My sister took her cat for his wellness check today and he didn’t come home 
.
He was only 3 years old. She got him corralled and took him to the vet. When she got there, he started having respiratory distress. Nothing they did helped (O2, steroids, albuterol, furosemide) and he got progressively distressed so she had him put down. I don’t know if she was going to get a necropsy.
So shocking.
Godspeed Max.
Oh my gosh, that is terrible! I’m so sorry for your sister’s loss. So young and just going for a wellness check… 
Did the vet have any idea what it might have been?
Again, many condolences. Prayers and jingles for your sister.
RIP Max.
I haven’t talked to her since she got home…she wanted some space. I have no idea what it might have been. He looked very healthy. He wasn’t a real social cat. She said he wasn’t hip to going to the vet but wasn’t visibly stressing in the crate on the way. It is only about a 5-10 minute trip. He didn’t start showing distress until he was at the vets.
So very weird.
I’m so sorry for you, your sister, and Max. That is so upsetting, I can’t imagine. Godspeed.
I’m so sorry for all of you. What a weird thing to have happened.
Rest easy sweet Max. So sorry for your loss.
That’s awful! I’m so sorry for your sister and Max. It sounds like there must have been something going on that your sister didn’t know about. Let us know if she finds out anything. I’m sorry for her loss and pain.
What the hell? Poor Max! I’m so sorry this happened to him and to your sister.
That’s just awful. I’m so sorry.
I had a similar experience, although it wasn’t quite as sudden as your sister’s cat. About 10 years ago I had a cat that had what was thought to be seasonal allergies. He would be fine through the winter and then start coughing in May. When he started coughing I would take him to the vet for a steroid injection and then he would be fine for a time. The last May when he started his coughing episode I took him to the vet as usual. The vet listened to his heart and lungs and didn’t notice anything abnormal, so he gave the cat a steroid injection. The cat had been stressed from the vet visit, and on the way home he was panting. I thought it was a reaction to stress and that he would be ok once he was home. It didn’t get better, and in fact in got worse. Long story short, when I took him back to the vet he was in crisis and I was frantic to help him. They x-rayed his chest and he had fluid constricting his heart. The vet wanted to try to get him through this until they could get a diagnosis, but the cat died that night. I gave permission for an autopsy, because I wanted to know what happened. The cat’s lungs were 80% scar tissue, and the final diagnosis was feline infectious peritonitis. His lungs had been deteriorating for a couple of years, and the stress from the vet visit just triggered the final episode.
Kyrabee, very likely your sister’s cat had an underlying undiagnosed condition, and the stress from the vet visit triggered it. If that’s the case, nothing could have saved him, and in fact it may have been better that he was at the vet where he was immediately treated and didn’t suffer very long. It was just an awful thing to happen.
I am so sorry for your sister and sweet Max. Sometimes things happen we just cannot explain, but in this case I think I’d want a necropsy. He could have had an underlying heart condition you didn’t know about.
I found something from Cornell regarding lung disease in cats.
It said that cats do indeed hide things really well…until they can’t and it often turns out badly if they acutely go into severe respiratory distress.
This cat hid a lot and was not a very active cat for a 4 yo (I put 3 in the OP but she said he was 4). I suspect he had an underlying issue and the trip to the vet sent him over that edge. I don’t believe she had a necropsy done. I think she was too shocked to even think about that.
Thanks for all the thoughts.
Susan
That’s very sad. I’m sorry about Max.
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