I have posted before about my cats, but recently had something quite tragic happen and I am hoping someone can give me some direction. We adopted 2 kittens from the humane society in October 2008, one was a Siamese named Dinah. She came spayed and had all up-to-date shots, at the time she was about 9 months old. She was always very mellow and seemed very prissy as she would not jump my toddler gates to go to the bathroom. Since she had always been like this (including thin and just layed in a basket of blankets all day long) I never really thought anything of it. As of recently we decided to give her to my mom who really wanted an indoor cat and really liked Dinah - with all the problems we were having with our other 3 it seemed to be the best decision.
My mom took the cat to the vet who said Dinah was severely malnourished, had tapeworms and fleas. None of my other cats have any of these problems, and it wasn't that we didn't feed her - again, wouldn't jump the gates until my son had a nap and they were open. But she had gained weight since we got her so never thought anything of her being thin. Some cats just are. Well, tonight I received a call from my mom telling me that Dinah had died. They were giving her wormer and put her on a high calorie diet but she said that since New Years they noticed she didn't shut her eyes, ever, even when she slept. After she told me this, I started thinking and thought I hadn't really ever saw her do that either. My mom's sister told her there was a cat disease where the cat becomes unable to close their eyes and then dies.
I am first wondering if anyone knows of this disease, if it actually exists or not. Second, the name of it and if they know if it is contagious to other cats and / or humans. Any information would be most helpful. Thanks!