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Why did my cat die?
ilovektt
Posts: 5 Forumite
This was in Dec 2011, 2 weeks before Xmas but I heard something on the news and it got me thinking about my own cat.
Basically, one day in Dec 2011 I realised I hadn't seen my cat all day. He was only 5, and a bit of a wanderer, loved to be outdoors but would always come in several times a day for food/cuddle etc. I thought about calling him in but then got distracted with my toddler. A few hours later, hubby comes home from work and says the cat is in the front garden's flowerbed miaowing weirdly and won't let him pick him up.
I told hubby to bring him in (the cat hated him so I assumed he didn't want him picking him up due to that) and when he did, the cat's back legs/pelvis was splayed and he couldn't walk properly, just dragging his hind legs and really struggling to move whilst miaowing weirdly.
I burst into tears assuming he'd been run over (he was acting similarly to a cat I had as a child that got run over) so I called the vets in tears and they said to rush him in. It's a 15 min drive and we went there immediately.
The vet asked if he could have eaten something outside and I said possibly, as he likes to be outdoors a lot. The vet said he was quite alert but behaving oddly and that they'd keep him in overnight. They said they would x-ray him as he didn't appear to be able to feel his tail and his back paws were scuffed (signs of road accident) and bleeding a tiny bit.
They called the next day to say they think it is a soft tissue injury as there was nothing broken, that they'd given him painkillers and thought he was in shock. They said we could take him home so long as we kept him indoors in a dog cage or similar, so that he wasn't able to move about too much, get outside or hurt himself.
We bought a cage, took him home and was told to give him painkillers and laxative. He was very drowsy and basically just either laid down all the time or slept. It was difficult to get his meds into him, we weren't able to give the laxative at all. He refused to eat anything even tuna (his fave). After a day of not eating I called the vet, who told us to bring him in. She said she wanted him to try going home because of the cost to us (we weren't insured) but because he hadn't been eating she wanted him to stay in. I told her several times money wasn't a problem but I think she was concerned as it was in the hundreds already.
She admitted him overnight again as she thought he may be constipated but wanted to observe him. I called to check on him and they said he was doing ok but seemed very thirsty, and the vet didn't think he was constipated.
The next morning the vet called to say something else must be wrong with him as his behaviour was unusual even for a cat that had been hit by a car. She wanted to run blood tests. I told her to do what she wanted, money wasn't a problem, but I didn't want him to suffer. She ran blood tests and called me back to say he had acute kidney failure, probably due to something he'd eaten, and that he needed to be put down. I was crying so she told me to call her back when I felt better but that it needed to be done soon as he would be suffering.
A few hours later (hubby left work early bless him) we went to say goodbye. The cat was purring but still drowsy, he seemed happy but the vet showed me his blood results. She said his kidneys had failed altogether, and that if they had had some output they could have tried water therapy to flush the poison out, but he was too far gone. She said there was nothing they could do, he had to be put to sleep, it was kindest for him.
He was put to sleep whilst I was stroking him, but I stopped stroking him as he died as I didn't realise when it happened, so I felt awful that as he died he died without me fussing him, although the vet assured me he was asleep and wouldn't know either way.
I assume he ate/drank antifreeze or similar whilst he was outside, he was always a bit dumb and wandered quite far. The poison made him seem drunk and made him easier for a car to hit as he would have been extremely slow and dozy. I have no idea where he was when he was hit by a car, but the vet thinks it must have been close to home (though you do hear of cats wandering miles to get home to die, and he did wander a lot, but in the state he was in I don't think he could have dragged himself far). I have no idea if someone put him in my garden or if he dragged himself there. Either is possible, as we live on a cul-de-sac and everyone knows he is my cat.
I am just angry though - shouldn't the vet have done blood tests immediately? Could he have been saved if she had? She said the only difference it would have made would be that she would have put him to sleep earlier. Is that the case though? We have no idea when he ingested the poison but as soon as we found him we got him to the vets. Is it my fault because I told the vet I thought he'd been hit by a car, so they checked for that instead of poison? They did ask if he could have eaten anything and I did say it was possible...
I am still upset over it, he was only 5 and I'd had him since a kitten. My daughter was 2 and even now (she's almost 4) still says "where's max" or "tell max to come down from the sky" etc. I told her he had gone to be famous (he looked like the felix cat from the adverts) and this worked for a while as she points out felix food and says its max, but now she just says "mummy tell him to come back now"
I just don't really know why he died. I know he was poisoned, but could anything have been done? Could the vet have saved him if she did the blood tests as soon as I brought him in?
It's very sad.
Luckily my other cat, who is 7, is a homebody and never goes out. Otherwise I'd worry about her too.
