Death of a Healthy Cat

My cat Lenny died yesterday in what seems like a freak accident and I don't understand how it's possible. I'm the type who needs answers in order to move on so I'm posting to see if anyone has any idea of what maybe could have happened. Lenny was a 12-year-old male all-black cat and was seemingly healthy. He also had polydactyly (extra toes), I don't know if that is important but possibly could be a contributing factor. Lenny tried to jump up on my dresser yesterday, which is no more than 3 feet tall, just like he had hundreds of times before. Only this time, he didn't make the jump for some reason and fell backward. My mom was in the room and didn't see him hit the floor but she heard him. It is unclear how he landed because no one saw but I'm guessing he might have landed on his back or neck. After falling on the ground, he lay there and looked "contorted" to my mom and she immediately could tell something was wrong. Her first thought was maybe he dislocated his shoulder but she noticed he was twitching and almost looked like he was having a seizure. She said she picked him up and he felt limp and so she ran downstairs to call the vet and by the time she made it downstairs, he had made one final noise, not a meow but like a whine, and died. She even got out her stethoscope to check but he was gone within 2 mins of falling. I have been trying to figure out what kind of injury may have caused this type of death but have not been able to find anything similar to this online. My theory is maybe he had a herniated disc and the fall caused it to sever the spinal cord and paralyzed him. Or possibly he had a heart attack while trying to jump which caused him to fall. He was a totally healthy and super cuddly cat and my family is so shocked and confused about how a cat who was so agile and could jump higher than any cat ever seen could die from less than a 3-foot fall. If anyone has any knowledge about this type of situation please let me know as it would definitely provide me with some sort of closure.

Hello -and I'm desperately sorry to hear that that happened to your cat - how shocking and dreadful for all concerned.  I have never known a cat fall a short-ish distance and pass away instantly / quickly unless cars / high speed (and therefore severe trauma) were involved. However, I haver known cats collapse and pass away seemingly randomly.  My best guess (of course, I am guessing) is therefore that something else in the body happened - perhaps as you say, a fit, which may even have further caused him to hit is head.  Or perhaps an unseen lump burst and bled - to cause fitting signs, perhaps this was in the brain.  There are perhaps some rare circumstances where hypoglycaemia or a heart problem (heart fibres give abruptly, sometimes) or some other underlying reason for a lack of energy caused him not to make the jump.  Depending on your personal beliefs and mind-set, a post-mortem may help you to understand and come to terms with what happened.  Whatever it was, please accept my condolences - sudden death is difficult to live with.  The RALPH (web)site was set up by a lovely vet after the death of his own cat Ralph, and may prove well worth a read.