[Judith Anne]

Another earlier poster said his cat had a similar reaction after flea drops were put on. I wondered if it were some kind of ant poison in the basement. The bleach theory sounded possible, too.

[Cold Heat]

Sounds like the cat's fear responses were triggered. It was operating at basic core level responses.

Sure, some chems can do that.

[To Hell With Poverty]

I bet it was strychnine. It's the main ingredient in rat poison, and works by over-stimulating the nervous system. Light, sound, touch, it all triggers so many fireworks in the brain that the muscles spasm and eventually a heart attack occurs or something like that. A really cruel way to go, I always thought. It's also present in small amounts in most modern-day LSD. Anyway it would explain how the cat took a long time to die even after being shot, "hopped up" like the officer said.

Whatever the cause, poor little thing. My own long haired, orange and white kitty is lying here peacefully snoring next to me (yes she really does snore!).

If you have pets, make sure the D-Con is safely out of reach!!!!!

[Sunnyvale CA Eng.]

"Another earlier poster said his cat had a similar reaction after flea drops were put on. I wondered if it were some kind of ant poison in the basement. The bleach theory sounded possible, too.

I had a similar response with the flea drops about 3 years ago. I applied them in the morning and later that day the cat started making a gutteral growling noise that I had never heard. I watched her for a while and the cat let out an unbelievably loud scream that scared the heck out of me. The scream was followed by projectile vomiting of the entire contents of her stomach all over the sofa and me. This was the second batch of the flea drops that I had used on her. There was a similar sickness like behavior with the first batch but I had not linked it to the drops at that time.

I had switched to the drops because the cat always acted sick for a few days when I put on a new flea collar. I guess I was also pressured by my vet who acted like I was a fool not to try this new "healthier" method of flea control (that he sold for $50 per 6 doses). The cat never had a flea problem, hasn't since without either method. She gets a quick comb-out and inspection every 2 or 3 days by either me or someone else at the house.