Basically, one day in Dec 2011 I realised I hadn't seen my cat all day. He was only 5, and a bit of a wanderer, loved to be outdoors but would always come in several times a day for food/cuddle etc. I thought about calling him in but then got distracted with my toddler. A few hours later, hubby comes home from work and says the cat is in the front garden's flowerbed miaowing weirdly and won't let him pick him up.
I told hubby to bring him in (the cat hated him so I assumed he didn't want him picking him up due to that) and when he did, the cat's back legs/pelvis was splayed and he couldn't walk properly, just dragging his hind legs and really struggling to move whilst miaowing weirdly.
I burst into tears assuming he'd been run over (he was acting similarly to a cat I had as a child that got run over) so I called the vets in tears and they said to rush him in. It's a 15 min drive and we went there immediately.
The vet asked if he could have eaten something outside and I said possibly, as he likes to be outdoors a lot. The vet said he was quite alert but behaving oddly and that they'd keep him in overnight. They said they would x-ray him as he didn't appear to be able to feel his tail and his back paws were scuffed (signs of road accident) and bleeding a tiny bit.
They called the next day to say they think it is a soft tissue injury as there was nothing broken, that they'd given him painkillers and thought he was in shock. They said we could take him home so long as we kept him indoors in a dog cage or similar, so that he wasn't able to move about too much, get outside or hurt himself.
We bought a cage, took him home and was told to give him painkillers and laxative. He was very drowsy and basically just either laid down all the time or slept. It was difficult to get his meds into him, we weren't able to give the laxative at all. He refused to eat anything even tuna (his fave). After a day of not eating I called the vet, who told us to bring him in. She said she wanted him to try going home because of the cost to us (we weren't insured) but because he hadn't been eating she wanted him to stay in. I told her several times money wasn't a problem but I think she was concerned as it was in the hundreds already.
She admitted him overnight again as she thought he may be constipated but wanted to observe him. I called to check on him and they said he was doing ok but seemed very thirsty, and the vet didn't think he was constipated.
The next morning the vet called to say something else must be wrong with him as his behaviour was unusual even for a cat that had been hit by a car. She wanted to run blood tests. I told her to do what she wanted, money wasn't a problem, but I didn't want him to suffer. She ran blood tests and called me back to say he had acute kidney failure, probably due to something he'd eaten, and that he needed to be put down. I was crying so she told me to call her back when I felt better but that it needed to be done soon as he would be suffering.
A few hours later (hubby left work early bless him) we went to say goodbye. The cat was purring but still drowsy, he seemed happy but the vet showed me his blood results. She said his kidneys had failed altogether, and that if they had had some output they could have tried water therapy to flush the poison out, but he was too far gone. She said there was nothing they could do, he had to be put to sleep, it was kindest for him.
He was put to sleep whilst I was stroking him, but I stopped stroking him as he died as I didn't realise when it happened, so I felt awful that as he died he died without me fussing him, although the vet assured me he was asleep and wouldn't know either way.
I assume he ate/drank antifreeze or similar whilst he was outside, he was always a bit dumb and wandered quite far. The poison made him seem drunk and made him easier for a car to hit as he would have been extremely slow and dozy. I have no idea where he was when he was hit by a car, but the vet thinks it must have been close to home (though you do hear of cats wandering miles to get home to die, and he did wander a lot, but in the state he was in I don't think he could have dragged himself far). I have no idea if someone put him in my garden or if he dragged himself there. Either is possible, as we live on a cul-de-sac and everyone knows he is my cat.
I am just angry though - shouldn't the vet have done blood tests immediately? Could he have been saved if she had? She said the only difference it would have made would be that she would have put him to sleep earlier. Is that the case though? We have no idea when he ingested the poison but as soon as we found him we got him to the vets. Is it my fault because I told the vet I thought he'd been hit by a car, so they checked for that instead of poison? They did ask if he could have eaten anything and I did say it was possible...
I am still upset over it, he was only 5 and I'd had him since a kitten. My daughter was 2 and even now (she's almost 4) still says "where's max" or "tell max to come down from the sky" etc. I told her he had gone to be famous (he looked like the felix cat from the adverts) and this worked for a while as she points out felix food and says its max, but now she just says "mummy tell him to come back now"
I just don't really know why he died. I know he was poisoned, but could anything have been done? Could the vet have saved him if she did the blood tests as soon as I brought him in?
It's very sad.
Luckily my other cat, who is 7, is a homebody and never goes out. Otherwise I'd worry about her too.
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Comments
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A couple of years ago our kittten ate lilies. I noticed the staemen missing but thought nothing of it until he started throwing up. I had no idea they were poisonous but we had put them in the dinning room (which was usually a cat free place) as he had been attacking the leaves. As soon as he started to throw up and seemed lathargic (sp) we phoned the emergency vets who said to take him over straight away. They put him straight onto a drip and flushed his kidneys through, the vet said that although he was hopefull that since we brought him in so quickly there would be no lasting damage to his kidneys we should be prepared for the worst. He fully recovered after a few days in the vets and around £1500 of treatment. There is a slightly higher chance that as he gets older he will suffer kidney problems apparently. His case of poisoning is mine and the OH fault, his for buying the lilies and mine for keeping them (even though we had no idea that they were poisonous).
