What did my cat die from?

sadcatowner

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Our beloved cat passed away a few days ago. I miss him so freaking much, he was a very special cat, but what makes it even worse is that I have no idea about what he died from, and if anyone is responsible. The vets had no idea neither, but now that I've had some time to reflect and give it some thoughts, I don't know what to think. Sorry for the long post.

He was an 8 year old castrated ragdoll male that's been an indoor cat his entire life. He always had a sensitive stomach, at least more so than my other cat. He had diarrhea a few times when younger, and he threw up more frequently than other cats, although not that often. So when he threw up, we didn't think much of it.

This past spring he started to vomit more frequently, maybe once a day. The vomit looked a little bit pink and foamy, and it wasn't just hairballs, but undigested food. We took him to the vet, who didn't find anything. We took him home, and it happened again after a few weeks. He was still eating well though, and then he stopped vomiting for a few months, so we didn't think more of it.

A few months later his stools appeared a bit red. We freaked out but the vet didn't find anything, so we blamed it on his food that was red/pink. Most of the time when we checked his litter box, everything looked normal.

A few months later we discovered that he had lost weight and didn't eat as much as he used to. He had gone from around 16 pounds to 12 (in about 6 months, don't know when it started during this period). It was difficult to notice since we have another cat with whom he shares food, and a growing toddler. So we thought that we might have gotten used to carrying the kid around.

Around this time he started to keep to himself more than normally. This was odd, since he was always Really social, following us around, but now he might spend a whole day in his room, resting and sleeping. He seemed interested in food, but only chewed it a bit, it was like he didn't want to swallow it, even treats.

We took him to the vet when he started to withdraw. Blood works showed one elevated liver value (dont remember which one) but not very high (170). The blood test showed some jaundice, not visible to the naked eye, but I guess that's common with that kind of weigh loss. X-ray showed nothing and an ultrasound showed "something" around the pancrease. He was hospitalized. I asked them about his liver and they said it looked fine on the ultrasound. He didn't protest when they felt his stomach.

They put him on a drip, gave him b12 and so on. Meds for pain, and things to increase his appetite. Two days later his ultrasound was normal, even around the pancreas. He was cuddly but still didn't want to eat by himself. They had to feed him. He salivated a lot, presumably from nausea. This was something we'd never seen at home. They gave him meds for the nausea that didn't help, as well as a dose of cortisone, as they suspected pancreatitis. His liver values improved a bit.

The next Monday (he was hospitalized on the Thursday) they inserted a feeding tube, under general anastethia, which went well. They hoped everything would resolve itself if they could stop the nausea and get him to eat again.

Things remained the same until Wednesday. The vet said they switched his anti-nausea meds and he seemed much better. He wasn't salivating, and seemed happier and even eating a few pieces. She said we could bring him home the next day (with a feeding tube). We felt so relieved. We visited him and he seemed to be doing well, even chasing a bug, jumping up on a high table, and climbed into my lap.

He next morning he was still doing fine. The vet wanted him to stay for an additional day. He started eating a bit more and she hoped they might be able to send him home without the feeding tube. They also wanted to use a enema to remove some hard stools in the afternoon. The previous enemas (when he was awake) didn't work. They put him under, but very lightly with a half a dose of DEX, whatever that is, and flushed him. He woke up from the anesthesia and was fine for the next hours, cuddly and eating small amounts. They said they would release him the next morning.

Then at around 9-10 PM he was suddenly getting worse. He was laying on his side, meaowing, with dilated pupils. The vet called us and said it was bad. They did a new x-ray, that showed nothing, and a new blood test. It showed some anemia, but not too serious. They increased his dose of morphine a bit in case he was suffering. We hoped he would get better within a few hours, so we didn't have to make a difficult decision. He died two hours later.

I just don't get it. None of his earlier blood works were really alarming. Three X-Rays and two ultrasounds didn't show anything. He looked really happy the day before when we met him, and during his final day until 9 pm. Before that, they were gonna send him home. Then, in a matter of 3 hours, he died.

What could have happened? Obviously, I don't think the pancreas was the main problem, and they didn't perform an autopsy. We buried him, along with his favorite things and many roses, the day after his death, since I didn't even know you perform autopsies on pets (I would have happily payed had I known).

