h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We decided the time had come for us to have our first pet as a family, and so in mid-October we got a lovely kitten with black body and white feet. We'd been to see a few kittens and he was the one who ran right up to us, licked my son and daughter's hands and then promptly sat on my lap, so he chose us. He was a bit smaller than his brothers and sisters, but a lively, lovely, affectionate kitten that we all fell in love with right away. My son named him 'Alfie'.

He was a very loving lap cat who was particularly fond of climbing up to sit on my shoulders like a parrot and also loved playing with his tunnel – he'd never cross the lounge without finding a route that went through it.

Two weeks after we adopted him we took him to the vets for his inoculation. We were told that a normal side-effect of this would be for him to be sleepy and go off his food, so we weren't overly concerned at first until his temperature dropped. We went back to the vets who gave him some glucose to perk him up, advised us to keep him warm and gave us some particularly nutritious food, but said he was fine.

At 7am the following morning he had a seizure and several fits. He lost control over the left side of his body and went all floppy. My wife rushed him to the vets who performed several tests to find out what was wrong, before concluding that the fits meant that enough oxygen wasn't getting to his brain and it was slowly killing him, but there didn't seem to be any obvious reason as to why. With no explanation as to what was causing his illness and so having no way to prevent them, we made the difficult decision to let him be put down. This was two days after my grandmother's funeral – not a good week.

The children were devastated, I've never seen my son so upset. They wanted to bring Alfie home and keep him to cuddle as if he was a stuffed toy while our daughter asked, 'Will Alfie be waiting for us in Heaven?'

The vets asked us for permission for Alfie to be given an autopsy to discover whether his death was caused by his inoculation; this was to be carried out by the makers of the vaccine. The results came back yesterday. Essentially though small for his age he was a healthy and they were unable to find a reason for his being anaemic; his cause of death is unknown. However the pet insurance company have decided that this means Alfie had a 'pre-existing medical condition' (which there isn't any evidence for) and that therefore his death isn't covered.

We had a perfectly lovely, healthy cat that died within 24 hours of an inoculation which I believe either caused or was certainly a contributing factor to his death, but no-one is prepared to take responsibility. We're left with no answers - nothing but boxes of cat food, an empty cat bed and a short but blunt vet bill.

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No words...

That's just so sad...

The insurance company I hope there's a way for you to appeal that or something...

No answers... Hugs all round for who wants them

I'm considering appealing out of principle, but as it won't bring Alfie back I don't know whether keeping it open will leave the hurt open longer.

When we let the cat lady we got him from know, she was very kind and offered to give us a replacement kitten – however all her cats are and though my wife would like to get another when she is ready, she does not want another but a completely different one that won't remind her of Alfie.

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My condolences - and I think your wife is wise!

For what it's worth - I believe cats go to Heaven, because let's face it, how could you have Heaven without cats?

True, but the other place is said to be warmer…

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