my cat dina

Question
a tragedy has just occured in our house.our cat dina has just passed away.she was 15yrs old. over the past 4 weeks she has declined.she was asleep next to the dinner table tragically my husband left the table and trod on her. she was not fast enough to move.she walked a few paces she then collapsed.her breathing became laboured and she gave a large sigh and died in my arms.it all happened so fast. could you give me your opinion was it a heart attack or was it a crush injury please could you let us know.thank you

Answer
I am very sorry to hear all of that, it sounds like a very difficult situation. I can't give you a solid answer on this, because I did not see the incident, nor am I a veterinarian. If I had to guess, however, I would say that the weight put too much pressure on your cat, and there are many potential ways it could have passed away. However, in humans an animals, if either die from a crushing type injury, it generally leads to the heart stopping. Because of how quickly it happened, this is my guess - most other causes of death would take longer, especially those that would stem from a crushing injury.

Again, I am very sorry to hear this, as I am an animal lover, and losing a pet it a very difficult thing. Your cat lived a long life; 14-16 years is the average life expectancy of most types of cats. Injuries generally effect older cats in a much more severe way, whereas a younger cat may have fared slightly better. Especially due to your cats condition, I would say the strain was too much. Again, I am not a veterinarian, but from what I can gather, heart failure seems most likely. My condolences go out to you and your husband, and I wish you two the best.