We had an 11 year old mixed breed, long hair white and brownish/orange cat. Yesterday, my daughter said she was “panting funny.” When I looked at her she seemed fine, playing with some fake mice, purring, and breathing normally. This morning my daughter said she was “panting.” I tried to find her, couldn’t, and eventually forgot about it. This evening she (cat not daughter) was dead. What was the most likely cause of her death? I have magor guilt feelings because someone reported symptoms, I did not react, and I now have a dead cat, but the rational part of my brain says that if I took a healthy looking animal to the vet the outcome would not have changed.
By the way this was a strictly indoor cat. It did play with mice that got into the house but any other kind of animal reaction is a non starter. As is any toxin exposure, nothing new or toxic is in the house that hasn’t been there for the cat’s entire 11 years.
You have my condolences. You could ask the vet to perform a necropsy.
It’s quite possible that the cat just had an underlying condition that you didn’t know about. A vet would know.
my guess would be diabetes. This is similar to symptoms of hyperglycemia seen in dogs, I know
Sorry about your loss. I have lost lots of cats and I know how you feel.
One of mine died early on due to a heart problem, which led to pulmonary stress, which included hoarse, aggressive panting.
If it’s sudden onset of pulmonary stress, it can be due to heart problems, or to other causes.
Cats do have a tendency to conceal their problems until it is difficult to treat.
Kind of sounds like congestive heart failure. I’m sorry for your loss. 
So sorry. You could have a necropsy done if you want to really know. My guess is that she had some kind of heart problem, esp. if she was showing no previous signs of being sick.
My dear Maine Coon Sammy died suddenly. He never showed any signs of sickness and had a recent (within a year) clean bill of health from the vet. But one morning I woke up and saw him in the corner “asleep”. Maybe an hour later we noticed a really bad smell and thought Sammy was farting. I have never cried so hard in ALL of my life as I did when I realized he had been dead and we were just sitting around.
He was fine as late as 2am and was dead at 9am when we all got up.
My other kitty was acting strange that morning though so I should have known something was wrong.
I still wonder what killed Sammy but I dont think a dead cat should start to smell from decomp that quickly? I could cry just typing this and it has been 6 years. I just felt like I failed him.
That was my first thought, too. And, I’m also sorry for your loss.
It’s not your fault. Sometimes animals die suddenly. Sometimes people die suddenly, too. I’m sorry about your cat.
My cat Lenny died last month. He was put down whe he was diagnosed with an acute pleural effusion (fluid in the chest cavity). He seemed fine on the weekend, but Monday morning was laboring to breathe.
The vet said that in many cases when it comes to catatrophic illness that affect their breathing, the cat acts normal until it really is way too difficult to breathe. So you don’t notice it until it’s critical. In Lenny’s case, they think he had some nasty cancer.
My girlfriend’s cat, Shammu, died a few months ago, coincidentally also from a pleural effusion although his was caused by a known heart condition. Same deal: he was running around chasing toys one day, then panting the next. We didn’t notice anything amiss until he was really struggling to breathe, but his heart condition had been deteriorating all along.
Given our experience with Shammu, we noticed Lenny’s symptoms much earlier, but his illness was hopeless.
As cerberus said, said onset of pulmonary distress can be due to heart problems, or other serious causes like cancer. The build up can be so very, very gradual that you just don’t see it until too late. If you’d taken him to the vet, you probably would have been able to find out what the problem was before it was so critical, but it’s quite possible that he was extremely sick and the outcome would have been the same, like Lenny.
ETA: Please don’t feel guilty. Sudden onset of pulmonary distress like that often has a very serious cause and there wouldn’t have been much you could do to make him better.
I know it really sucks but please don’t blame yourself. Your kitty was 11 years old. That’s 63 in human years. Alot can happen. My Mom’s 14 year old cat died last week in his sleep. He was playing the day before and had a great appetite. He ate breakfast that morning, took a nap, and never woke up. The vet said that it was most likely an embolism. Very common in older cats apparently especially if they’re arthritic, which Paisley was. He had a clean bill of health from the vet three weeks prior so there was no seeing this coming.
I do have to say, he is the first out of all of our family pets to die a peaceful death. I take comfort in that.
I had a big white cat, a little porky but seemingly great health. I came home after work and he was dead, curled up on his blanket on his chair. He had been fine when I left that morning and the only odd thing about his dead body was that all of his front claws were dug into his blanket. I figured it was a stroke or brain aneurysm or similar.
I now recall an episode several months ago where she began hoarse, frantic panting. It only lasted about 20 seconds, but when she was doing it, it sounded serious. Then it stopped, and she seemed fine. If I had realized that cats don’t pant, or that they are not wimps like humans, and only act funny when seriously ill, I would have taken her to the vet then. On the other hand, we did take her to the vet yearly, and I wonder just how much he could have told about her condition if she was acting healthy at the time anyway.
my winken had heart troubles. the morning she died she panted for less than a minute about 5 minutes before she passed. from the time i found her in the basement to her passing was 45 minutes.
she was her normal self 6 hours before passing. wanting to nab a share of my cheese and crackers and enjoyed time with her “winken” tinsel ball. we sang “winken” songs. didn’t have a clue that it would be the last time.
sometimes cats have asthma and have a weird honking cough/pant every now and again. it is their version of an asthma attack. winken had asthma as well as heart and kidney troubles.
Nope. Unless the OP left out some key information, nothing there fits with diabetes or hyperglycemia.
dauerbach, like others have said, don’t beat yourself up too harshly. Kitties like to hide their symptoms. And there is no promise that whatever she had was either easily diagnosable or readily treatable.
If you really want to know, have the vet do a necropsy (animal version of autopsy). If it’s been a couple of days, and kitty hasn’t been in the fridge, then it might be hard to tell. And the process will probably cost monies.
I have significantly reduced the guilt trip thing. I don’t think it matters enough to have a necropsy performed. The cat was well cared for, well loved, and now the reason is fairly irrelivent. Of course I am curious, but it does not really matter. From what people have said, it sounds like a heart thing.
{{Dauerbach}}
Glad you are feeling better.
Another vote for some kind of heart problem, including all the heart-associated cancers, congenital problems, valvular failure, etc.