Could it have been perforation of his colon because of the enema? Or the enema itself? Or the anastethia? What could cause him from going from being that fine for more than 36 hours to die in a few hours? We only did what we thought was best for him, and ended up paying 4000$ for it, but I just feel that something isn't right.

He might have had mild pancreatitis or IBD, what do I know, but I don't understand how this could go from such an improvement to death that quickly.
 

catwoman707

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How tragic to lose your boy, so sudden like that.......

No, IBD or pancreatitis wouldn't do that, the anesthesia if that were the problem would have been while under, not hours later, so if I guess, it would be something more to do with his liver, liver cancer or failure.

The jaundice clearly tells me it was unable to function properly causing the jaundice.

Jaundice and anemia can happen from liver or pancreatic cancer.

I would also be suspicious of the enema......

Now, that you will never know, a tech would perform this and it is possible he was perforated somehow but surely would not run and tell on herself, which would cause bacteria to leak.

Remember I am simply guessing here, and giving my thoughts of possibilities.

Wish you could still have a necropsy done, this not knowing can haunt you for some time.

If you do, be sure he has it done someplace other than at that vet.
 
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sadcatowner

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Thanks for the reply! Yeah, he really was special, this one. If it wasn't for my child, I don't know how I could cope.

They ran a special blood test for the pancrease once they suspected pancreatitis (from the ultra-sound). But that came back negative, and the pancrease looked normal in his second ultra sound. Also, his liver values/jaundice wasn't that bad, and they improved. It was more "this value is slightly elevated which could indicate jaundice, but we  can't see anything when we inspect him".

Also, the values improved during his stay, and they only saw a marginal increase in these values by the end. I mean, would cancer really have these ups and downs? I have previous experience with cancer in cats, and none of the cases has looked even remotely like this. In those cases it went from good to bad to worse and finally death (usually by euthanasia). Here it went from a bit bad, to much better, to death.

I have entertained the thought of a necropsy, but I assumed it was too late? He's been buried (no casket) for 5 days, although it's pretty cold around here. Plus it would break my heart to dig him out.
 

catwoman707

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You might want to think about the necropsy, and if it's cold now, he would be pretty much like he was when buried, but can't say that for sure either, it depends on how cold you are talking about.

Choose whether the question will haunt you, or in time you will be able to let it go.

I think it will be harder not knowing than digging him up and finding your answers.

It's definitely a personal decision.
 

mservant

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I am so sorry that you lost your cat this way.  It is so hard when you do not know what the cause of an illness has been, and easy for doubts to take over your thoughts.

Ragdolls can be prone to particular heart and kidney diseases though from what you have said of the tests run by the vet nothing was showing up.   It is always possible that with some other health issue going on the strain and stresses on his body triggered something like heart disease but without deciding to put him through an autopsy is is unlikely you could find answers.   Veterinary medicine, like human medicine, still does not have the answers to all problems, and bodies can make it very hard to derermine what it going on sometimes, even to the most experienced vets.    Cancers are so varied, and how they present is so varied, it may well be that the variations which happened were due to this - the hard part is where you see your cat seemingly getting better and then crashing again just as you get your hopes up.   

Deciding to request a necropsy is definitely an individual and personal decision - have you talked with your vet about your questions or has this felt too difficult so far?
 

fodder

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Sorry to hear about your poor pussy cat. I don't have any clue what may have caused his problem but i just wanted to say that knowing what it was wont help at this point. It is completely up to you whether you do so but digging him up now would be very difficult. Personally i would let him rest in piece now and try to move on. You will always have the memories of him to hold on to.  Again, terribly sorry for your loss :(
 

dustydiamond1

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Our beloved cat passed away a few days ago. I miss him so freaking much, he was a very special cat, but what makes it even worse is that I have no idea about what he died from, and if anyone is responsible. The vets had no idea neither, but now that I've had some time to reflect and give it some thoughts, I don't know what to think. Sorry for the long post.

He was an 8 year old castrated ragdoll male that's been an indoor cat his entire life. He always had a sensitive stomach, at least more so than my other cat. He had diarrhea a few times when younger, and he threw up more frequently than other cats, although not that often. So when he threw up, we didn't think much of it.

This past spring he started to vomit more frequently, maybe once a day. The vomit looked a little bit pink and foamy, and it wasn't just hairballs, but undigested food. We took him to the vet, who didn't find anything. We took him home, and it happened again after a few weeks. He was still eating well though, and then he stopped vomiting for a few months, so we didn't think more of it.

A few months later his stools appeared a bit red. We freaked out but the vet didn't find anything, so we blamed it on his food that was red/pink. Most of the time when we checked his litter box, everything looked normal.

A few months later we discovered that he had lost weight and didn't eat as much as he used to. He had gone from around 16 pounds to 12 (in about 6 months, don't know when it started during this period). It was difficult to notice since we have another cat with whom he shares food, and a growing toddler. So we thought that we might have gotten used to carrying the kid around.

Around this time he started to keep to himself more than normally. This was odd, since he was always Really social, following us around, but now he might spend a whole day in his room, resting and sleeping. He seemed interested in food, but only chewed it a bit, it was like he didn't want to swallow it, even treats.

We took him to the vet when he started to withdraw. Blood works showed one elevated liver value (dont remember which one) but not very high (170). The blood test showed some jaundice, not visible to the naked eye, but I guess that's common with that kind of weigh loss. X-ray showed nothing and an ultrasound showed "something" around the pancrease. He was hospitalized. I asked them about his liver and they said it looked fine on the ultrasound. He didn't protest when they felt his stomach.

They put him on a drip, gave him b12 and so on. Meds for pain, and things to increase his appetite. Two days later his ultrasound was normal, even around the pancreas. He was cuddly but still didn't want to eat by himself. They had to feed him. He salivated a lot, presumably from nausea. This was something we'd never seen at home. They gave him meds for the nausea that didn't help, as well as a dose of cortisone, as they suspected pancreatitis. His liver values improved a bit.

The next Monday (he was hospitalized on the Thursday) they inserted a feeding tube, under general anastethia, which went well. They hoped everything would resolve itself if they could stop the nausea and get him to eat again.

Things remained the same until Wednesday. The vet said they switched his anti-nausea meds and he seemed much better. He wasn't salivating, and seemed happier and even eating a few pieces. She said we could bring him home the next day (with a feeding tube). We felt so relieved. We visited him and he seemed to be doing well, even chasing a bug, jumping up on a high table, and climbed into my lap.

He next morning he was still doing fine. The vet wanted him to stay for an additional day. He started eating a bit more and she hoped they might be able to send him home without the feeding tube. They also wanted to use a enema to remove some hard stools in the afternoon. The previous enemas (when he was awake) didn't work. They put him under, but very lightly with a half a dose of DEX, whatever that is, and flushed him. He woke up from the anesthesia and was fine for the next hours, cuddly and eating small amounts. They said they would release him the next morning.

Then at around 9-10 PM he was suddenly getting worse. He was laying on his side, meaowing, with dilated pupils. The vet called us and said it was bad. They did a new x-ray, that showed nothing, and a new blood test. It showed some anemia, but not too serious. They increased his dose of morphine a bit in case he was suffering. We hoped he would get better within a few hours, so we didn't have to make a difficult decision. He died two hours later.

I just don't get it. None of his earlier blood works were really alarming. Three X-Rays and two ultrasounds didn't show anything. He looked really happy the day before when we met him, and during his final day until 9 pm. Before that, they were gonna send him home. Then, in a matter of 3 hours, he died.

What could have happened? Obviously, I don't think the pancreas was the main problem, and they didn't perform an autopsy. We buried him, along with his favorite things and many roses, the day after his death, since I didn't even know you perform autopsies on pets (I would have happily payed had I known).

Could it have been perforation of his colon because of the enema? Or the enema itself? Or the anastethia? What could cause him from going from being that fine for more than 36 hours to die in a few hours? We only did what we thought was best for him, and ended up paying 4000$ for it, but I just feel that something isn't right.

He might have had mild pancreatitis or IBD, what do I know, but I don't understand how this could go from such an improvement to death that quickly.
:alright::grouphug: :grouphug2: :hearthrob: :redheartpump: :rbheart:
 

catwoman707

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So sorry for your loss, it only amplifies such a loss not knowing the cause.
If you are able, take your cat and have an autopsy done asap.
Yes it can easily be done, not too late.
While it may be hard for you to do, I would feel much worse to continue wondering day in and out, at least you will have definite answers and will help in healing and closure.
 
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