The thing is you really shouldn't beat yourself up over it both you and the vet did the best you could and without knowing for definate that he had ate something. She treat him for his symptoms which seemed to be a road traffic accident. You should treasure the memories you have of him and reflect on the good not the bad. He will have known you loved him and that is all that matters. I hope the feeling of blame goes away as it really seems unjust to me.0 -
I was about to say lillies our cat got lilly pollen all over his head and must have licked it off, he died of kidney failure , I didnt even realuse until a few years later about lillies being poisonous to cats, in america lillies when sold have a warning sticker about them being poisonous to cats.
My friend lost 2 cats this way and had no idea til I told her.I don't get nearly enough credit for not being a violent psychopath.0 -
From what I've read, these kind of poisonings act very fast and you literally have to get the cat to the vet almost immediately after they ingest it - I read with antifreeze, by the time they have symptoms it is usually too late. Considering your cat had probably been out several hours after ingesting it, there was probably nothing more that could be done by the time he actually got to the vet, even if she'd done a blood test straight away. It sounds like maybe he was hit by a car after becoming disoriented / wobbly from the antifreeze; as lisajane says the vet had to treat for the symptoms and it was only later that the poisoning symptoms became apparent. I hope talking about it on here helps you move on with it :-( it doesn't sound like there's anyone to blame or any different outcome to the story unless Max had not found the antifreeze in the first place. RIP Max.0
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There have been a few petitions going round to add a bittering agent to antifreeze. Lots of animals die every year because people don't clean up spills and the animals like the sweet taste.
I really hope things change soon0 -
Heartbreaking for you, you did your best.
We had some friends round a couple of weeks ago and they bought me a huge bouquet of lillies. They went straight in the bin after i explained.
My cat was hit by a car a couple of years ago and was rushed to the vets. He wasnt badly injured but was in shock which is just as deadly to cats. He stayed two nights at vets. I wouldn't allow metacam as it can cause renal failure so we paid more for the vet to inject an alternative, morphine I think. A website called metacamkills is enough for me to never use it. Our vet knows not to use it on my cat.
If your cat had been poisoned especially with antifreeze then by the time the symptoms appear, it's usually too late to save them. The antifreeze can start to work within 30 minutes and renal failure within not long after.
I would be heartbroken too, I'm sorry it happened but you did everything you could
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shock which is just as deadly to cats
I still can't get my head round that. I know it's true but I don't understand it.
My cat was hit by a car years ago. My mum took him to the vets and brought him home that afternoon as he 'only' had some bruising to his legs.
Less than an hour later we buried him at my nans.
That was almost 6 years ago and it still hurts like hell sometimes.
Sometimes we do everything we can and it's just not enough.
I don't believe there was anything more you could have done so please don't feel guilty.0 -
Hi,
I know what you are going through as my beloved cat Jeff died this morning from some sort of poisoning. He was only 2.We all loved him so much.Skint!! But hey, L:heartpulsves FREE!!0 -
I still can't get my head round that. I know it's true but I don't understand it.
My cat was hit by a car years ago. My mum took him to the vets and brought him home that afternoon as he 'only' had some bruising to his legs.
Less than an hour later we buried him at my nans.
That was almost 6 years ago and it still hurts like hell sometimes.
Sometimes we do everything we can and it's just not enough.
I don't believe there was anything more you could have done so please don't feel guilty.
I know, I didn't realise how deadly shock was to cats either. It was the hardest two nights of our lives but he came round.
Thankfully, we were lucky as he made it through the critical time and now hes fine. We got to him so quickly after it happened and at the vets within minutes.
I am sorry you lost yours, you did do your best and that's all we can do 0 -
gillian0808 wrote: »Hi,
I know what you are going through as my beloved cat Jeff died this morning from some sort of poisoning. He was only 2.We all loved him so much.
Very sorry to hear this,you must be devastated.Such a young cat too.There are so many dangers out there to all animals not just cats ,but with cats being such a free spirit it is harder to keep them safe.Better than keeping him locked up 24/7 ,though that is no comfort to you right now.
Run free at Rainbow Bridge,Jeff.0 -
We lost our little kitty to poisoning about a year and a half ago and it still hurts.
IMO, the vet did everything they could for both my pet and yours, OP - sometimes it's simply too late. Antifreeze poisoning in particular is both hard to diagnose and very swift.
Lots of love to those of you on here that have lost furbabies.
HBS x"I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another."
"It's easy to know what you're against, quite another to know what you're for."
#Bremainer0
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