Cat Chat Feline Forum

Hi Everyone,

This morning I woke up to find my cat Willow stretched out with front legs tightly folded over her chest. She appeared to have had a stroke or seizure and was in a state of low consciousness. I whisked her off to the animal hospital and she quickly declined before dying in my arms. I'm trying to understand what happened, and she did have a couple health issues that may have caused or contributed.

She had a level 1 (of 6) heart murmur. She was on low dose beta blockers and the condition was almost imperceptible. I doubt this caused her death.

3 months ago she was diagnosed with level 3 kidney disease, after I noticed her drinking more, losing weight, and acting anxious/depressed. I switched her to high quality raw diet (yes, I know it's contentious) and the vet put her on phosphate binders. The turnaround in her health in under 3 months was amazing. She gained weight, reduced her drinking to normal levels, and acted like a normal healthy and happy cat. It's as if she had no developing kidney issues as all. Due to this turnaround, I am questioning if even this disease caused her death.

Now, there's a third undiagnosed issue that I am wondering about. I raised it with vets last year, but it got passed over. Over the past year, she started shaking her head occasionally, as if to loosen mucus or ear wax. Recently, since just before Christmas it became more pronounced and also coincided with stumbling in the past few weeks. She was strong and fit (no leg blood clots), but became progressively unsteady on her feet. It was like she had vertigo. I suspected ear infection, respiratory infection, or something worse like a brain condition. She was scheduled to see the vet on Monday, but sadly the condition picked up Friday night and worsened on Saturday. She was losing strength and had trouble last night climbing the basement stairs where her litter tray is located. This morning I found her collapsed in the condition I describe at the top. She had vomited, and was in a part of the room that she never goes, suggesting possible disorientation or even blindness.

If anyone knows what might have happened to Willow, I greatly appreciate your advice. I just want to know what likely went wrong. Stroke, brain blood clot, or even the kidney/heart issues? Thank you in advance.

So sorry for your loss, Willow is at peace now and you are left with all the questions that grief replays like a broken record.

I think you know nobody can give you those answers, even a vet's autopsy might or might not give you any answers and would definitely raise more, and people on the internet who have never met you certainly can't. But that said it does sound fairly likely that some kind of neurological condition or even a brain tumour could be a reasonable suspect. And of course an autopsy wouldn't bring her back, which is what we really wish for with all our questions - please give me back these last few moments and I swear I'll do it all differently and maybe get a better outcome.

From what you say I'm guessing Willow was a good age and obviously had the best attention, love and care with you. What more could we ask for? Even if her last moments were uncomfortable, she didn't suffer and she was with you at the end. Such a rapid decline very likely means there was a limited amount you could do to help her. Be kind to yourself.

I am so sorry - you obviously took great care of Willow and loved her dearly. I agree with Mollycat - there are no certain answers, even with an autopsy, and your vets are the people most able to explain the probable cause. But it does sound as if both heart and kidney issues were well managed and well controlled, and that it was much more likely to be neurological and quite possibly a brain tumour. The seizure yesterday morning could also suggest a tumour. Such cancers are not often curable, and even treatment to slow progression can be stressful and unpleasant for both the cat and owner. If Willow was happy and fit until these last few days I think both she and you may have been saved weeks or months of unpleasant interventions and slow, unhappy decline before the same inevitable conclusion, had she been diagnosed earlier.

Thank you for your responses.

I have since learned that high blood pressure (hypertension) was a likely side effect of her kidney condition and possible cause of her death. The symptoms match too. What troubles me is that this tragedy may have been avoided if the vet had seen her a week or two ago. She was actually booked in for a visit today. I should have taken her in as soon as I noticed the changes.

I'm sorry for your loss, I doubt it was hypertension caused by kidney issues, as beta blockers are used for hypertension in cats, and you say she was on a low dose. I do think a neurological issue is more likely

I can only add my own sympathy to that that the others have sent.

Try not to beat yourself up with 'what ifs' the speed Willow went downhill at, I'm not sure anything could have been done even if she had gone to the vet earlier, it probably wouldn't have made any difference, it certainly sounds like she was checked over regularly and at any sign of issues. Like the others I'm no expert, but my thought would be sudden heart attack, stroke, or something like a brain tumour, things that can happen to anyone.

In the end she found herself a quiet place, in her own home, with you not that far away and let herself go. I have an old girl and there have been a few times when she has been on my knee and gone into such a deep sleep i wasn't sure she was still with me. The first couple of times it panicked me to think of her dying on my lap, but then I realised that there really could be no better way for her to go, warm, happy and somewhere she feels safe. In the end all we can do is to give them as good a life as we are able and accept that there will come a day when they leave us and we have to do our best to make that day as painless for them as possible, which it sounds like Willows was. Tiggy is still with me, but I have no idea for how much longer, all i can hope is that when her times comes i can make sure her passing is as peaceful as possible, just as it sounds like Willows was.