My cat, Jacob, is gone. Suddenly, no warning.
He was fine yesterday morning. Came down and ate breakfast as usual. At lunchtime (I had the day off) he came in the kitchen and let me pet him for a while. Later in the afternoon my husband came home and went upstairs to change out of his uniform. He found Jacob in the place he always naps, right outside our bedroom door, dead. No warning whatsoever--he wasn't acting sick or unusual in any way. I still can't believe it. He was only 5.
Jacob was a big, beautiful gray tabby with yellow-green eyes. He was technically my daughter's cat, she adopted him from a rescue as a kitten to be a companion to her orange tabby, Edward. The two of them got along great. 2 summers ago, Jacob got very sick, vomiting and howling in pain. Our wonderful vet quickly diagnosed him with bladder stones and he had the surgery to "redirect" his urethra, which cured him ($3000 but worth it, and grandma mostly footed the bill) although he was put on prescription urinary-tract food.
Jacob was always a pretty shy boy (compared to outgoing Edward) and he wasn't crazy about the little crying creature my daughter and her husband brought home from the hospital when he was still a kitten, often hiding when she was out and about. And then last summer when they came home with another of those "aliens", this one a boy, Jacob made his displeasure known on the carpet in the baby's room.
That is how Jacob came to live with me. DH did not want another cat, since we already have Freddie and Riley. Of course as soon as he settled in, Jacob bonded to DH and ignored me except at mealtime. Lately he had been finally warming up to me.
Fat-shaming is always bad, human or animal, but Jacob was a BIG cat, at least 25 lbs. I've had to feed all 3 of them the special urinary-tract food and it's made Freddie gain weight in the past year. I can only speculate that his Jacob had a heart attack from being so overweight. Freddie and Riley are going to the vet soon to have their weight and diet re-evaluated.
Still in shock and in tears, I miss the big sweet boy so much. Give your fur family a hug.
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What a shock. It's tough to lose a kitty. My condolences.
Might have been a heart attack, vet could probably tell you. I fed my crew that special prescription UTI diet for awhile after one of them had a couple of serious bouts with UTIs, and it is fattening - it's full of carbs. I was worried that the cats would get diabetic even while avoiding UT problems so I asked the vet if there were some alternatives. She suggested a food called Wysong Uretic. The cats like it and none of them have had UTIs in years. They also didn't get any fatter.
Rest in peace, good kitty.
I lost my best feline friend in a similar manner some time ago, so I know something of what you're feeling. They're family, and it hurts so very much to lose them--especially with no warning. Please know that I'm thinking of you, and I'd give you a hug if I could. I have tears in my eye, too. Please take care, dear.
Don't feel guilty about his weight. At such a young age, it may have been a congenital defect.
I adopted a kitten that was dumped in front of our farm (her littermates were adopted by the family that found the very young kitties). She was a pretty little cat, never got to weigh more than about seven pounds.
One morning my husband backed his car from where he had parked and she was dead on the ground in his spot. He thought he had killed her, either by running her over or starting the engine with her in it - even though she didn't have a mark on her. He took her body to the veterinarian and they did a necropsy.
It turned out she had a congenital heart defect and her little heart just gave out. Even if we'd known about it there was nothing that could have been done for her.
We were just happy that the years she lived with us she was happy and loved.
RIP, Jacob.
It's so difficult when you lose one without warning, especially a young one. You have my sincere sympathies.
I'm so sorry for your loss, Freddie.
