R.I.P. -- my cat

Pellaz

Tigron of Immanion
Feb 12, 2002
8,815
5
38
Atlanta, GA
www.paulcashman.com
A few of you have met my cat, affectionately nicknamed "Zombie Kitty" lately since he'd developed a habit of scratching himself in one spot enough to draw blood. Otherwise he was a very affectionate 8-yr old cat (who shed a lot) and who was often inseparable from his owner, namely me.

On Monday, since it was Veterans Day (i.e., government employees' get-shit-done day), I brought him in to a nearby animal hospital for an overdue checkup on his scratching problem.
He had also developed fleas within the last two weeks, and one flea treatment I'd bought at PetCo hadn't worked for very long. I tried another, different spray treatment on him before heading down to the vet. He seemed to develop more sores and also had some trouble breathing afterward. :mad:

The vet checked him out, gave him a pill that kills all the fleas in about an hour (!), and also thought he might be anemic so he ran a blood test, too. He decided he wanted to keep him overnight, and I agreed.

This morning (Tues.) the vet called me. My cat had expired from respiratory arrest not long after the technicians arrived in the morning. :cry:

They're still not sure exactly why it happened, and I've asked for a necropsy to find out. I'm thinking it might have been related to the flea 'medicine' I tried, but the vet thought it could have been a virus of some sort.


I'll miss him.
 
Very sorry to hear that dude :(. As manly as it sounds, I'm a cat guy myself. We lost our cat, Alley, last fall. She was 12 (we'd had her since I was 6). It sucked because it was about 2 weeks after I left home to come to college. I feel for ya dude.
 
Yeah, yeah, I know: cats aren't all that manly and I'm supposed to have a dog instead.

I've just always gotten along well with cats unless they're totally antisocial.

"I don't believe in auras, but I believe that cats can sense them." :lol:
 
Aww man, so sorry to hear that! Poor little guy :-\ Hopefully it wasn't the flea spray! My goodness, what a scary thought! Maybe one of the fleas gave him the virus.. Cats are great, especially the ones that we bond to the most. I miss my little furballs, too. Are you going to get another kitty? *hugs*
 
=( poor kitty.

Sadly most flea treatments not only don't work, but can cause harm. Such as that Hartz shit. But who knows what happened to your kitty. I find it odd that your kitty died while at the Vet's office though...
 
I'm sorry to hear that Pellaz. Our first dog died very suddenly from respiratory arrest. It's rough when it comes with no warning, though it spares you from having to make a choice of putting them dwon.

Hang in there.
 
Oh man, I wish I were there to give you a hug. I hope they can find some answers so you don't have that endless sense of wondering what the hell happened adding more to your grief. Todd & I know how much that sucks. ((((Paul)))
 
Sorry to hear that Pellaz. My cat Ralph died back in March at the vets also. Although he was 16 and had liver problems,I think it's too stressful for some animals to be at the vet. With all the other animals there and a totally alien environment its just too much for a sick pet. It sucks but I would rather them go quickly than have a long painful end.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that Pellaz, you have my sincere heartfelt condolences. We have a cat ourselves that we care for very much and understand how special they can be to a person, sometimes even closer then most family members.

Yeah, yeah, I know: cats aren't all that manly and I'm supposed to have a dog instead.

There's nothing more manly then caring for a pussy.
 
Sorry to hear about your cat, Paul. My first kitty had cardiomyopathy, and went into heart failure at age 10. She survived the heart failure, but stopped eating and drinking entirely, so I had to put her down. It is a very difficult thing to lose a pet.

On a more positive note, about 3 weeks ago I adopted a kitty who a friend of mine rescued from the street. She is still quite shy but is coming around. :)

Again, my condolences.

Steph
 
A few of you have met my cat, affectionately nicknamed "Zombie Kitty" lately since he'd developed a habit of scratching himself in one spot enough to draw blood. Otherwise he was a very affectionate 8-yr old cat (who shed a lot) and who was often inseparable from his owner, namely me.

On Monday, since it was Veterans Day (i.e., government employees' get-shit-done day), I brought him in to a nearby animal hospital for an overdue checkup on his scratching problem.
He had also developed fleas within the last two weeks, and one flea treatment I'd bought at PetCo hadn't worked for very long. I tried another, different spray treatment on him before heading down to the vet. He seemed to develop more sores and also had some trouble breathing afterward. :mad:

The vet checked him out, gave him a pill that kills all the fleas in about an hour (!), and also thought he might be anemic so he ran a blood test, too. He decided he wanted to keep him overnight, and I agreed.

This morning (Tues.) the vet called me. My cat had expired from respiratory arrest not long after the technicians arrived in the morning. :cry:

They're still not sure exactly why it happened, and I've asked for a necropsy to find out. I'm thinking it might have been related to the flea 'medicine' I tried, but the vet thought it could have been a virus of some sort.


I'll miss him.


That sucks... we lost two ferrets last year to lymphosarcoma last year within about two months of each other... I feel for ya.
 
=( poor kitty.

Sadly most flea treatments not only don't work, but can cause harm. Such as that Hartz shit. But who knows what happened to your kitty. I find it odd that your kitty died while at the Vet's office though...

Yeah... I absolutely cannot use any topical flea treatments on my girl cat, except flea shampoo, and I only wash her about 1-2 x a year. Otherwise, she gets nasty dry skin and scratches herself absolutely raw. :(

Paul, I'm *so* sorry to hear about your cat. I doubt the treatment you gave was fatal, though. Please let us know what the necropsy turns up. Mine are 14 and 12, so they're getting up there but I hope to have many more years with them. 8 years sounds incredibly short. If you get lonely and want to come play with mine... waitaminnit, that doesn't sound so good!! :oops:

Shaye
 
did they not offer to check your cat for allergies? Our chihuahua - yes, I said chihuahua - has an allergy problem about twice per year. And she will also scratch herself raw in one spot. It's always that one spot just behind her shoulder blade. But the vet offers these pills that we have to give her once per day and it really seems to help. But even broken into quarters, they still almost knock her out! Much like benadryl and other allergy medicines can affect people.

Many dogs and cats have allergies just like people, and when certain pollen is in the air they will sit around and scratch and sneeze just as we do. When I was a kid growing up and always had a 'yard dog' of one type or another, we just attributed the scratching to fleas.

Go figure. :oops:

anyway, we're very sorry to hear about your cat Paul. I know if we lost Gabby after almost 7 years of being a family member, we'd be quite upset ourselves. :cry:
 
I'm sorry to hear about the kitty. :( I lost my cat, Fireball (hey, I was 8 when I named him!) around this time last year. He was 16. It was hard, because for two years prior, I watched his slow decline. I still miss Fireball.

His half-brother, Midnight, however, is six months younger, and quite spry. Go figure. Also, Midnight recently put your youngest kitty (who is 7), Jenny, in her place. And it's about time! She terrorized Fireball and Midnight almost from day 1 when I brought her home as a tiny ball of grey fuzz. Midnight is now ruler of the roost, and Jenny gets the heck out of his way when he walks by. :D
 
So sorry to hear about your cat...I have two. This past summer, my youngest (Little Juan) just stopped eating and stopped going to the bathroom. I took him to the emergency vet and they had to perform emergency surgery on him to get a kidney stone out...it was totally blocking his kidneys and his blood wasn't being filtered out. He was in intensive care for over a week...He made it out ok though, but never had such a scare in my life. My cats are my children. Love them to death. My condolences to you. :)