So... my cat died a couple of days ago.
He was 18 years of age.
The vet said that it was kidney failure. Not completely unprecedented I suppose; he did previously diagnose him as having early to moderate kidney disease. Last year, my cat's BUN was high while Creatinine, Phosphorus, and SDMA (if that counts) levels were all normal. He still ate well though, sometimes cleaning his dish completely. Though he had been slowing down, sleeping more and such, he was still playful.
But last week, something happened: one day he seemed fine, doing his usual things, then the next day, he suddenly lost his appetite, and went from drinking lots of water to only a little water, then the next day, stopped eating and drinking completely and was walking around like something was stuck up his behind. I figured that he had constipation. So we took him to the vet the next morning.
Nope...
He was in full kidney failure; his levels this time were... well, let's just say that the doctor didn't think they were capable of getting that high.
Anyway, they gave him sub fluids, and then over the next few days, he was having nosebleeds, thick mucous pouring out of his other nostril, he threw up white foam once, he couldn't walk at all, had chills, pretty much fever like symptoms, until finally, he checked out peacefully on Monday.
Now my question is this... is this a normal way for cats to die of old age, or could something else have happened? Yeah I get that he was older and all, and if it was just that then there you go I guess, but due to the suddenness of all of these bizarre symptoms, which reminded me of how my brother's cat died (and she was only 11), the paranoid part of me feels that something else took him instead. Everyone is just writing it off as "just failed kidneys due to old age", but... I guess I'm just blown away; I always thought that if any cat was a candidate to live to their 20s, it would have been him. I can heartbreakingly say that I was wrong.
Any thoughts or similar experiences?
He was 18 years of age.
The vet said that it was kidney failure. Not completely unprecedented I suppose; he did previously diagnose him as having early to moderate kidney disease. Last year, my cat's BUN was high while Creatinine, Phosphorus, and SDMA (if that counts) levels were all normal. He still ate well though, sometimes cleaning his dish completely. Though he had been slowing down, sleeping more and such, he was still playful.
But last week, something happened: one day he seemed fine, doing his usual things, then the next day, he suddenly lost his appetite, and went from drinking lots of water to only a little water, then the next day, stopped eating and drinking completely and was walking around like something was stuck up his behind. I figured that he had constipation. So we took him to the vet the next morning.
Nope...
He was in full kidney failure; his levels this time were... well, let's just say that the doctor didn't think they were capable of getting that high.
Anyway, they gave him sub fluids, and then over the next few days, he was having nosebleeds, thick mucous pouring out of his other nostril, he threw up white foam once, he couldn't walk at all, had chills, pretty much fever like symptoms, until finally, he checked out peacefully on Monday.
Now my question is this... is this a normal way for cats to die of old age, or could something else have happened? Yeah I get that he was older and all, and if it was just that then there you go I guess, but due to the suddenness of all of these bizarre symptoms, which reminded me of how my brother's cat died (and she was only 11), the paranoid part of me feels that something else took him instead. Everyone is just writing it off as "just failed kidneys due to old age", but... I guess I'm just blown away; I always thought that if any cat was a candidate to live to their 20s, it would have been him. I can heartbreakingly say that I was wrong.
Any thoughts or similar experiences?
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