Expert: Jessica - 9/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello. We are devastated as today we found our 11 years old cat dead upon returning from work. He was a very healthy male tuxedo cat who did not have any general health problems all of his life. He was in great shape and all of his recent geriatric profiles came back really good. He was an indoor only cat and we've had him since he was 8 weeks old. A couple of years back our vet heard a heart murmur. In November we ended up going to a cardiologist and doing a echogram which showed a mild hardening of the heart wall. The vet said it was nothing to be worried about, just repeat the test in one year. Over the winter, he got into a philodendron plant which caused him quite a bit of vomiting and diarrhea. We were concerned about the vomiting, but all through the episode he never looked like he was feeling sick. We took him to the vet, and after some IV fluids, X-rays to rule out a blockage, and I believe metronidazole, he recovered completely in a few days. A couple of months ago he ate some fresh cat grass purchased from the pet store (he's eaten that many many times before) and the vomiting started again. We were quite concerned,provided supportive care for him again and he got better in a few days.We had gotten him a new biodegradable litter (I believe made out of wheat) and we took it away, and he stopped vomiting right away, so we concluded that it probably was not the grass but he was probably eating the litter. I do not think we will ever forgive ourselves and I am quite angry with us for making the stupid decision to give him some grass again. We supervised him to ensure he does not pig out on it. He nibbled a bit on it yesterday, and a bit this morning, while being watched. Then before we left for work he threw up once which had us a bit concerned. Then we found him dead when we got back from work. There is the yellow liquid vomit in a few places in the house. We are devastated by loosing him and also by the fact that we feel directly responsible for causing this. I spoke with the vet and she was in shock to hear about it. I do not know what to think. My thoughts regarding the causes are: 1. the vomiting caused him to strain which might have caused his heart to fail although his heart murmur did not seem to be a very serious condition at the time of evaluation by the cardiologist back in Nov 2008. 2. eating the philodendron caused him some ulcers in his stomach or intestine and eating the grass this time might have opened the ulcer and make him bleed internally,although we did not find any blood anywhere. Any input you can provide would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

ANSWER: Hello Ioana.  I’m so sorry to hear of your devastating loss.

Even before I had read that your kitty had a murmur, my suspicion was already that he may have died to due hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  This is the condition in which the heart walls become thickened and hardened.  Because the condition does not allow the heart to fully contract, some blood remains in the chambers.  Old blood is allowed to clot.  If any of these clots break free, and in most cats, it’s only a matter of time, there are a number of places they can lodge.  Bigger clots get stuck in arteries that deliver oxygen to the legs, and this is not often immediately fatal.  But smaller clots may slip through and become lodged in arteries to the brain, causing a stroke.  These are far less common in cats than in people, but they do happen, and they are fatal.  

The other possibility that you mentioned is a cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), and cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy do sometimes go on to develop this more serious condition, which can be fatal in an instant.  This is certainly a valid theory.

I don’t think that the cat grass is very likely to have anything to do with it.  Vomiting can be a result of the texture of the unchewed roughage, just as it could result from unchewed food, but many of the nutrients in the grass, such as chlorophyll and vitamins A, C and E, are beneficial.

Unfortunately, a necropsy would have to have been performed in order to get a real answer, which is something most pet owners don’t like to go through.  But I certainly don’t believe that you had any hand in your beloved kitty’s death at all, and I would not blame it on giving him the treat of his cat grass.  I think it is certainly a coincidence, and I would strongly suspect his heart problems could be the reason he died so suddenly, even though they were found to be minor on his last exam.

My sincerest sympathies on your loss.

Jessica




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi, Jessica  - Thank you very much for your answer. I found your answer very informative and helpful. I was wondering if you had any insight into why the grass caused him so much vomiting. In the past, if any of my cats have grass, sometimes they vomit once or twice a small amount of grass. But then Laurel had the philodendron last fall/ winter and there was a lot of vomiting and diarrhea. That is explained by the fact that philodendrons are toxic to cats. But why would grass cause him vomiting to this extent? A few months ago, he vomited for 3-4 days and it was triggered by eating lots of grass and/or changing his litter to the wheat based variety. This last time, it was only a tiny bit amount of grass, and we did find about 10 places where he threw up - no grass, just yellow liquid. Thank you very much.

Answer
While cat grass (typically wheat, oat or barley grass) is generally very safe and well-tolerated by cats, any cat could potentially have an intolerance or allergy to it, very much like people could have an allergy or intolerance to dairy or nut ingredients in the foods we eat.  Cats can have the intolerances or allergies since they are young, but more often, they develop them over time.  It is possible that he became more and more intolerant to cat grass as he got older if this is what caused his vomiting.