My Cat died..

by Antonella
(New Jersey)

Hello,

My cat recently a few days ago while I was away at college. He was 17 years old. I am so curious to know wether he died just of old age or if he was sick. I'm just going to go over some things I noticed prior to his death. His eyes would always be running, and I would have to clean them quite often, because there was a build up of mucus. A few days before his death my mother told me that he didn't make it to his litter box and peed on the floor, this is also something that has never happened. He made weird noises while he was breathing and wasn't eating or drinking his water anymore. He was acting weird like staring at walls and doing weird things. A few nights before he died he slept in my mothers room, a room he usually never slept in, because he stays on the first floor at night. I remember washing him up a week before his death and holding him and feeling his spinal cord more than i usually could so i could tell there was a definite weight loss. On the day of his death he was acting very weird. The story as my mother tells it is that she saw him in the dining room kind of standing against the wall, then he went into the laundry room where his litter is and hung his head over the litter box. She Says he looked confused like he didn't know if he wanted to go in it or not. He was then lying on the laundry room floor and my mother touhed him and he stretched and appeared to just be sleeping. A little while later my brother opened the door and the cat was behind it and he didn't jump up as he normally does when someone opens the door. My brother called my mom over and she shook the cat and got no response. She shut the laundry room door for an hour and came back to make sure the cat was still not responding and actually dead and he was. She says she held him and you could tell because he was cold and it didn't feel like the same cat. What do you think?

Answer by Kate
Hi
i am very sorry to hear of the death of your cat.

I don't really know how to answer this one, as I think your cat was ill but I think this illness was due to his age. So the answer is not clear cut.

As to what your cats illness was it is impossible to say. it may be a heart problem and or stroke as some of the symptoms can be associated with an illness of this type.

Either way I would not blame yourself, your cat was a good age and things like this will happen unexpectedly sometimes. You have to be grateful that he seems to have gone quickly without a long drawn out illness.

best wishes Kate

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