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About Jana Connell RVT, CVT
Expertise
PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING TO ME: I am NOT a vet and do NOT diagnose diseases. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I will give you suggestions and steer you toward calling your vet for help. You can call the vet's office and talk to the technician there or the vet at times. Don't be afraid to call them! If you have a serious issue with your pet please post it to one of the veterinarians in here- I will tell you the same thing in my answer. IF your pet is injured or in an emergency situation, CALL YOUR VET- Do not wait and post in here. Just call the vet's office and get them in to see the vet right away. Critical treatment time is lost if you seek answers here when you should have your precious pet at the vets!! Don't sit at home waiting for an answer when your pet is critically ill or injured!! I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals. I DO NOT do birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS/REPTILES/FROGS/RABBITS/PET BIRDS OF ANY KIND so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I, as well as other experts in here, do NOT do homework questions- that is for YOU to do! Please respect these rules for all of us. Thanks!

Experience
I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a Small Animal Nutritional Consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina. I also specialized in Small Animal Dentistry which is a field I truly love.

Organizations
Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

Education/Credentials
Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT. Certified Veterinary Dental Technician Have over 500 logged hours of Continuing Education Credits(that means I keep up to date!).

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Pet Birds > Ask the Veterinarian > Sudden dealth cat

Ask the Veterinarian - Sudden dealth cat

Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 11/6/2009

Question
Thank you for your time in responding. We just lost our 7 yr old male cat suddenly this morning. He is mostly an outdoor cat that would come in for occasional naps. He was laying outside on our garage floor unable to walk. I picked him up to move him and he let out a groan and meow and poop started coming out of his behind. I had called a few vets and they said to bring him in but within the 1/2 hr he had died. The only symptom he had shown was some mild limping the day before and the occasional vomiting usually accompanied buy a hair ball. He did throw up yesterday as well that only had cat food in it. He killed and ate a lot of mice. Regretfully we were behind on his immunizations.

My biggest concern is we have three small children one being under 1 and if he had something contagious that could be passed onto them. My 10 month old had a single pin worm about 3 weeks ago that I assume she got from the cat, that has been the only one so it seemed to be isolated. I didn't know if that info would matter. The only other thing I noticed (since his death# that he was using a box of lyme#plant food for grass)for a litter box. We had it in a bag that got wet and tore so we put it in a box in the garage. Could that have poisoned him? Thanks again for your time.

Answer
First I want to say that I am sorry to hear about your cat. It is never easy to lose a pet. It is hard for me to know what could have done this to your cat, but there are many things that outdoor cats are exposed to.

He could have been hit by a car. He could have eaten a mouse that had been poisoned. That can take days to kill the cat but it will eventually make them bleed to death inside.
I don't know what you mean by Lyme plant food, but unless he ate it, I don't know if it would have hurt him. If it had lime in it, that would have burned his feet and he wouldn't have used it.

Snail bait is poisonous but cats don't eat that kind of thing. He could have gotten into some antifreeze however and it only takes two licks to kill a cat within 2 days of kidney failure.

You could take him in for a necropsy if you are concerned about contagions, however, it would be hard to say what those could be at this point.

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