Loss of my Stacie, need advice about sick strays

Hi there,

I lost my 15 year old kitty on June 8th and am obsessed with knowing what happened to her.  She insisted on going out that morning.  I let her out and found her later in the afternoon dead in my garden.  It just looked like she went to sleep.  I miss her so much and can't stand not having her around.  She was my buddy.

She was an indoor/outdoor cat but mostly indoor.  This spring I noticed she started to sneeze, I didn't think too much about it other than it was kinda gross because she would spray me always in the face when she did it.  She was always a heavy drooler when she purred so when she sneezed it was extra wet!  Maybe about a month before she died she did act a little peculiar.  One night she stayed out all night, she had NEVER done that before.  I didn't get any sleep that night but she came home around 4:30am.  Other mornings I would have to look for her to make sure she wasn't locked in a closet somewhere before I left for work.  This was unusual because she would usually come down for a little wet cat food before I left.  One morning I noticed she didn't come down in the morning, I went upstairs and there she was on my bed relaxing.  I have a heated mattress pad so I thought she must be enjoying that too much to come down for a little bit of wet food.  She always had a self feeder for her dry food so I don't know whether or not she was eating her dry food.  A few days before she died she meowed but no sound.  I looked at her  and said "what was that, Stacie".  Her nickname was Squeaky because she never really meowed but this was the first time I saw her open her mouth and nothing came out.  The night before she died she was overly affectionate and I did notice she was really drooling, more so than normal but she was purring and cuddling all the while.

This summer I noticed a stray coming around but I didn't think too much of it.  I live in a sub but my house backs up to some woods so to see a stray wasn't that big of deal to me.  After my Stacie died I started to put out what food I had left for the stray.  About a week after her death I saw another stray on my deck eating the food.  She was afraid of me but she looked right at me and one of her eyes was swollen completely shut with green pus.  Then the other stray came back a few days later and I saw it had green pus coming from its nose.  The neighbors think the two are related, mom and daughter/son.  I'm beginning to think my Stacie may have caught a URI from one of them and because of her age and my inability to recognize her symptoms, she died as a result.  Could this have happened?  My kitty had not been vacinated in many many years against any diseases, something else I feel very guilty about.

I don't know what to do about the two strays.  I'm not getting another kitty right away because I'm afraid of these two other cats being infectious.  I brought one of them in the house the other day to weigh it.  My dad (who is the one who rescued my Stacie 15 years ago as a kitten abandoned in a field) thinks I should try to give them antibiotics because they are suffering but  they are not consistent in coming around to do that.  I could try and catch both to take them to vet.  Any suggestions?

I apologize for the length of this post.  After rereading it I'm not sure this topic was the best place to post, maybe the section on strays would have been better. 

Thank you so much for reading and it makes me feel better to share my story with people who know and understand the impact our pets have on our lives.  My whole family are cat lovers but they are even beginning to think I'm over analyzing things and need to start to move on.

thank you...Freda

I'm very sorry about your loss of Stacie. At 15, she could have passed away due to various causes, so please don't kick yourself. Cats are so very good at hiding illnesses. RIP, Stacie.

I'll move this to the Stray & Feral forum, where more people will see it and can advise you.

If you wish to help them, it would surely be swell. You took one of them inside to weigh, so they cant be THAT difficult to get hold off, and handle?

You can also wrap them up in a towel, if you can catch them without struggle.

Otherwise, you should use a human trap (feks Hava-hart).

Possibly it may be enough to bring ONE of them to the vet. Take the friendlier.  If you suspect it is the same infection.   Phone your vet and discuss the practical details.

But it depends on what you want to do.  If it is JUST to cure this infections, and get some dewormer, it could be enough yes.  But if you want to make a total check up, and spay at the same time (our recommendation), they both must in...  

If you do to treat them outside, begin to give them food in one place, in regular hours. So it will be easier to give the antibiotics with food.

Otherwise, if you can have them inside, perhaps in big dog cages, it would prob be best.

Dog cages are good, you dont need to chase them around to give them meds...

Perhaps they will be your next kitties?

You couldnt do anything to prevent the death of your old friend.

But you can help these two...

Nay, I dont think me either your old friend got her last disease from them.

I agree with you, if you want your new cat be an in- out cat too, better to wait till these strays are healthy again.  Dont forget to vaccintade your new for everything which is appropriate to vaccinate for.

Welcome to our Forums!

  Good luck!

Welcome and I am so sorry about Stacie. Please don't be hard on yourself - though we all do that too. It is human nature to wonder if we could have done something better than we did. Stacie had a good life with you and will always be in your heart. I don't think that Stacie contracted a disease from those strays AND if you had her vaccinated as a kitten and then again at one year then she was most likely immune for life!!!! So good news there. Hard to say really - what happened. I am sorry about that.

As for the other two strays. poor babies. :shame: If you are willing and are able to take on the challenge, I would get them both to a vet or contact a TNR organization to help you with finances in treating them. They need to be neutered as well. Or the breeding will continue. Stefan has a great idea and I use this often, the large dog wire crates for helping to medicate feral cats for a few days if necessary. Just some things to think about and we are here to help in any way possible!! AWW best of luck to you and these two stray cats. :rub: