u/Imaginary_Divide3375

A while back I posted some questions concerning the sudden passing of my dear cat but didn't receive any answers.

We had a necropsy done and the report suggests sepsis with signs of pyelonefritis. However clinically she was her perfect self in the evening and adhered to her usual patterns during the night. But when we woke up I heard a meow and when I went to look she was lying on her back struggling with her paws and died shortly after.

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My vet says that the clinical presentation can fit sepsis very well but for me it is hard to believe she was very very ill without us noticing.

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What are your experiences with sepsis? Can it kill a cat in less than 8 hours? How common is sepsis and what are chances of survival if caught early?

I hope it is okay that I ask this here. We got the results Friday at 6 pm so I can't ask my vet or the pathologist for clarification. My 8 yo norwegian forest cat passed very unexpectedly. She had no clinical signs whatsoever and in the morning I heard commotion so I went to look and she was wiggling on her back and meowing. Shortly after, she died. We were convinced it was HCM but 1.5 years ago we had another sudden death of a 7 month old kitten and wanted to make shure that there isn't something inside the house making them sick.

However, the pathology report points toward sepsis but I can't really relate it to the clinical presentation.

This is the conclusion from the report:

Morphological diagnoses: Lungs: multifocal to confluent, acute, moderate congestion Bladder: focal, chronic, moderate cyst Spleen: mild, multifocal lymphoid hyperplasia Mesentery: acute, focal, mild hemorrhage Liver: multifocal, randomly distributed, moderate telangiectasias Liver: focal, mild, chronic lymphoplasmacytic vasculitis Kidney: mild, chronic, focal lymphocytic and histiocytic pyelonephritis Pancreas: multifocal, mild, acute hemorrhages Conclusion: The main findings are the paper-white mucous membranes and the vasculitis in the liver. Pathomorphological examination found no convincing evidence of anemia; therefore, shock appears to be the most likely cause of death. There are no indications of hypovolemic shock, cardiogenic shock, or neurogenic shock. The vasculitis in the liver is consistent with sepsis, making septic shock appear most likely. It is common for no or only minimal macroscopic and histological changes to be found in this context. We could potentially perform bacteriological examination on frozen material to investigate this further.

My main questions are: how can the vasculitis be chronic if it is a result of sepsis? That would suggest that she had sepsis for longer than, I don't know, at least 24h, but she was active and vital the day before. And is it common for cats to die silently and quickly from sepsis? Was she in a lot of pain without us noticing it?

I hope you can help me make sense of it

I wished I'd never have to write this. A year and a half ago I wrote about the sudden death of my 7 month old kitten but today I had to say goodbye to my 9 year old Norwegian forest cat.

She was my soulcat. I got her when I was 16. She lived with me and my parents. Then I went to college and she stayed at my parents untill 3 years ago when I moved into a cat friendly apartment. We were inseparable, she walked with me through the apartment. She slept with us in the bed. I went on walkies with her. She was just as crazy as me and we were crazy about each other.

We got a kitten after she'd lived with us for a year or 2 and then at 7 months Tommy ( the kitten) died very unexpectedly. Ever since I always told Poes that she had to make up for his short lifespan by reaching the age of 30 or so. Unfortunately she only reached 9.

This morning I heard a meow and commotion, I went to take a look and she was peddling with her paws, lying on her back and in a split second she died. It is probably HCM but with the death of our other cat not so long ago, I am taking her for necropsy.