<p>This morning, I woke up as usual to get my 12 year old ready for school. The last week has been a rough one for us as both of ( thankfully not my husband ) are recovering from the swine flu. I was on the fence about even having her return to school as she is still not 100% in terms of energy levels…no actual symptoms anymore , but she has missed a lot of school since the week before last we took a family vacation to Fla.</p>
<p>We are a cat household…4 Maine Coons and two strays who reside in our garage. </p>
<p>Well the normal routine is me being surrounded by my hungry cats while I walk downstairs to fill their plate. One of them, the youngest, was noticibaly absent…I found him curled up in a sleeping position on the sofa in our formal living room…I couldn’t believe it when he didn’t stir when I walked in and to my horror, he was cold.</p>
<p>I can’t for the life of me imagine what could have possibly caused this…he was perfectly normal just yesterday…in fact the last thing I did before going to bed was to feed him a bit of kibble, along with his best buddy. I don’t have poisonous plants, no exposed garbage , he didn’t go outside and he was only 5 yrs old.</p>
<p>I was a mess today…even went to one of my favorite local stores to buy him a grave marked and then fell apart in front of the slaes people.</p>
<p>I am no stranger to losing pets, but this is so awful because it seemed to come out of nowhere…no old age, or cancer or other causes I have have to deal with in the past…</p>
<p>Also, he was my daughter’s baby…her Christmas gift when she was 7…</p>
<p>I am so sorry, but the cause of death is likely cardiomyopathy. We lost beloved 4 year old Maine Coon that same way a number of years ago. There is a gene running through some bloodlines of Maine Coons, particularly if there is some cream coloring. I really sympathize with you and it is horrible to lose a beloved pet.</p>
<p>I am so very sorry. We are cat lovers, too. All ours have been homeless in the past.</p>
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<p>My boss just lost her cat on Friday. He was having trouble breathing, so she took him to the vet. He had a heart attack and died while the vet was x-raying him. Our horse vet was there today and my boss was explaining about the cat. Both the horse vet and the vet tech said together “must have been cardiomyopathy”. Apparently it is common in cats.</p>
<p>lje62…my sympathies to you and your daughter. It’s always tough to say good bye to a member of the family, even when it is inevitable…more so when it’s a surprise.</p>
<p>We unexpectedly lost our 25 lb., uglier than ugly, two-toothed, asthmatic, allergy filled, two insulin shot a day, 9 year old rescue kitty in February. That was a very difficult call to D at college (her baby)…took me a day before I could make the call. Still think about and miss that big bugger to this day…</p>
<p>This is so sad. I’m really sorry to hear about your loss. I get sad just thinking about losing our family animal members. Grief is odd isn’t it? So hard to know how we will react or do. It is good that if he had to leave so soon, it appears he died unexpectedly in his sleep, on his comfy sofa.</p>
<p>I am so sorry this happened. I know how sad it is to lose them when they are so young and you expect to have them for a long time. </p>
<p>I lost a 2 year old to some sort of liver disease that was never really diagnosed and I lost another 2 year old years later to what was probably cardiomyopathy. He jumped into my bed to wake me up - as he did every morning - and I heard a little wheezing. He was gone by afternoon. They were the most charismatic cats I have had and entertained me every day. I think they packed it all in the short time they were here to make sure I remembered them.</p>
<p>I was 12 when my almost 20 year old cat had to be put down. I miss her so **** much, but i guess i was lucky, i still have (and still do) my dog, who was a pup (cat raised her) at the time. I don’t know which one of us took it harder me or my dog…</p>
<p>Thank you for all of the kind words. I have lost six cats in the last 13 yrs , but this one is hitting me hard for some reason. I was able to prepare for most of the others, since they were ill, but this was just so unexpected.</p>
<p>lje - We are a cat lovers too and know exactly how you are feeling. </p>
<p>A year ago, I was playing with our 10 year old Himalayan cat. After he tired of our game, he trotted around the corner and I could hear him munching on kibble. I heard him jump off the “food table” (we keep the cat food bowls on top of an old end table so the dog won’t bother it), and the next thing I heard was a low, guttural moaning sound I will never forget. I raced around the corner to find him lying on his side, flaccid. At that same time, our younger D was just coming in the door from school. She heard the sound and came running downstairs. We flew out to her car sock-footed and sped to the vet. I knew he was already gone, but was just going on adrenalin by that time. The vet couldn’t tell us with certainty what had happened but it was probably his heart. Like you, that was the first time we had ever lost a cat suddenly. Before it had always been kidney failure, etc. We lost a cat to kidney disease at age 7 and my sister lost one to the same disease at age 3. Just like humans, some cats develop problems earlier than others. Although it was such a shock to us and we had to make that terrible phone call to our college D (her cat), I wish all our pets could have such a quick ending. Kidney disease with two other pets was slow and painful for all of us to watch. Our 11 year old dog now has heart disease and I see him fail a little more each week.</p>
<p>We have a 20 lb. Maine Coon. Our younger D (who is now in college) is madly in love with her. She is our first Maine Coon and keeps us entertained with her constant dialogue.</p>
<p>What Sir Walter said about dogs is also true for cats:</p>
<p>“I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?” </p>
So sorry.</p>