Outdoor cat died unexpectedly

[fox5live]

I invited him and another inside as it was very very cold out. Sunday morning I came out to the living room. He was lying on his side and crying as if in pain. When he tried to get up, he was dragging his rear legs. When I touched him looking for injury it seemed to be mainly in his back. He dragged himself to the kitchen. Per advice from a friend, I applied heat to his back. He ignored food and water I put next to him. Later I gave him a dose of MetaCam. I was able to massage his head, belly and back and continued with the heat to his back. He seemed to be resting...on his side as all day. When I checked on him about 6 pm he still hadn't moved so I moved in...and he was dead. I saw no outside sign of injury but! He stunk! He never smelled before or he wouldn't have been invited in. He did not smell Saturday night and that was around 3 am and he walked in as usual. It was a strong fish smell also coming from his mouth.
Someone of my friends thinks he was poisoned.
As I prepared him for burial....um, I think I also discovered that...HE was a SHE!
Any idea to what might have happened to him? He was one of my favorites. They had Purina Swirls kibble 24/7 outside and fresh water every day and were fed wet Friskies Salmon pate twice a day. And he really didn't wander far from the property....

 

[Furballsmom]

Hello
I'm not sure about the odor, but poisoning is a possibility

RIP sweet buddy

 

[fox5live]

Hello
I'm not sure about the odor, but poisoning is a possibility

RIP sweet buddy

Thanks. I miss him/.her. But...a couple of years ago I had another very friendly feral...I called the bunch my Outsiders. He also suddenly became very lethargic and I was getting water into him with a syringe. He hung on a few days like that and when I thought he might be improving, I decided to give him a bath if he was to stay inside..because he...also SMELLED and had a very bad breath odor. Sadly, he decided his time was up in the bathtub.....but he still got a blow dry with the hairdryer.
The similarity is the ODOR and bad breath....neither smelled before and my hands always came away clean after I petted them.

 

[fox5live]

Oh....all these guys and girls were spayed/neutered at Animal Allies here in Spartanburg.

 

[Furballsmom]

I tried to do a little googling but didn't come up with anything, either for that odor, or for poisoning that fits your situation, so I'm stumped and no help .

Would Animal Allies have any ideas?

 

[NekoM]

I’m so sorry that happened. It was Intestinal GI obstruction, the smell came fro the stomach, nothing can pass through so it backs up, it puts pressure on the spine which affects the back legs, it literally comes out of nowhere. You did absolutely everything right, and you were there at the end, it happened to one of my boys last year and I didn’t catch it in time. It’s devastating.

 

[CodyMolly]

Hi so sorry to hear your loss of your kitty. The kitty could have ate a mouse that ate poison if you think it’s poison. You’re describing your kitty laying down as he was passing. The odor your smelling is the shutdown of organs in the body and I had a kitty very very old 23 going on 24 years old and when his kidney was shutting down that night I smelled the odor your referring too. It’s stinks. The next day I put him down not to have any suffering. His name was Romeo and he was a love and I miss him so too. Sorry your kitty passed it’s never goodbye it’s see you later

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am so sorry about what happened to him/her, but all I can think about is that s/he had you there to care for him/her at the end instead of dying alone outside.