What are most common reasons for unexplained death?

A bit of a morbid question but I am asking out of curiousity...
One of my bosses woke up a few months ago to her cat deceased on the floor in the kitchen.

The cat had no prior health problems, was an indoor cat, 7 years old.
She wanted to do an autopsy but at $200, her husband didn't like the idea as there was nothing that could be done then..

She went to bed as usual, came downstairs and he was gone, laying on the floor...
I said something about not giving Lovey the tuna water over his food yesterday as it is so high in salt..She did this regularly with her cat and now thinks this might be it...I didn't think that salt could harm a cat to that extent but am not sure???
She has plants, and thought it could be this, but none are poisonous to her knowledge...

Any other ideas?

Tx

I wish I knew! This happened to one of our cats, Lucy about 5 years ago. She was fine one morning rubbing my sister's leg and purring and a half an hour later she went into convulsons and died. We still don't have a clue as to why.

Oh how awful for her!

Hopefully someone will have an answer, but i know it would devastate me to have to wake up to that

I know. And it really was hard on her not knowing..
I remember the day as she called in and I said I would cover for her and to take some time off...I think it was actually worse for her being home without him around...and to keep wondering why over and over..
I would be devastated too..
Perhaps as in humans, its simply cardiac arrest or something like that.

I would like to get her another kitten/cat but she has been adamant against it and I respect that everyone grieves in their own way..

My sisters the same. She lost her dog nearly a year ago, and she does want another, but she said she's not ready to just yet because she's still not recovered after losing Benji

I lost a cat very suddenly a few years ago. She went from being healthy to dead within six hours. I had managed to get her to the vets before she died (we covered 10 miles of twisty country roads in 15 minutes!!), they thought she'd had a brain haemorrhage (like a massive stroke). But there were several hours of symptoms before her death, so this cat you are talking about may not have had that, although I've been told that the condition is not uncommon in cats.

Whatever, I'm sure it came as a terrible shock. It took me months to get over Winnie's death, she was very dear to me and she was only 12 when she died. Not having any warning made it doubly shocking, so your boss has my sympathy on that score.

I have to add, that after her death, I lasted two days with no cat in the house before we were on the phone to the shelter, begging for more cats. They had two that suited very well, and we still have them today, so I would recommend filling that cat-shaped hole in the house with another asap!

Sue

Originally Posted by millyanddaisy

But there were several hours of symptoms before her death, so this cat you are talking about may not have had that, although I've been told that the condition is not uncommon in cats.

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Well, it was overnight so the cat "Kitty"...could have experienced symptoms while she was sleeping and he didn't make any noises or indicate he was ill.

I suspect it must have been something like you say..Otherwise, there would be SOME evidence one should think.

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas so far...

I had a cat that died overnight at the age of four with no previous symptoms. His mother lived to be 17, so we were not aware of genetic problems, and the vet always said he was fine. These things happen, though they are devastating.

Quite possibly Cardiomyopathy. It's a leading cause of heart-related death in cats and often has no symptoms before it strikes. Whatever it was, it was not the tuna.

Cardiomyopathy is a silent killer, often with no observed symptoms prior to death. Most vets do not know how to listen for a heart murmur and so many kitties are not correctly diagnosed - IF symptoms are present, they mimic so many other illnesses that it is often overlooked.

If I had to guess here, and of course, I am - my guess would be Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy. And if that was the case, there isn't a thing in the world that can be done about it.

Another thing that comes to mind and will cause sudden death in cats is heartworm.

My loving furboy Bartholomew died at age 16 of Hypertroic Cardiomyopathy. He had his annual checkup one month before his attack. All of his tests were normal. He looked great. One morning when I came out of the shower, I found him on the floor, passed out & struggling for every breath. I rushed him to his vet...we kept him alive for 3 months. It was a very difficult time for us both. He was very ill & alive only because I couldn't let him go. I finally realized that I was being selfish. I was blessed to be able to hold him while he was sent home to God.
We must savor every moment we have with our furbabies...

Originally Posted by gayef

Cardiomyopathy is a silent killer, often with no observed symptoms prior to death. Most vets do not know how to listen for a heart murmur and so many kitties are not correctly diagnosed - IF symptoms are present, they mimic so many other illnesses that it is often overlooked.

If I had to guess here, and of course, I am - my guess would be Hypertropic Cardiomyopathy. And if that was the case, there isn't a thing in the world that can be done about it.

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Our big orange tabby passed away last year. He had a heart murmur, but he had been otherwise healthy his entire life. My parents petted him on their way to the kitchen that morning, and her purred. A little while later, they heard a moan. He was gone within 5 minutes. We are almost certain that it was either a heart attack or a stroke. There were no signs of anything before the incident. As hard as it is on us, we were glad that he went quickly and with as little pain as possible.

Isn't it sad when they pass like that!

The story about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is eerily familiar to me as well. Vladimir couldn't breathe or walk, so i took him to the vet on a Saturday morning, and they kept him alive until Monday morning. But if they'd told me that he wouldn't survive, i would have let him go right away. I wasn't even there when he went.

He was the Best Kitty Ever. He was only two, and was the most talkative and codependent cat i've ever had.

I would have been exactly as devastated had he passed in the night, me never knowing why. But i still (5 years later) feel crushingly guilty that he spent his last 48 hours in an oxygen box, shaved and sedated and alone. My great grandmother went very slowly, and was in a lot of pain. My great grandfather just fell down one day on his daily walk. I know which way i want to go : )

My sister had a 5 yr old cat, came home from work and it was dead on floor. Tongue hanging out and eyes open. You feel guilty for awhile like did u leave something bad out and the cat ate it, did you miss a symptom of an illness, etc

I'm still haunted by the sudden loss of my little dog when I was only 14, 26 years ago. I'd been to a school event and walked back with my schoolfriends. My sister and mum had been to the same event, but were in the car and called to take my grandmother home, so were back later. I let myself in and our little Cairn Terrier, Whiskey (only 5 years old) came running and made the usual fuss of me. He used to go mad welcoming us back home, getting really excited, jumping up, running around, rolling over for tickles etc. He then started howling, rolling and staggering around in the floor, wet himself and was gone.

We never went for a post mortem, there wasn't any point, but I've always wanted to know what was wrong. He appeared perfectly healthy up to that point. It hit me very hard, being only 14, in alone at the time. I didn't know how to help him (although I now know that there was little I could do) and I had to break the news to the rest of the family when they got back.

I suppose it was a heart problem, with an attack brought on by the excitement and exertion of welcoming me home.

Our lil girl , that's what we called her died very suddenly 2 days ago. I was away on a business trip and my wife came home after being gone for about 5 hrs and found her on our screened in Lanai - she is devastated as am I and we both feel guilty we were not home. My wife wrapped her up in a blanket and took her to the vet to confirm she has really died since her body still felt warm. The vet thought it may have been heart worms - there was no trauma. We are very sad

Jan said:

I suppose it was a heart problem, with an attack brought on by the excitement and exertion of welcoming me home.

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Or he waited with the dying till you returned home.   Like already Homeros told about, when Odysseus did come home after 20 years away and his dog greeted him and died. Yes, such happens.

Two of my coworkers, at different jobs, did told about their cats who waited for their return to die on their hands...

Heart attacks, and HCM, and stroke/hemorrhage in the brain has been mentioned.  I think also ruptures of aorta arent uncommon. They do happen with humans, so why not with cats?

HCM and aorta ruptures can both happen with relatively young individs, they are NOT concerns only for the very old  or otherwise sick.