Cat died....wondering what happened

[kwm2007]

Last night our 5 year old neutered male cat just up and died.  History of him is that he has always been a "puker."  We had him examined and we were told he was fine that some cats just do that.  We played with various foods because it would get worse with certain ones.  Finally probably the past 4 months, he has only had a few hairballs and a very few food vomiting episodes.  Much improvement.  He has had a great appetite, no loss of energy, acting as his usual self..nothing and I mean NOTHING unusual to suspect that he was sick in any way!  30 minutes before he died he was playing with my husband and was fine...perfectly fine.

I came out of my sons room and noticed that the cat had a BM at the top of the stairs... this never happens!  I looked at the bottom of the stairs and saw him standing there "trying" to puke.  When he would vomit his body would do this strange stuff.  Anyhow, I started down the stairs to try and help him and ease him while he was doing his vomiting episode as I have done many times in the past.  As I approached the stairs I saw red and wondered what he was eating that was red because we knew "that food" didn't work for him and we stopped buying it.  It wasn't food ...it was blood everywhere.  He was throwing up blood and it was mucusy and frothy and it was almost like it was choking him.  I tried to help him but there was nothing to do.  He layed down in the pool of red blood and died.  I sat with him and held him till it was over.  What could have caused this if he was showing no signs of illness.  He is an indoor cat only so poison is not an option or getting hit is not an option.  He was not losing weight, he was not lethargic or acting strange.  I never felt a lump on him, he never back away from touch etc.  There was so much blood and i'm grateful that at least he died quickly.  My heart is breaking and I'm just wondering what could have happened to him so quickly?  

Thank you

[happyhbmom]

Could he have ingested something sharp?  Like a short pin?

We lost a cat to stomach cancer, and the progression was much slower than that.  There might be different types, though.

[kwm2007]

No plants in the house...as for proper nutrition....he was probably one of the best fed cats around.  He got speciality food and we tried and tried to give him only the best stuff because of his stomach problems.  He was a BIG healthy cat who was not suffering from lack of nutrition.  We even started pulling his food up because we thought part of his throwing up problem was from eating too much/too fast...that didn't help.  When we would find a great food for him the throwing up would lessen but it never stopped.  It was just horrible to watch this beautiful, healthy cat looking at me for help because one second he was asking for treats and the next he was throwing up blood and dying...makes me cry just reliving it over again....I miss him....throwing up and all.

[calidreamer77]

If you have any plants in the house that he can chew on that can cause poisoning. If you don't have any plants then I'm really not sure what it was. It's weird that the vet said he was fine cause it's possible that he had stomach problems that caused him to not get proper nutrition.

[kwm2007]

Anyone have any ideas......I know I'll never get a full answer but I know poison is out of the question because he doesn't go outside.  Any thoughts?

[kwm2007]

I apologize...I don' t know why this posted so many times...it kept saying there was an error and now it is here 5000 times....