Cat dies suddenly

Dear all I had a female cat which was 13 years old that died suddenly.The day before it died it was fine.It started vomiting suddenly, within 24 hours it vomited another two times.Then it had saliva running from its mouth.I took it to the vet where it had a few strokes and died.Has anybody seen a case like this where the cat is all fine and in 24 hours it passes away.

Hello - and first, I am so sorry to hear what happened to your cat.  This must have been a horrible shock for you and it can be normal to still be grieving even a decade later. I don't know how long it's been for you, but it's important that you have been milling it over in your mind and have come to address it.  I can think of several 'stories,' or 'scenarios,' which might explain what you saw.  The first thing to appreciate is that cats are a predator species and tend to be lone operators; they co-operate in colonies but unlike dogs, do not form bonded packs where individuals identify one another's needs and use clear body-language to aid this process.  Neither do they show clear signs to their owners and you will have heard cultural sayings reflecting this:  'The cat who walked by himself';  'Dogs have Masters, cats have staff' - and so on.  The net effect is that early signs of illness in cats are not necessarily picked up.  It is not at all unusual for clients to say things like, 'But he isn't ill in the slightest' when a blood test reveals severe kidney failure, diabetes and so on.  I am not suggesting here that you missed anything; rather I am trying to show that cats are masters of deception.  They are frequently very ill by the time they start to show actual, clinical signs of many conditions.  Kidney failure, arthritis, pancreatitis, cancer, liver failure, anaemia, heart disease, even slow internal bleeding or various kinds of parasite, can all present very rapidly despite being what many would call chronic / slow-burn diseases.   Of these, kidney disease, liver disease, pancreatitis and cancer are particularly common and could easily present as you describe.  The other thing is that cats dehydrate extremely quickly; they carry much less 'spare water' than us and vomiting intensifies dehydration, which can often speed up such a process.  Finally, toxicity (poisoning - often accidental e.g. lapping up spilt antifreeze) can also present like this.  There are many other causes too.  I am so sorry to hear that such a sudden death has happened to your household; although we hear this kind of story frequently, it doesn't make it any easier when it has happened to you.

This sounds like poisoning but it could be many things. You may be able to request an autopsy if you wish. I'm sure your kitty loved you dearly and I'm so sorry this happened ❤️