How did my cat die?

July 5, 2006 7:03am CST
We found our cat dead the other morning on the path of our neighbours property. Her body was well and truely hard at this time. She showed no outward signs of injury or blood. In the days leading up to her death, she showed no signs of being ill at all. We recently had an incident with the neighbours son, in which property our cat was found, and am hoping that no ill treatment towards our cat was caused by him, due to the incident; ie: poisoning. Is there any signs i could have looked for to see what could possibly have caused the death of my cat? or would it only have been possible to find out by taking her to the vet for them to check her?
1 response
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
5 Jul 06
I am very sorry that you lost you cat. I am currently handling one of ours who is sick, not quite sure what is wrong with him yet. We are hoping it is a reaction to medicine he is on for gingivitis. Did you take your cat to the vet for regular visits? There are many diseases cats can get - heartworms, Feline Leukemia Virus - which carry no signs. Other diseases like - Feline Panleukopenia (which is very common during warm months) - have symptoms (vomiting, loss of appetite) that may mirror other things. If you cat was poisoned it may not have been intentionally, many outside plants are toxic or your cat may have eaten some rat poison that had been left out by a neighbor. I think the final diagnosis would have to be made by a vet because none of the diseases above really have any tell tale signs unless your cat showed symptoms. How old was your cat? Was it an outdoor only cat? The person we adopted our cats from and our vet both said the average life for an outdoor cat is 8 years, whereas an indoor cat can live pat 13 years.