Sudden Cat Death

Hi, I'm new here and my beloved cat died today.

I'm writing because 2 years prior, I lost another cat who was barely 2 years old.

They died very similiarly.

The cat that died today was healthy, playing, eating and doing all of his normal activities. He layed down on the floor for a moment and when my father went to pick him up, he was dead. He was no older than 7 years old. The doctor's would not conduct an autopsy.

The cat that died 2 years ago, died in his sleep and seemed very peaceful.

A lot of people have told me it was a heart problem. I find this very hard to believe and that it is too much of a coincidence for both breeds of cats to have heart problems.

We own a pellet stove in the house and I am wondering if this might have killed my cats.

They were both in the house for relatively 2 years before the passed. They both looked still very alive and as though they were sleeping.

I have found very little information about pellet stoves and the more I learn, the more distraught I become.

I understand that pellets can be made with formalydahyde and can cause lung cancer and asthma on humans.

Do you think that the pellet stove could have emitted something over time that has killed my cats?

I need help. This doesn't make any sense. They were both perfectly healthy cats.

Hi Kittygem, welcome to TCS. I'm so sorry to hear that you've lost two young kitties. Please accept my condolences. 

I am not familiar with pellet stoves or associated risks, though it does sound reasonable to conclude that there may be something about the home that contributed to their passing.

Heart disease is the most common cause of SCD, so that may be why it was suggested to you. It's more common in some breeds than others, but any cat (even young ones) can suffer from this. 

What breeds were your cats? And what was their diet? 

And again, so sorry for your loss.

Hi kittygem, welcome to the site.

I am so sorry to hear about your recent loss, and concern for why this seems to have happened with both your cats.        Loosing our cat family is never easy and when we do not know why it has happened it is always going to be more difficult and painful.  I am sorry your vet did not feel an autopsy was merited and you feel you have not had the closure you need.

I am not familiar with the pellet stoves you mention, and believe they are quite unusual installations here in the UK.  I did look up a bit of information about them and one thing that strikes me is their need for effective, reliable ventilation and risks of fumes entering the room environment if there is any fault or mechanical issue with the system either due to installation issues or maintenance requirements.  It may be completely unrelated to your stove or the type of fuel you use, however, have you had anyone looks at the stove and related vent / flue system?  I knew someone whose entire family became very sick and their GP couldn't figure out what was wrong until eventually their son was taken very ill and it was identified he had carbon monoxide poisoning: their real flame gas fire had not been installed correctly and the flue did not actually vent out to the open air.  It may be worth your having this stove and related flue / vent inspected and serviced to determine if there is a issue with the ventilation system in your home. Your cats could well have been more susceptible to any polutants if they are there, and if this is happening it would be unhealthy for any people in the room as well.  

I hope you find the site helpful.  I don't know if you have seen the cat pages section, as if you felt it would be helpful and positive for you you can post pages to tell everyone the stories of cats who are no longer with you.  There is also a Rainbow Bridge section where you can start a thread to post your thoughts and ask for ideas and support.

I am not able to give any advice or help here however, I feel so sorry for your loss and how awful that must have been...

I feel the same way as "Whatever".....I don't have any insight or advice to give and wish I did, but I wanted you to know how sorry I am for your loss and that my heart goes out to you.  Hopefully you can get some comfort from the fact that both of your babies appeared not to have suffered and simply went to sleep without waking up.  Death is always hardest on those left behind.....you are in my prayers.

Thank you all so much for the immediate replies and gracious gifts of condolences. It means so much to me that you all are so very kind. It helps to know that I am in your prayers.   Thank you so much.

And thank you for the advice and the research you have conducted in hopes of trying to help me. That means a lot.

I believe that it may be something with the ventilation, as we do live in a mobile home and the spaces are very small. The parking lot to the mobile home park is also nearly five feet (or closer) to our little home. My father is buying all kinds of detectors today and hopefully, we can have a professional come to the house as well to inspect the ventilation. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else we can really do. None of the humans living in the our home have ever felt headaches, nausea, dizziness or any of the other symptoms associated with monoxide poisoning. We have never been noticeably sick.

However, strangely enough, a few weeks ago our neighbors family became very ill. When they ran a blood test, all members of the family tested positive for carbon monoxide poisoning. They had the fire department come and check their mobile home, but all areas tested negative for carbon monoxide. Which means the poison must have been free flowing through their house. Our neighbors do have a dog however, and he did not die or go into a coma. Now, they are all seemingly fine. I wonder if it may be from our stove or the close proximity of the parking lot.

I do live in North-Eastern America and one must run a car for several minutes before it is likely to start because of the cold weather during the Winter season.

My father really wants to move away from here, in hopes of saving the family and our other beloved cat who has survived so far. However, that's not financially possible for us...I suppose the best thing we can do for now is test the house and then create a better ventilation system for the stove. 

I will feel so guilty though if we have, in fact, been poisoning our cats.

