Questions following cat euthanasia

Our 15 year old rescue cat was sadly put to sleep yesterday - he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and had started to decline (he was on medication for a few weeks prior which gave him some happy last days). His body lay wrapped in the house overnight as it was too dark to bury him until today. I know that cats can leak urine for example, following death, but he’d lost quite a bit of fluid and blood from his nose - I read that this can happen in cats with chronic heart failure. Does this mean that he already had fluid in his lungs before euthanasia? Secondly, he passed peacefully with his eyes open and they were open when the vet kindly wrapped him in a blanket. But this morning his eyes has closed - I think that is quite rare? Why would that happen? It will be hard to come to terms with the loss of our wonderful boy and for some reason it’s important to me to understand why these things happened. Thank you for your time.

Hello - I'm so sorry to hear of your loss.  A patient that passes with their eyes open or closed will usually keep them that way, although there are probably exceptions depending on eye shape and so on.  Some owners request that we close pets' eyes for them afterwards.  I have never followed up on the eyes staying closed or open with owners, but wonder whether someone out there has, who might offer you better help; your vets' pathologist, for example, may be able to offer further wisdom.  There is a fantastic charity called the Ralph Site who can offer assistance in all aspects of greiving for pets and they might well be worth consulting. Clear fluid that comes down the mouth and / or nose has often been sitting in the respiratory tract immediately prior to euthanasia.  This could be in the nasal cavities, sinuses, throat or the lungs. These are quite specific questions; I hope that all is well with you.  Please come back to us or to the Ralph Site if we can help anymore.

Thank you very much for your reply, I appreciate it.