There are several possibilities for sudden death in cats. A large proportion of kittens that are not fully immunised at a young age die from the feline distemper virus. Some infected people have no obvious clinical signs, can eat and drink, have normal urine and faeces, and then die suddenly and violently overnight. There is also the possibility of death from hypoglycaemia, the clinical signs of which are not particularly obvious and can easily be overlooked by owners. Adult cats and breeding males are most likely to die from urinary shutdown, where 6-8 hours of inability to pass urine will trigger death. The common cause of sudden death in older cats is mainly heart disease.
