We have just had to say goodbye to our 7 year old cat called Stripy who was taken ill this evening.

We found her breathing funny on our sofa and was very lifeless so called the out of hours vet and took her down to the vet to be looked at.

Before we took her to vet we found a tick on her neck which we removed but after 2 hours of treatment the vet said the best for stripy was to put to sleep.

So after spending our last half hour with her she was put to sleep at 11.15pm which was the hardest moment of my life.

It all happens so fast and as the vet put her to sleep she looked up at me which I will never forget ever.

We will miss her loads as she was our 1st cat we had.

So feeling very upset now and looking at the photos we took of her this evening.

I didn't know that ticks could do this but the vet said that body was shutting down so it was the best and really only thing to do.

So sorry to hear read about your cat. Its never easy loosing a loved pet.

Really sorry this had to happen

I'm still in a daze after having my 18 year old dog put to sleep last week!

So sorry i love sky - take care

What did the vet say was wrong with her, OP?

7 is very young for a cat.

She had a tick on her and not sure how long it had been on her but the vet thinks it was something to do with that.

Vet couldn't do bloods as she was getting worse so fast.

Have to say I am a bit confused as what caused it and the vet didn't speak good English so was having trouble understanding him.

She saw someone from Vets now which is the out of hours service.

We have asked that she be cremated and we get her ashes but something has been playing in my mind all day about this(maybe due to be upset).

It is will we really get her back as ashes? I don't know why but I have it in my head that we won't and will just get back any kind of ask but not hers.

Will she be looked after well till we get ashes back as I've been thinking all sorts that she will not be looked after.
It's been a bad day and 24 hours after her being put to sleep I am still very upset.

I don't know if it might be too late but could you ring them up first thing and say you've changed your mind and you'd like to bury her yourself as she is?

I'm so sorry for your loss and you sound like you're still in shock. When my elderly cat was put to sleep they said they would cremate her and then they said that they scatter the ashes under a rose tree in their grounds. I was too upset at the time to deal with her body and I just hope that what they told me was true.

Just remember she is in a better place now and at peace God bless her. xxx

When my cat died I was offered the choice of a 'general' cremation where lots of cats are cremated together and you get back a sample of those ashes or 'individual' cremation where you are guaranteed you get your own cat's ashes back. The latter was a lot more expensive (I can't really remember, plus the urn was an extra cost, perhaps around £150 + urn).

There had previously been media reports about sloppy practices in cat cremation services, wrong ashes sent etc plus cats being mishandled. Like you, I didn't want my Tabitha just chucked around even though she was dead. My vet promised me that the company they used had an impeccable record and that the bad publicity had tightened up a lot of bad practice in the'bad' companies.

I would never want my cat's body back to deal with. I don't like the thought of my cat being buried in my garden and my soil is very heavy, clay soil so, on a practical level, it would be very difficult and upsetting to dig a grave.

It's very sad what happened to your cat and that you still don't really understand why she died. I would definitely want answers.

We have been told by someone who lives near us that she was out and about on Sat and she looked well then and she was in Sat night and was ok then.

Could Ticks have caused her to get really unwell so fast on Sunday to where she was almost lifeless at 9pm Sunday evening?

I knew nothing about ticks up till this week but something is telling me that maybe he vet took the easy way out and was a bit untruthful with what could have had happened if we took her home without putting her to sleep.