From: echyatt@eos.ncsu.edu (EDWARD CRAIG HYATT)
Subject: Re: unknown cause of death
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 19:58:36 GMT

In article <23JUL199211341196@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov> afallen@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (E. Allen Arrington) writes:
>One of our cats died very suddenly this week and as of the mement the vet 
>has no idea why.  I was hoping that someone here could help.  Here's the 
>story.  The cat was a yellow tiger mutt shorthair, 1 year 5 months old 
>named Ambrose (after confederate general Ambrose Powell Hill).  The cat was 
>a nuetered male in apparaent good health (had been to the vet for a regular 
>checkup and shots just the week before and there were no reported problems)
>Our cats are generally indoor cats but do go outside a couple of times a 
>week (we live in the country and we are afraid that the cats will raom to 
>far from home or meet up with unfreindly critters or cars).  Last Sunday 
>both cats were very lively and active during the day except that Ambose was 
>sneezing; they were outside for 
>about an hour durin the middle of the day and showed no unusal signs after 
>coming back inside.  My wife and I went out to dinner and we came back, we 
>were met at the door by only one of the cats (usually both are there to 
>greet us).  We found Ambrose sitting under a table very quiet; his eyes 
>were "rolled back" into his head and his breathing was slightly labored.  
>We went to the emergency vet where it was felt that this was a respritory 
>problem of some sort; he was given antibitoics and we were instructed to 
>take him to the regualr vet tomarrow if no improvment was seen (his temp 
>was on the high side of normal, 102.8, according to the vet).  His 
>condition did not improve over night so we took him to the vet on Monday 
>were his condition declined fairly rapidly during hte afternoon; the cat 
>died around 8:15 Monday evening.  The vet said that the test results showed 
>all body/blood chemistry levels of the cat were within normal levels.  The 
>cat did throw up blood just prior to expiring.  Post mortem showed no 
>unusal damage or irritation in the intestines or stomach and no signs or 
>trauma; results from tests of the tissue samples are not avaliable as of 
>yet.  The cat appeared to be disoriented, was having trouble seeing and was 
>displaying neurological problems (right side of its body was not working 
>well, he was walking in circles and stumbling around).  The vet could find 
>no signs of poison or toxins of any kind, the stomach contents were fulid 
>only.  The vet has not ruled out poison or even rabies, but does not think 
>either likely.  Anybody got any ideas, we need to know so we can protect 
>the other cat (Ulyses).  My only idea is that the cat was healthy but had a 
>defect of some sort that killed him (maybe he had a stoke?).  Thanks in 
>advance.
>
>E. Allen Arrington  
>        Trooper, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, Co. C 
>        Mounted Memorial Unit                 
>and Mason (a darn fine horse)

My cat has experienced a few episodes of
viral infection that came on very rapidly
and caused a rapid decline in his health.
You didn't mention his white cell count.
If it were extremely low, that was one
characteristic of such an infection.
When infected, he became extremely dehydrated
and would have died, had I not taken him
to the emergency room.  The vet injected
water to re-hydrate him.  After the first
episode, I was able to recognize when he
was sick by his change in resting posture
(on the side instead of "sphinx") and by
his lethargy.  Without treatment, I believe
he would have died within 24 hours.

I'm truly sorry about your kitty.

-Craig
-- 
--------------------
Craig Hyatt
NCSU@Raleigh, NC USA
echyatt@eos.ncsu.edu
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Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats