Why did my cat die?

Boy

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Aug 5, 2011
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I had a cat, that was always in the house, recently we let the cat out doors. After a few weeks of going out, the cat started to slow down, it did not play, the cat seemed to rest all the time. It also stopped eating and drinking (my guess on the rate of food left behind). This is all hindsight now. But after a few weeks of sickness, I came home from a long trip and my wife said she had not see the cat for a few days. I found the cat dead. I felt so bad, because I should have taken it to a vet. I was thinking it must just be sick and will get over it. We have 3 other cats, but that was my favorite. After many pets and many years of having them, this is the first time one has gotten sick and died as a young cat. I wonder what would cause this? I don't think it was poison because that would not make the cat slow down for weeks and then die.
It is a terrible feeling thinking I may have been able to help the poor thing.
 
Could be lots of things. Heat..and Allergy..maybe it drank anti-freeze.

Bottom line is letting the cat out wasn't a good idea.
 
He died because he was an indoor cat, and then you made him an outdoor cat.

Most likely he ate something poisonous outside, which killed him

Poor Kitty. :(
 
All my cats are outdoor cats. Too much trouble inside.
They have plenty of outbuildings to live in.
 
Not enough info. It could have been eating a poisonous substance that took time to kill it. Not all poisons or hazardous substances are fast acting. Then again it may have just gotten sick and died from something internal like we humans do. It may not have anything to do with going outside. Without an autopsy it is all guesswork.
 
I had a cat, that was always in the house, recently we let the cat out doors. After a few weeks of going out, the cat started to slow down, it did not play, the cat seemed to rest all the time. It also stopped eating and drinking (my guess on the rate of food left behind). This is all hindsight now. But after a few weeks of sickness, I came home from a long trip and my wife said she had not see the cat for a few days. I found the cat dead. I felt so bad, because I should have taken it to a vet. I was thinking it must just be sick and will get over it. We have 3 other cats, but that was my favorite. After many pets and many years of having them, this is the first time one has gotten sick and died as a young cat. I wonder what would cause this? I don't think it was poison because that would not make the cat slow down for weeks and then die.
It is a terrible feeling thinking I may have been able to help the poor thing.

You could ask your vet their thoughts, but I doubt without having seen the cat or performing an necropsy, they could even answer this for you. It could have been any number of things. Something it got into. It could have been something the it was coming down with before you ever let it out, or it could have been a pre-existing condition that finally caught with up with the cat.

I'm truly sorry for the loss of your fur baby.
 
I had a cat, that was always in the house, recently we let the cat out doors. After a few weeks of going out, the cat started to slow down, it did not play, the cat seemed to rest all the time. It also stopped eating and drinking (my guess on the rate of food left behind). This is all hindsight now. But after a few weeks of sickness, I came home from a long trip and my wife said she had not see the cat for a few days. I found the cat dead. I felt so bad, because I should have taken it to a vet. I was thinking it must just be sick and will get over it. We have 3 other cats, but that was my favorite. After many pets and many years of having them, this is the first time one has gotten sick and died as a young cat. I wonder what would cause this? I don't think it was poison because that would not make the cat slow down for weeks and then die.
It is a terrible feeling thinking I may have been able to help the poor thing.

The cat stopped eating and drinking "for a few weeks"? I think you have your answer. I have two dogs and I cannot imagine letting them get sicker and sicker over a period of weeks without taking them to the vet. Your cat died because you neglected it. If you truly do feel bad about that, learn from this and don't ever let it happen again.
 
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Okay, this is obviously not the first pet the OP has had and he has other cats thriving well under his care. Should he have taken it to the vet, definitely, but obviously he is feeling remorse and is saddened over its death...it's his first post here. Hopefully he will learn from this, but few of us are above overlooking something about our pets that we should have paid attention to. I don't see the need to add to the guy's sorrow with some of the remarks here. Get mad at the folks who willfully leave their animals locked up in a hot car on a hot summer day, keep them chained up day in and day out, don't feed and water them and have no interaction with them, beat them, torture them...this guy doesn't deserve it. If he didn't care about his animals I doubt he would have posted about it here. Stating it died from neglect is a judgment on your part, and none of us know the exact particulars that we can make that judgment with absolute certainty. He made an error in judgment, it happens to the best of us.
 
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Sorry to hear you cat died.

The letting it roam outside thing coud just be a coincidence.

Dont beat yourself up about it.

He knew you loved him.
 
Okay, this is obviously not the first pet the OP has had and he has other cats thriving well under his care. Should he have taken it to the vet, definitely, but obviously he is feeling remorse and is saddened over its death...it's his first post here. Hopefully he will learn from this, but few of us are above overlooking something about our pets that we should have paid attention to. I don't see the need to add to the guy's sorrow with some of the remarks here. Get mad at the folks who willfully leave their animals locked up in a hot car on a hot summer day, keep them chained up day in and day out, don't feed and water them and have no interaction with them, beat them, torture them...this guy doesn't deserve it. If he didn't care about his animals I doubt he would have posted about it here. Stating it died from neglect is a judgment on your part, and none of us know the exact particulars that we can make that judgment with absolute certainty. He made an error in judgment, it happens to the best of us.


Well, the risk of posting an OP like that is that someone might just give an honest answer. If he's looking for absolution, he's looking in the wrong place. I don't know that I believe letting his cat live in sickness for a period of weeks is much less cruel than those other things you listed. I bet if the OP had been sick for that long, he would have gotten himself to a doc. If he feels bad, good, he should. Hopefully he'll learn from this.
 
Okay, this is obviously not the first pet the OP has had and he has other cats thriving well under his care. Should he have taken it to the vet, definitely, but obviously he is feeling remorse and is saddened over its death...it's his first post here. Hopefully he will learn from this, but few of us are above overlooking something about our pets that we should have paid attention to. I don't see the need to add to the guy's sorrow with some of the remarks here. Get mad at the folks who willfully leave their animals locked up in a hot car on a hot summer day, keep them chained up day in and day out, don't feed and water them and have no interaction with them, beat them, torture them...this guy doesn't deserve it. If he didn't care about his animals I doubt he would have posted about it here. Stating it died from neglect is a judgment on your part, and none of us know the exact particulars that we can make that judgment with absolute certainty. He made an error in judgment, it happens to the best of us.


Well, the risk of posting an OP like that is that someone might just give an honest answer. If he's looking for absolution, he's looking in the wrong place. I don't know that I believe letting his cat live in sickness for a period of weeks is much less cruel than those other things you listed. I bet if the OP had been sick for that long, he would have gotten himself to a doc. If he feels bad, good, he should. Hopefully he'll learn from this.

I think everyone here gave an honest answer. The guy wasn't seeking for absolution, just answers. None of us here are judge and jury. It was obvious the guy already felt bad. Yeah he made a mistake, but that's no reason to trample on someone when they're down.
 
Sounds like he should have never been let outside. If he was an inside kitty for all his life, then you suddenly let him out, he undoubtedly got into something that made it sick. Was it declawed?? Most indoor cats are, and one should never put a cat outside if they have been declawed. Sorry for your loss.
 
The first sentence...enough said.


As stated in the thread before. You let the cat out. It doesn't really matter the how and why of the end game.
 
If you have continuous water feeder it was probably that. They usually die slowly like that if the water gets some sort of bacteria or parasite in it. One should never use a continuous water feeder for their cat.
 

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