Cathy,

My lovely lovely cat and best friend died last night. He fell ill early December and on diagnosis it was found to be a weak spot on the heart and a blood clot in the front leg as a result. The cat was 15 1/2 yrs old He was treated for 3 days and made a full recovery regaining full use of the front leg. He was then put on Vetmedin, Plavix and an Aspirin every three days. The vet at the time said that she believed he will have at best 7-9months left of his life.
The cat gave us a lot of joy and we gave him a lot of love, as always, but sadly, last night when I arrived home from work, I found him in a very bad state lying on the floor and crying in pain. His body was completely floppy and I rushed him to the clinic... Sadly he died in the car on the way to the clinic (about 10 minutes after I found him).... I am absolutely heart broken...
My question is, in his dying moments blood started to come from his mouth; up to the point when the blood started to appear from his mouth, he was quite still with the occasional painful "whail" cry. All of a sudden then he started to move in spasms and kept on biting into the blanket I had him in ... that is when the blood appeared (lots) and moments later he was dead.

Can you explain what had happened internally for that to happen.

I am really traumatised by the site of my poor cat going through that pain and my feeling of helplessness, and I need closure but cannot find the peace because of those moments. Please help me understand this....

Hi Tobie

Poor you, I imagine you are haunted by these last images of your dear cat. Internally his heart was failing and stopping so blood was gradually failing to reach his brain, leading to him going unconscious. In the last stages a dying cat, that is going unconscious, may go into muscular spasms and I have known them to bite their tongue. Just as you saw him biting the blanket, your cat may well have bitten his tongue too which would explain the sudden large amount of blood which appeared. I have also observed cats wail and cry as they go unconscious and it isnt necessarily due to pain but just an involuntary action. For at least some of what you observed I dont believe your cat was aware of what he was doing and not feeling sensation. Hold on to the fact that you did everything for him with his serious heart condition and that he spent a long and happy life with you up to that time.

Cathy Wickenden BVet Med MRCVS
Barton Lodge Veterinary Centre
1 Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5BH
Tel: 01442 216048 24 hours
[www.bartonlodgevets.co.uk]