Cat died from electrocution--please help!

We took our 2 yr. old cat to the vet today after noticing he was not eating or drinking. He was so sick, he had to be put down. The vet told us the cat had chewed on a wire and had been electrocuted and then could not eat or drink with his burnt mouth which caused kidney and liver failure. We are so distraught! To add to this, we can't find the wire which is now a fire hazard. Does anyone know how to find a wire (it could be behind a wall since our basement area is half-finished). Has anyone had this happen??

[NewLeaf]

check wiring outside? On the roof, neighbors yard?

[waitingwithhope]

Oh, he was an indoor cat.

[Avas Mom]

Omg that is sooo horrible! I sometimes catch my cat chewing on wires. I hope your cat didnt suffer :(

[NewLeaf]

[NewLeaf]

I am really very sorry for your kitty loss. It hurts. Cats have very pointy teeth perhaps one puncture in a wire is hard to notice?

Wishing you the very best for your baby - may it "stick" as some moms and moms to be I know have said about their pregnancies.

[waitingwithhope]

Unfortunately, he probably did suffer when he got electrocuted :( I feel awful that I did not notice earlier--maybe there was a chance we could save him.  My kids cried and my youngest sobbed all night and could not stop crying :(

[waitingwithhope]

I am afraid one puncture is going to be really hard to notice. We've looked everywhere and can't find it!
Thanks for your comment about the baby...I really hope this sticks too! The two prior pregnancies, I m/c....

[NewLeaf]

Then may this be a very sticky one.  ;-)

I am very sorry for your kids loss too. It is a hard lesson loosing someone you love.

[Savas]

How awful! I'm so sorry. There's a device you can get at the hardware store. I THINK it should help. You plug it into the socket and it tells you if you're getting a steady reading. A broken wire SHOULD spike the meter. If it doesn't, you may have to call an electrician, as there's another device that can test for fields, but I don't think you'd want to buy it, as it costs a pretty penny. :)

[Jean41]

Maybe the cat didn't chew on a wire, maybe the cat was licking the plug in that's into the wall and stuck her tongue in to far into the insert. A cat's tongue is small and do you have big plug in's, it dosen't take much,especially when you cannot find the wire the cat may or may have not chewed.
I hope this helps.
Jean
***@****

[waitingwithhope]

That  is possible too....

[waitingwithhope]

We are going to go to home depot to see if they have any ideas too....

[blondesunshine]

My Cat died from biting a cable wire. Cats like to hide and they like to bite wires. Yes it is likely that he or she bit in to the wire.  It was very sad for me and my family

[waitingwithhope]

I am so sorry you went through this too. Did you ever find which wire it was or did you ever find teeth marks in a wire? We looked for months and never found the wire. We have adopted a new little cat from a shelter but in the back of our minds we fear the same thing could happen!

[shannon08]

Hi, I am so sorry for what you went threw. But I am going threw the exact same thing now. See, I have 7 week old kittens and the day before yesterday. After vacumming I was dum and left the vacuum plugged in and the sound of something hitting the floor got my attention. It was one of the kittens flopping around like a fish that had a hold of the vacum cord, As fast as I could I grabbed the kitten and unplugged the cord. She had bitten down on a bare wire. ( I HAD NO CLUE ABOUT!!) Any how she has survived but I dont have any money at all to take her to a vet. She is walking, playing and all like she use to but her mouth is burnt real bad! And it is hard for her to eat. I also think she might be blind in one eye. I knpow the best thing to do would be seeing a vet but like I said I don't have a dime to do it. Does anyone have any advice on what I could do for her burnt mouth and tongue? I love this little girl and she went threw hell but she is back, I so dont think she is so bad off that she has to be put down. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[waitingwithhope]

The burnt mouth was the main problem in our cat...it caused our cat not to eat or drink which caused his liver to shut down. I don't know what I can offer in the way of help, other than my cat had to be put out of his suffering. It was horrible.

[Savas]

Ugh, electrical instances absolutely suck. Hmm...I should do a thread on "cat proofing" your house, although its fairly similar to "kid proofing".

Generally you have to force feed a cat with severe mouth injuries. With burns, infection is the big danger, so antibiotics is key. I'm not sure about anything topical you can get over the counter that will help. Most burn cremes even for humans state do not use internally, and a mouth burn fits that case. DON'T use butter, oils, etc.

Unfortunately, the pain, if bad enough, could kill it. Electricity does strange things to the body (I should know, had my share of shocks!) and it could lead to malfunctioning of the heart as well as other systems.

If you can't get kitty to a vet (which, if you can, you should), then consider picking up a milk supplement and feeding syringe to get him through the next week. If you do this, let me know, I'll answer any questions on how to do it in this case.

On another note, waitingtohope, what did they tell you at home depot? Did they sell you a nifty gizmo to track down electrical faults? (We NEED our gizmo's, its what makes us Americans!!!) :)

[waitingwithhope]

You can buy stuff at home depot to detect a broken wire, however--there is not a break in the wire or current anywhere. We never did find out where it was but the vet said a cat can sink its teeth into a wire and not even leave a mark but still hit the electricity.

[Savas]

Yes, that is unfortunately true. If you've got a wire biter, you need to hide cords, get those hard plastic covers for the cords, or treat them with something that your cat won't care to taste.

