Cat post mortem - am I being ridiculous to think of it?

[GreaseIsNotTheWord]

We came home this evening and out neighbour told us that he'd found our cat dead in his garden

She was 4 years old, completely fit and healthy, seemed fine this morning. We've had a good look at her and there's nothing outwardly obvious, no injuries etc.

I know the 'likely' reasons - that she was hit by a car that caused only internal damage, or that she suffered with a heart problem. But the not knowing for certain is upsetting me even more.

I called our vet who said they can do a post mortem, which is very expensive. Dh thinks it's silly (in the nicest way possible) because it won't do any good or change anything. And it's money we could really do without spending. But he's really practical like that - he's sad, he loved her, but he's of the 'it's done, let's bury her' mentality.

I just think that if we don't do it and we never know, it will play on my mind for a long time...the not knowing will drive me crazy, how she just came to be dead in our neighbours garden.

Am I being a crazy cat woman to want to know her cause of death?

I'm very sorry that you've lost your girl.

I had a seemingly fit and healthy lad of 8 who dropped dead one sunny morning while I'd nipped downstairs to collect a parcel at the front door. He must have been dead within 20 or 30 seconds, it was that quick.

It never occurred to me to have a necropsy performed because I wouldn't have seen the point. He wasn't a breeding cat and I assumed it was his heart - probably HCM in fact given his seeming rude health and the speed of his death.

Was she your only cat?

I can understand why you want to - I think I would be the same.
If it will give you peace of mind then it's certainly worth considering.

I don't know if this is an option for you, but are there any universities associated with any local vets? Our Vet passes Post Mortems to Vet students at the local uni, so the cost is much lower.
I don't know how you would find out if that's an option, though.

So sorry for your loss! It's heartbreaking losing an animal.
I would say go for the post mortem as she was seemingly healthy and no visible signs of injury. So many horrible people around at the moment laying poison etc would be good to know whether or not to warn other neighbours
Sorry if that sounds insensitive, I couldn't find a better way to word it