I suppose the other alternative is that both cats coincidentally had some form of heart disease or some other invisible debilitating problem that the vets could not detect during their normal check-ups. My parents have had cats their whole lives and so have I, all living until a ripe old age. I've never heard of or seen anything like this happen before.

It just seems so bizarre that over the period of two years, both healthy cats have passed in sleep. 

Also, I'm super new here and I apologize if I've posted this on the wrong thread >.< Still getting used to the website, so my apologies.

And thank you all again for being so helpful and supportive for me and my family. <3 Thank you

The breed of the first cat, Kona, was a domestic short hair with a black coat and two white spots, one on his belly and one under his chin.

Benji the second cat who passed yesterday, was some kind of  angora mix-breed (we think). We adopted Benji from a friend and were given very little information about his past. He had very distinct features, black and white spots and a black spot on his nose (we called it a Hitler mustache).

He may have also been a tuxedo-cat or any type of mixed breed. Hard to compare to other cats on the internet, because his coat was very different than most black and white cats I've researched.

They both ate dry cat food and were given soft food on occasion. Benji was on a fixed diet to try and control his weight, as our other cat (who is still alive) is extremely large.

It is possible it may be carbon monoxide, animals are generally more sensitive to it than we are.  There is a possibility that their deaths were unrelated and they each died of different things.  Some of the things that I know can cause sudden death are Heart problems, Aneuerisms, Embolisms.

You may never find an answer to the reason for loosing your cats at such a young age and after only two years with them, but if you do and it has been something to do with your home you have NO reason to feel guilt.  If you have not known about something, you have not deliberately caused a situation to arrise or neglected to do something about a danger you knew about, and /  or ignored signs of illness then what more could you have done?  What you can do is take care of your self, and of your remaining cat, and that is exactly what your family is doing.  You do your best within your abilities, do not beat yourself up for doing that.  All of your cats have had the fortune to live in a loving home where people took care of them, that should be celebrated.  

How worrying that your neighbours have also had some issues as well.  I hope that if something has been happening in the area you are able to find out the cause and feel comfortable in your homes.

I am so sorry to read about the passing of your cats within 2 years of each other and apparently of the same problem. Did the vet say why he wouldn't do an autopsy? He may have found something that would show that there is a problem with your heating.
As Mservant said you have no reason to blame yourself.
Do your cats go outside?
Again you have my deepest condolences on your sad loss.

My condolences. Losing a cat is very tragic, especially when it happens far too early.  Given that two of your cats spontaniously passed does seem suspicious but it is not unheard of.  I would look for environmental causes.  Toxins/parasites/disease.  A seemingly healthy cat can have a number of diseases that arnt easily recognized through symptoms.  What's more there could be something poisonous in your neighborhood such as toxic waste or eve psychopath that enjoys terrorizing helpless animals. I don't have exact data but I've heard one tablespoon of antifreeze is enough to kill a cat within a very short time and I can only imagine how many other chemicals can cause just as much damage. That being said I'm very sorry to burst your bubble.  An autopsy is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by a highly qualified doctor specializing as a coroner.  Vetrenarians rarely (if ever) do autopsys; in fact less than half of human homicide victims have an autospy done and normally deaths assumed to be attributed to natural causes won't have an autopsy done either; therefore the likely hood that a vet would do an autopsy on your cat is even less likely.. First off to find the COD in an autopsy takes numerous tests that need to be outsourced to different labs with capable technology so the procedure is very costly and only to be done under suspicious circumstances.   The best you could hope for is a simple disection which is far less scientific.  Unfortunatly the random death of a healthy middleaged cat does not ussually qualify.

I bet it was Carbon Dioxide (as opposed to Carbon Monoxide) from the pellet stove that killed the cats.

Carbon Dioxide is heaver than air and would accumulate closer to the floor.  Carbon Monoxide is just slightly lighter than air, and will tend to mix in with the air and be diluted (and affect everyone).

So, perhaps this pellet stove is producing some carbon dioxide which is accumulating low to the floor where the cat was, but not affecting people who are taller.  Particularly if the cat was laying down, it's face would be only an inch from the floor, roughly.  If the layer of Carbon Dioxide was just a couple inches deep, this would be enough.

Carbon Monoxide is the product of incomplete combustion, while Carbon Dioxide is produced during normal or more complete combustion.  The pellet stove shouldn't be producing a lot of Carbon Monoxide, unless something is wrong with it, but it most certainly would produce Carbon Dioxide.

It only takes a concentration of 10% (100,000 PPM) Carbon Dioxide in the air to cause unconsciousness and death.  Normal atmospheric levels (what we're breathing) are about 0.039%.... So 10% is WAY higher than normal, but still not so much that it would seem implausible.

Just today I watched a video at work with regards to unsafe environments.  Four people at another location owned by my employer died almost instantly because of exposure to a low-oxygen, high C02 environment.  Two workers, two paramedics.  It happened years ago, but the results of the investigation came out more recently and that's what I was watching.  It is very plausible that a similar thing happened to your cat.  Sorry to hear about it.

Get that stove checked!