. but without blood work and swabs etc it is impossible to say what could have caused your cat to pass away.

Fleas can carry nasty things which can cause infections too so if your flea infestation was so bad it may have been this that caused your cat to catch something he could not fight off.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-fleas.html

I think your sister is being rather horrible if you don't mind me saying. you've just lost your cat and she is saying things like that to you.

Anyway, you need time to grieve for your at and also to make sure your home is flea free before you consider getting another cat. this can take some time as fleas can be rather hard to get rid of in your home. Please see this page for more on this

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/flea-treatment.html

I know at this moment you are looking for answers and thats completely understandable. But sometimes there is simply no way of finding a definite one. As time passes you will go through all sorts of emotions and thats all part of the healing process.

you did everything you could for your cat under the circumstances, so don't blame yourself.

Give yourself some time, gather yourself together and then perhaps in 6 months time or so you will be ready again to give another cat a home.

best wishes kate

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