Hi, I'm new to this board.  I was reading the post about missing your cats
and thought I'd write to see if anyone has some helpful insight or info.
My Dad and I kind of co-owned a cat.  He was a stray and approached my Dad
who is 91, and out in his garden. He was probably 5 or 6 months old and a
smaller kitten.  My Dad's neighbors said that the mother was killed on the
road and this cat and another sibling had found it's way to my Dad and his
neighbor.  We never had cats before, so this was a new experience for us.  My
Dad was amused that the cat just came right up to him and started rubbing up
against him.  He asked, what am I supposed to do with him?  I said, well take
him in! My Dad didn't know that cats usually do brush themselves up against
people and thought he was chosen by the cat.  That I think is probably partly
true and the fact that this poor little kitten needed a good home.  He took
him in and named him Blackie.  My nephew went to the vet with my Dad &
Blackie and had him checked and got him the shots & I guess whatever else was
needed. We assumed he was fine.
Blackie was a sweetheart.  I helped train him. He knew his name when you
called him and usually did what you told him to do.  I LOVED going to my
Dad's to see him & Blackie. (to date he was a yr.&1/2 old)I'd watched him
when my Dad was away visiting family for over a month too. Since cats sleep
16 hrs a day, I thought nothing of his sleeping. Prior to last week, I came
in to see Dad and asked where Blackie was.  Blackie always heard me come in
and happily came to greet me. (My apologies for this being so long but I
needed to lay the groundwork before I tell what happened.) Last week he
didn't and my Dad said, oh, he 's on the couch, he's not feeling too good.
Blackie usually never stayed on the couch.  I frantically called the Vet and
got the no. for the emergency clinic(it was on Mother's Day) got directions
and took him there.  Blackie had lost weight and was very lethargic.  You
"knew" he was sick. He came to see where I was, looked for a comfortable spot
on the rug so he could see me & be nearby me. We finally got directions and
took him.  The Vet checked his mouth and showed me how pale his tongue & gums
were.  She showed me some markings on the mouth that I really didn't see and
checked his heart.  He had a heart murmer. We didn't have a lot of money with
us so we allowed some testing to see what was wrong. She said, we'll do
preliminary testing 1st and see what that tells us.  A few minutes later, one
of the young girls from the office came out to ask me saying, I forgot to ask
you if we have permission to resusitate him if he didn't make it.  Puzzled at
why that question, I said YES.  The Vet later came out telling me that
Blackie put up quite a fight as they were doing testing and his heart stopped.
Asking is it okay to resusitate him.  She said he was pretty sick. Blood
platelets much lower than normal and that he either has leukemia or a cancer.
She went back in to resusitate him, putting a tube down  his airway and said
wattery blood came out and there was frothing at the mouth and he didn't make
it.  I was so shocked! I came up with a live cat and had to bring him home in
a cardboard box!!

My question is, if he were a healthy cat, could he have still died from
getting worked up and the scare of the strange people handling him & the
testing? The Vet said, even if we could revive him, he was still so sick that
we'd invest a lot of $$$ and he probably wouldn't pull through anyway. He had
a cancer, not Lewkemia. I'm very heartbroken and of course want to get
another cat that looks just like Blackie.  Any input, ideas or suggestions
from anyone about this whole thing?? Thanks!