Vet advice would be appreciated re death of beloved cat

[MrsCatE]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/4187445-My-cat-just-died

BastardCat was a healthy, lively, massive (all muscle) 8 year old cat. He died last Tuesday without warning; just a weird, small cough and the next second he was dead. He’d recently had a full check up including CAT (no pun intended) scans because of intermittent limping but nothing was found. He was still jumping. He’d had a very bad fall at 18 months and had major surgery (previously only carried out on small dogs) involving 15 days in cat hospital and think 6 weeks cage rest - obviously, spent thousands despite good insurance but worth it because back to normal and no pain.

We asked for a post mortem from a specialist cat clinic which they were unable to do and in retrospect, a pointless exercise however, we keep going round in circles trying to fathom out why and we’re at the ‘if’ stage and blaming ourselves for not spotting something sooner. I should add that we’re both home 24/7 and knew him and his foibles inside out.

Any ideas? It was instant so I’m thinking blood clot / brain aneurysm?

Thanks in advance.

A very dear friend of mine lost his large, very fit 7 year old cat recently, found him just lying there dead on the floor less than an hour after he'd seen him eating.

Post Mortem showed that he'd had a heart defect which caused total heart failure, and probably was all over in seconds.

Blood clot is the most likely and is not uncommon. It wouldn't have been visible on a CAT.
Losing then so suddenly is so awful.😢

Thank you @Allergictoironing for sharing your experience. I’m sorry for your loss.

I just can’t believe it was a pre-existing condition considering his previous medical treatments and scans; surely they’d have picked it up?

Thank you @Mamamamasaurus for the flowers.

My cat died unexpectedly. We don't really know why either. I couldn't live with cats if I worried about every little thing - we had 2 or 3 trivial warning signs something was wrong.

Thank you @Lonecatwithkitten x

My cat Troy developed a little cough and I whisked off to the vets. They firstly thought he had a ruptured diaphragm but then realised it was his heart. They arranged an appointment at Langfords in Bristol later that day. I live in Swansea and the furthest I had driven in 30 odd years was 32 miles to Carmarthen. I was terrified of driving further than I ever had with a really sick cat. He was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He had to have fluid drained off his lungs a few times and he took his tablets with no resistance. I was told he wouldn't live longer than 6 months and he died suddenly and quickly 4 months later, exactly 2 months before his 6th birthday. I remember the last night he was alive nearly 5 years on.

He left a massive cat shaped hole for 3 1/2 years until I was ready for a new kitty.

I'm really sorry for your shocking loss but it could have been his heart and cats are good at hiding problems.

Thank you @TroysMammy for sharing your story; obviously loved him very much to undertake such a scary drive.

I don’t know why I’m obsessed in trying to get an answer. Possibly because there was warning - no indication anything was amiss at all.

Only comfort is that it was so immediate he can’t have suffered.

Meant there was no warning.

Bump. He died last Tuesday and I still can’t understand why; he was purring away one second and dead the next - we tried to give him the kiss of life FFS!!

He’d just turned 8.

If I’d seen my cat collapse I’d have tried that too, it’s not as unusual as you’d hope that this can happen, dh had a man drop down dead beside him once, it’s just that we’d all like to see a reason.

I’ve had cats die unexpectedly and had ones put down with cancer and kidney failure & it’s just as heartbreaking each way. There’s no good way of losing someone you love.

Thank you @Fluffycloudland77.

I was always cat mad and my parents made me do a Project before I was allowed to adopt my first. The vet told us no way could we spay her until 6 months - no prizes to guess what happened. She had her five kittens in my bed and was the most wonderful mother. She got to 18 before her kidneys failed but at least I was with her when she PTS.

So sorry @MrsCatE it's so hard when you don't know the cause.
It sounds like it could've been a heart attack with how quick it was etc

Sorry for your loss x

Thank you @BunnyJumper - I appreciate yours (and everyone else’s) condolences.

As previously said, my childhood cat was absolutely lovely but BastardCat was phenomenal; he and MrCat had an amazing connection and I swear he understood everything MrCat said. He was also my guard cat; if MrCat wasn’t about and a strange (to him) work man came in he would go loopy to try and protect me - embarrassing on many levels.

My dcat died suddenly at 8 last year.. Lost weight literally in a couple of weeks. Vet said due to Covid the results of any tests would be back too late to save him. His dbro was devastated also..
Sorry for your loss.. Not knowing why is very difficult..