cats dying in solitude

[filthiestfis]

Do all cats leave home to die? My friend's cat was 22 yrs old and he started acting strangely, decided to sleep inside the washing machine, and then one day left the house and never returned :i

[wolf63]

I think that these days many people have the oldies put to sleep when their enjoyment of life is diminished.

My last cat started having fits, it was making me ill worrying about him and he looked so miserable.

But if they are still out and about and die on their travels it must be awful for the owner, the never knowing what happened and whether they suffered.

22 is a good age - but it is sad nonetheless that they really don't know how and where he died. A cat owners nightmare!

[theonlyone]

We had to have our old moggie put to sleep as she was so ill , hated having to do it but , didn't want her to wander and die . We said no more cats ,but the house was so empty so ended up with a rescue cat, she seemed lonely so then got her a friend who was also a rescue cat . So much for good intentions !!!!

[Gin_1984]

arwww im sorry to hear that.

It is natural (although upsetting for us) that cats want to be alone then they die. I have quite a few cats and one of them did the same thing a couple of weeks ago. (he was very old)
while it is the cats instinct to be alone and fade away quietly, some cats do just stay at home. (normally if they can't make it somewhere they would hide.) I would say in my exsperiance, cats are very independant and don't like to be pestered when they are doing something...it very natural for them to treat death this way too.

Hope your friend is ok.