My 4 year old cat recently died while they were taking blood from him at the vet. Someone referred me to this forum for comments/answers. The thing that makes this worse is that this is the 2nd cat of mine that has died this way.
The most recent cat has always been overweight, so he loved to eat. A couple of weeks ago, his appetite dropped. He was still eating, but not nearly as much. After about 5 days of this, I took him to the vet. They did bloodwork, which didn't show any problems, but he did have a fever. They gave him a shot of antibiotics, and sent him home with more antibiotics and valium, treating it as a fever of unknown origin. He got better, was back to normal eating, but after about a week, his appetite dropped again. This happened on a Saturday, so I couldn't take him to the vet until Monday. Saturday he slowly stopped eating his hard food. I could give him tuna fish or wet cat food, and he loved that. Saturday morning we also noticed he had his ears flat and kept shaking his head and scratching his ears. He also started throwing up a lot, mostly hair balls. This went on through Sunday. We also noticed on Sunday that he was not laying at his normal places. He started sleeping behind our TV stand and in our unfinished basement. It seemed like he wanted to get away from us. This was a cat that has always been extremely friendly and loving. I even took him outside in the sun on Sunday, and he seemed very happy. We fed him his wet food throughout the day on Sunday, and he ate that right up. When we got up Monday a.m. and fed him, he wouldn't eat his wet food. He had also thrown up several times over night. I gave him a valium, which seemed to help him before, with his hunger and contentment, but he threw that up. I took him to the vet that morning. They checked him, and he had a fever again, but his ears looked fine, and the examination didn't reveal anything. They took him back for blood, and eventually told me to come back, and I saw my cat who was no longer breathing, as they tried to revive him. They were unsuccessful. I stood there thinking I cannot believe this is happening to me a second time. How often do cats die while they are drawing blood? They did an autopsy, and nothing came up, and we are waiting for results on his heart and other tissues from a pathologist.
With my previous cat, it was a little different. She was 12, almost 13 years old when this happened. She had an exam in October, and everything was fine. She weighed 14 lbs at the time. In November, she began having diarrhea. I took her to the vet, and she had a tapeworm. SHe got medicine for that, and in December had a reevaluation, and the tapeworm was gone. I believe she was around 11 lbs then. We expected her to begin gaining weight again, but she didn't. She continued to have diarrhea, but did not have a tapeworm. Between December and March, she was back and forth several times, we tried different medications (I believe one was for something like colitis), but she continued to lose weight. In March, I took her for bloodwork. By this time, she was down to 7 lbs and you could feel her spine when you petted her. So she had halved her body weight in 5 months. They took her back for blood, and I could tell something was going on, and finally the vet came out and said they were trying to revive her, because her heart stopped. They came out later and told me she had died. I was shocked, however, given her age and weight loss, this one wasn't as much of a shock. The vet said one of the things she could have had was hyperthyroidism, and after I looked this up on the internet, she had all of the symptons, so that would probably explain this.
The latest cat is the hardest for me, because he was so young, and was previously healthy. He had been at the vet a year ago for a urinary tract infection, which I understand is common with male cats. I just wonder if this is common for cats' hearts to stop while retrieving blood, or if I just have back luck.
The most recent cat has always been overweight, so he loved to eat. A couple of weeks ago, his appetite dropped. He was still eating, but not nearly as much. After about 5 days of this, I took him to the vet. They did bloodwork, which didn't show any problems, but he did have a fever. They gave him a shot of antibiotics, and sent him home with more antibiotics and valium, treating it as a fever of unknown origin. He got better, was back to normal eating, but after about a week, his appetite dropped again. This happened on a Saturday, so I couldn't take him to the vet until Monday. Saturday he slowly stopped eating his hard food. I could give him tuna fish or wet cat food, and he loved that. Saturday morning we also noticed he had his ears flat and kept shaking his head and scratching his ears. He also started throwing up a lot, mostly hair balls. This went on through Sunday. We also noticed on Sunday that he was not laying at his normal places. He started sleeping behind our TV stand and in our unfinished basement. It seemed like he wanted to get away from us. This was a cat that has always been extremely friendly and loving. I even took him outside in the sun on Sunday, and he seemed very happy. We fed him his wet food throughout the day on Sunday, and he ate that right up. When we got up Monday a.m. and fed him, he wouldn't eat his wet food. He had also thrown up several times over night. I gave him a valium, which seemed to help him before, with his hunger and contentment, but he threw that up. I took him to the vet that morning. They checked him, and he had a fever again, but his ears looked fine, and the examination didn't reveal anything. They took him back for blood, and eventually told me to come back, and I saw my cat who was no longer breathing, as they tried to revive him. They were unsuccessful. I stood there thinking I cannot believe this is happening to me a second time. How often do cats die while they are drawing blood? They did an autopsy, and nothing came up, and we are waiting for results on his heart and other tissues from a pathologist.
With my previous cat, it was a little different. She was 12, almost 13 years old when this happened. She had an exam in October, and everything was fine. She weighed 14 lbs at the time. In November, she began having diarrhea. I took her to the vet, and she had a tapeworm. SHe got medicine for that, and in December had a reevaluation, and the tapeworm was gone. I believe she was around 11 lbs then. We expected her to begin gaining weight again, but she didn't. She continued to have diarrhea, but did not have a tapeworm. Between December and March, she was back and forth several times, we tried different medications (I believe one was for something like colitis), but she continued to lose weight. In March, I took her for bloodwork. By this time, she was down to 7 lbs and you could feel her spine when you petted her. So she had halved her body weight in 5 months. They took her back for blood, and I could tell something was going on, and finally the vet came out and said they were trying to revive her, because her heart stopped. They came out later and told me she had died. I was shocked, however, given her age and weight loss, this one wasn't as much of a shock. The vet said one of the things she could have had was hyperthyroidism, and after I looked this up on the internet, she had all of the symptons, so that would probably explain this.
The latest cat is the hardest for me, because he was so young, and was previously healthy. He had been at the vet a year ago for a urinary tract infection, which I understand is common with male cats. I just wonder if this is common for cats' hearts to stop while retrieving blood, or if I just have back luck.