Last week one of our cats died. She was 12-13 years old. Seemed very lively until a day before she died, when she wouldnt eat anything, and was sick a bit. When we found her dead in my room, there was watery blood stuff on a plastic bag. I had thought her kidneys had perhaps failed, but now we’re wondering if it was maybe poison. Like rat poison or something?
Also, her face and neck was wet on one side. We originally thought it must have been her trying to take a drink of water.
Your best bet is to take the corpse to a vet.
It could have been a number of things. One of my girlfriend’s cats had a massive stroke a few weeks ago, he couldn’t move very much and was obviously in pain. They ran a bunch of tests before deciding that it was a stroke and the best thing for the poor guy would be to put him down.
I know they rand blood tests and took x-rays, mostly becasue they wanted to make sure that it wasn’t something correctable (like poison, or an ear infection). It sounded like there were a lot of different things that could’ve gone wrong and had the same or similar symptoms, and they could only tell from doing the tests.
Of course, this is my recollection of the whole event, which is probably totally flawed, as it was rather stressful situation.
Don’t know, it could be anything. My mother’s friend’s dog died of cancer but they didn’t know she had cancer. Right up to the hour of her death she seemed fine, then suddenly she seemed sick, they dashed her off to the vets and the vet diagnosed cancer and said she was bleeding internally. She had to be put to sleep on the spot, though she would have gone on her own in a short time.
I’m sorry for your loss. An autopsy is probably the only way to get a definitive answer, but would it be worth it?
It might be worth it if you thought there might be a toxin danger to other cats in the household.
Or you suspected someone of killing your cat. In which case, your next call is to the Riders of the Dawn.
Anthracite said it best and also brought up a good point. If you suspect he died from poisoning you’ll want to seriously enquire and make sure that whatever killed the cat might not be harmful to you and your family as well. But you should call all the area vets and see if you can find best pricing for an autopsy. It might sound a little morbid but it might end up saving your life one day.
A kitty autopsy costs $25.00 at the Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville, TN. It costs an additional $10.00 for a complete tox screen. It would cost much, much more if you had a private vet do it. So, if you have a state agriculture research/university investigative facility anywhere near you, that is probably the way to go. Your vet might know local details, if you call and ask.
Was there a Geiger counter in the room? Hooked to a hammer poised over a tube of hydrocyanic acid?
Have you considered that the cat may have been [url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_122.html]both alive and dead[/ur] until you opened the door?
No, probably not very helpful. Sorry about your cat.
Oh dear. Is this thing on? Test, test, one two.
No my name isnt Schrodinger.:o