I discovered this website by searching & asking, “what underlying disease would cause a cat to die suddenly?” My cat was barely 5 yrs. old. She spent equal time indoors & outdoors. She was an avid hunter & ate most of the prey she caught, especially squirrels. She ate all, sometimes even the tail. I’m only telling this part, hoping someone can shed some light on this matter. She was a very pet, very loving, & highly intelligent animal. She always wanted to please & only had to be told “no” once given each particular situation. Just after midnight on Sat. 7/08/17, she wanted out the front door. Before I could reach the lock & knob, she flopped over on her side but got up & trotted out same as usual. I had been suspicious all evening that something wasn’t right with her. That Fri. had been the 1st hot day of the summer & was oppressively humid. She had been in & out all evening. Within an hour of her exit for what was to be the last time, I went looking for her. I was up really late that night because it was Fri. night going into Sat. We live in the country but she rarely travels past a 5 acre radius from the house. So I began searching. The next day, I combed the entire property. Later, all surrounding neighbors were contacted. Nothing! Her body has never been recovered. We don’t believe she was a victim of a predator or auto-related accident. Our area is partially forested so we believe she suddenly became ill & hid. She had been to the vet less than 3 weeks earlier & had received a clean bill of health & received her necessary vaccines. To the other patrons of this site, please don’t blame yourself! I, myself, feel as if there was something I could have done differently so that my cat would be here still. Of all the cats we’ve had through the years, this is the 1st to go missing at such a young age. Lastly, she was a stray about 4 mos. when we took her in.

Sounds like he was born with felv…

I’m so sorry to hear that your cat passed away suddenly on your birthday. It can be very difficult to tell when to take a pet to vet when they aren’t acting right but are not obviously sick or injured. I have sadly experienced similar circumstances with several pets when I was growing up. For more support, I would suggest contacting one of the pet loss grief hotlines such as ASPCA: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/pet-loss. Sincerely, Danielle