Normal cat, to blood clot and now death

My cat was normal. He was healthy. Then suddenly Tuesday 5th he vomited on my floor. Then he was sick. He couldn’t move. On the 6th (afternoon) he jumped down and ran to my room (he’s my cat and we were inseparable since he was a kitten). He ran to me and began meowing loudly. He looked dehydrated, which is what we thought it was. We rushed him to the vet, the whole journey he was staring up at me. We got there, the vet took him for a scan. He had a blood clot in his back legs. And then he was put to sleep in my arms. This is confusing and a hard time. he didn’t show signs of a clot? He wasn’t in pain? He could walk? How does a clot suddenly appear? What’s the causes? I want to understand. I want to know how my best friend could be fine one minute and then not the next. Please. Someone make it make sense for me!

Hello and I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your cat.  Id like to mention a website called the Ralph Site, which was especially set up for bereaved pet owners - it's named after the cat of the founder, Shailen Jasseni, and may also be helpful to you at this time.   However, I can tell you a little bit about blood clots now.

Blood usually flows like a thick, sticky liquid but when it is exposed to air, the cells within it start sticking to one another, forming solid clumps.   This is really useful if you cut your finger; the blood cells hit the air and start to clump together, 'plugging' the wound, forming a scab.  In extremis, this mechanism can stop a person or animal from bleeding to death; the blood clots and therefore stops leaving the body.  However, sometimes clotting can be less helpful.

One of those times is when a cat has heart disease.  In heart disease, the heart chambers can become enlarged, altering the flow of blood around the chambers - making it move quite sluggishly in some places.  It is thought that this makes blood cells more liable to stick together, forming tiny clots - and the clots are carried with the rest of the blood around the body.  They may bump into one another or into more red blood cells and thereby get bigger.  There is a point within a cats' circulation, where the main artery leading out of the heart - the aorta - splits into two; the two narrower vessels flow down either hind-leg.  The blood vessel is narrow here and this is a very common place for clots to become lodged, blocking the blood supply to the hindlimb.  It is thought to be a very painful condition and survival rates are poor, requiring a lot of specialised care.

It is indeed not uncommon that the first time an owners knows that their cat is ill, is when they present acutely (suddenly) with an arotic thromboembolism.  I'm so sorry to hear that this has happened to your cat and can understand how shocked and upset you must feel.  If you go to our blog and search in the search-bar, Joe Dunne has written a fabulous article called 'Why do cats get blood clots and what are the symptoms,' which you may find helpful.