Cat possibly poisoned

PCros

So one of our neighbours called in this morning to and told us one of our cats was dead under her car.

So initially thought she got knocked down but when I went to retrieve her there were no visual signs of a collision with a vehicle and there was only blood around the mouth.

We then brought her down to the vet who sent her off to UCD to be examined but the vet has narrowed it down to poison or natural causes. Last time I saw her was yesterday morning when I fed her and she and our other cat ate their food with no problems so the latter doesn't seem likely.

I really hope she wasn't poisoned as 4 of the 8 houses immediately neighbouring us have cats and dogs and more importantly small children.

I was wondering if anyone has been down this road before with their cat or dog and is it worth contacting the Gardai should the results come back positive for poisoning?

Thanks in advance.

Alun

Firstly, so sorry to hear about your cat.

If she was found underneath a car there's a possibility it could have been leaking antifreeze she consumed, so not necessarily malicious.

https://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/urinary/c_ct_antifreeze_poisoning

PCros

Thank you.

Yes I had read about that when I did a bit of googling this morning. I assume that would show up in in an autopsy.

Alun

PCros wrote: »

Thank you.

Yes I had read about that when I did a bit of googling this morning. I assume that would show up in in an autopsy.

Yes, I assume so. UCD should be able to determine the cause of death fairly accurately I think.

Maybe you could ask the neighbour if you could look under the car, under where the engine would be, to see if you can see anything. It's usually brightly coloured and tastes "sweet" which makes it attractive to cats unfortunately.

boomerang

Unfortunately a PM won't identify the exact poison, it will only confirm changes in the kidney etc. that would be consistent with poisoning.

Also the effects of antifreeze aren't seen straight away, so it's possible she was poisoned elsewhere and then went under the car later.

Of course it could have been a traffic accident too.

I'm so sorry to hear this OP, I hope the PM brings you some closure.

aonb

So sorry to hear about your cat
Good that your neighbour let you know
Good that you got to find her as opposed to not knowing what happened to her, and to be worried and wondering
Once the autopsy results are back you will know if it was car type injury or poisoning... if the latter, you should definitely let all the other folks in your area know... hopefully your cat didnt get poisoned but if she did, that it wasnt in your neighbourhood - that would be really horrible.
Poor puss

Sheepdish1

I’m very sorry to hear about your cat op, very sad. Was it cold out the morning that your little cat was found?

Antifreeze is attractive to cats to drink unfortunately they can find it on cold mornings . I would think if it PM indicates poisening that this would be the most likely scenario as opposed to someone purposely poisoning her/ him.

Hopefully the PM will be able to determine if it was natural causes or if something shows up indicating poison or natural causes.

I’m sorry that has happened and I hope the PM will give you some closure. Horrible thing to happen, thankfully you were able to find her/him so are not left wondering what happened to her/him.

jellybear

So sorry to hear about your cat.

PCros

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

I’m very sorry to hear about your cat op, very sad. Was it cold out the morning that your little cat was found?

Yep it was yesterday morning. She had been an outdoor cat for over 2 years and was well fed so maybe it was bad luck but she was very street smart.

So our other cat (son of the deceased) was sitting on the blanket we wrapped her in when she was carried from our neighbours...very poignant moment.

Sheepdish1

PCros wrote: »

Yep it was yesterday morning. She had been an outdoor cat for over 2 years and was well fed so maybe it was bad luck but she was very street smart.

So our other cat (son of the deceased) was sitting on the blanket we wrapped her in when she was carried from our neighbours...very poignant moment.

One of my cats is similar to that. I used to worry about something happening to her but I’ve just accepted the risks as she loves being outdoors and is street smart. she lives a very happy life roaming around and I’m sure yours was the same.

It sounds like you really take good care of your animals and you care about them a lot. I would imagine this was just bad luck if it turns out it poison. What age was she ?

Have ucd told you how long results will take ? It would be good to be able to get some closure. Very sad

PCros

Sheepdish1 wrote: »

It sounds like you really take good care of your animals and you care about them a lot. I would imagine this was just bad luck if it turns out it poison. What age was she ?

Have ucd told you how long results will take ? It would be good to be able to get some closure. Very sad

She was 10 human years.

So UCD rang me and said it was internal bleeding so she most likely got run over by a car and what got me was that she could have been walking around with the injury for a day or two.

Glad it wasn't malicious but also hope she wasn't in pain for long either.

Graces7

So sorry for your loss... blessings and peace