My cat Alex was well, active and had no problems eating etc. During the last year he was declawed and had his teeth cleaned, both requiring blood tests before procedures. He also went for his regular checkups and shots. There was never any indication that there was anything wrong with him. Although he was 17 years old he showed no signs of being an older cat.

Three weeks ago he suddenly stopped eating and would only drink water, but still managed to use his litter box. He would lay down on a rug near the water dish and close to his litter box. He showed no signs of discomfort, or pain and was not crying.By that evening he started to vomit. First it was simply watery clear liquid and then it started to be very brown, but still liquid. The next morning I had him at the vet when they opened their office. A blood test was done and I was told that Alex was dehydrated and needed to stay there for the rest of the day. Then I received a phone call that I needed to reurn to the vet. Alex was aneamic, in kidney failure, diabetic, grossly enlarged liver and possibly cancer of the pancreas. We were told that we could take him to a specialist, but he would most probably not be with us for much longer. That is when we made the hearwrenching decision to have him put to sleep.

I am still in a vacuum as to why none of these problems were noticed, or why there was no signs to alert us. How can something like this happen all at once and so suddenly?