2 days ago my beloved kitty Taffy of 11 years passed suddenly in my home. She seemed healthy other then the fact she was constantly regurgitating/throwing up stuff, this is something she had done for years, about 8 to be exact and she had lost quite a bit of weight over the last year or so, this however didn't put her at a unhealthy weight, she just wasn't as "fat" as she use to be. I had taken her to the vet a long time ago about the throwing up, she would throw everything up and constantly gag to bring stuff up whether it be the food she just ate, or hairballs, sometimes it was just stomach bile. I do not know if this played a cause in her death. She appeared to have choked though. The vet told me to try hairball control formula, I did and it did not work, I was then told by the vet that sometimes cats just get like this and I'd have to put up with it or get rid of her if it was really bad, well it was but I was not going to get rid of her so I put up with it.

Anyways, 2 - 3 hours prior to finding her my BF had put a movie on while I was out, he seen her walk by and go upstairs, he said she appeared fine. Then my daughter found her in her bedroom closet lifeless. My daughter is only 8 so this was quite traumatizing for her, she panicked and threw water on her trying to "wake" her up. My BF overheard her telling my 6 year old not to tell me because I would cry but she thought Taffy was dead. He looked the cat over, and concluded she was infact dead.

He brought her down to me and I didn't even have a second thought but to pick her up out of the box and cradle her in my arms, I rocked her for a good 20 minutes just stroking her, I closed her eyes and cried and cried, she had bit her tounge, there was a small amount of blood on her fur, like a smear and what looked like yellow bile in her mouth. I could not close her mouth as her jaw was clenched. Her eyes were dialated.

She was still a little warm but after holding her for so long I could smell death, I'll never forget that smell.

How long after a cat passes would they begin to smell? She was still pretty limp and just appeared to be sleeping.

I am so upset over this and cry everyday for her, it's not the same without her, I loved her very much, I don't know why she would just suddenly die. I don't know if she had other problems I was unaware of or if it was some freak accident I am not aware of. My BF told me that when he was looking her over she had what he described as a small amount of stomach lining or something similar on her fur, I never seen it though myself as he cleaned her up before bringing her downstairs to me.

If you have any insight please feel free to share because I would like some sort of closure and I could have an autopsy done but they cost so much here, she is worth it to me but I really haven't got a lot of money at the moment and it won't change anything, it won't bring her back.