We've got a disturbing phenomena here in NYC. Due to our old infrastructure, electrical underground lines that are losing there insulation are passing electrical currents to metal gratings and plates in the roads/sidewalks.

We've had a number of electrocutions and deaths of small dogs who were being walked by their owners. This is especially happening after a good rain.

[NewLeaf]

Dressing a pet up now makes a bit more sense - especially the neopreen foot wear they use for sled dogs.

Maybe tiny ones made for those "pocket dogs" would fit on your kitties to put on before they go out?    ;}

[Savas]

Heh heh...perhaps if I dress them in spandex and outfit them with tiny capes, they'll fly above the ground at the end of the leash!!! :)

I'm curious now if dog owners in NYC are actually doing this. generally most people avoid metal plates in the road/sidewalk just out of habit, but now there's good reason. I know the ladies avoid the grill work ones out of habit (took me years to figure out it was because heels on ladies shoes get caught in them and snap off) but now it's a health risk.

We've even had one elderly woman suffer a heart attack and die (ironically, her dog survived with minor burns).

[letemhate]

hi my name is mike and my sons lil baby kitten was chewing on an electrical cord this morning and got zapped! she has gone threw all the motions, pooping on her self, trying to walk, only wabbled but could walk she did knw 2 try 2 get to her potty box and tried. Ive noticed she now has odd shaped rings around her retnas, (i think thats what its called ) any ways she seems ok one minute and tierd the next, do u think that she could have eye damage ? i do not have the means 2 take her to a vet right now. also the burn seems 2 only be on one side of her mouth. this ***** cuz my daughter found her and was shocked 2 trying to get the kitten off the cord. her heart beet seems a little fast, is that normal ? in ur oppinion what r her chances of living ? should i go find a seringe 2 feeed her or wait 2 c if she can eat and drink on her own ?  ur help will be greatly appreciated by myself and family. thanks !! the rodda family.

[waitingwithhope]

I think your cat really needs to be seen. I regretted not taking my cat in earlier. Your cat will need antibiotics to treat the burn and it sounds like the eyes too might need to be looked at. My cat could have recovered- if only he was given an IV and I didn't leave it until it was too late. You need to make sure too that your cat stays hydrated, including feeding by a dropper. If you leave your cat alone and don't do anything, honestly, your cat risks dying like mine did. Like I said, I always regretted it. Still do.

[harvthecatsmom]

You people are sick not to take your cats and kittens to the vet right away... after such a horrible thing just happened to them.   If you cant afford vet care....you shouldnt have the kitties in the first place.  I would beg or borrow money from my family or anybody so I could take them....or at least call a vet and see if they could take payments or something.  I have a vet that will take a post dated check of upto 30 days.  I am sorry to be so brutally honest to people that have lost cats but come on unplug something once in a while... I do this all the time and my cat isnt a wire chewer.

[PikaPika88]

I'm sharing the pain with those who lost their loving cats or kittens.  I saw my 7 weeks old kitten chewing the wire once.  I stopped her instantly.  I can't guarantee she won't do it again.  

My house is protected by safety switches.  For human, it guaranteed won't electric shock but I don't know it'll protect my cat or not?  The cost of install the new circuit breakers and safety switches in Melbourne was AUD$450.00 in 2003.  It can safe human life and might be the cats, the dogs, the mice and all our pets living at home.  If you can't afford it or might be not available in your area, then you should un-plug the wire or turn off the switches when you're not using it.  I know saying is easy than do it but at least try.  May be an electrician who saw this post can tell us would circuit breakers also help?  You can buy circuit breaker at hardware stores and plug it into the electricity meter box.  Just check out and it might help.

[Cisagirl01851]

First I am soooo sorry for your loss. I know what you aregoing through.
I have a cat who is now 17.  About 9 years ago my doctor wanted me to get rid of the cat because of asthma but we decided to board him for a week to see if it helped my symtoms (symptoms). I went to visit him a week later and he looked strange and he had some tyoe of sores on hid paws. So I took him home.  When I got home from work the next day I saw blood spots on the floor and he had some kind of sore on his sholder area. I calledmy friend at the pound where he was borded and he said when he went to feed Smokey he got out and went in behind were they do the cremations.  So I took Smokey to the vet. It turned out he had a very bad burn on the sholder and they had to remove a LARGE burn all the way down his side. Lucky that he had a lot of extra skin for them to staple him up an he recovered very well and we still have him but no more bording him any place.

[Cisagirl01851]

By the way the people at the pound paid for that surgery too.

[carmenpupo]

That happened to my kitten a few days ago. She is alert but mouth is burnt. I have no money either. For the one who said, if you dont have money, blah blah blah.....lots of people have lost their jobs. Last year, I could have taken ten to the vet, now Im at a loss. I am feeding her water and kitty milk along with 1/8 of a baby aspirin. Not easy to cut but doing that twice a day. I do know she needs antibiotics. I have one capsule of cat antibiotics. It is 500 mg. How can I divide it up for a half pound kitten?

[FurballsMom]

I wish I knew how much was the right amount to give to such a tiny kitten.  I had to take my adult cat to the vet just to find out how much Zyrtec I could give her for her allergies.  I wouldn't know where to begin on a tiny kitten.