Hundreds of cats dying in South of France vomiting a blue substance. Why?
Some residents of the Narbonne region of southern France have noticed that some streets cats vomited a blue substance. They meow weakly and die. It sounds awful. And in such large numbers.
Local animal welfare organisations blamed poisoning; rat poison, cannabis or motor oil in cat food.
But autopsies were carried out on two cats and they said the cause of death was feline calicivirus (one of two viruses causing the ‘cat cold’). To me, this seems unlikely to be the cause because this infection does not cause a blue substance to be vomited. Bile can be vomited due to an inflammation of the intestine for instance but bile is yellowish.
The speed of death and the vomiting definitely points to poisoning. I wondered if antifreeze is produced in a blue color. The answer is Yes. There are various colors of antifreeze one of which is blue.
My guess is that this is a case of a mass poisoning and someone is using blue colored antifreeze. The cat vomits it and then suffers terminal kidney failure and dies.
We have not been told what happened but if the authorities have decided it is a cat cold they’ll do nothing. Something should be done: an investigation as to whether hundreds of cats are being deliberately poisoned. There may be a unwritten policy on the southern French coast to get rid of the street cats after the tourist season as they do in Greece. My bet is on that and the police are probably turning a blind eye.
Metaldehyde slug and snail baits are also blue coloured and deadly to pets.
That is antifreeze poisoning, no doubt about it! Too many people see animals as unfeeling and disposable.
Many religious beliefs disagree with sterilization and see death as the only means of animal control.
Yes, thanks Cat’s Meow.
I’m sure it is deliberate poisoning and I’m sure officials are turning a blind eye to it, Michael. Unfortunately, TNR in America doesn’t prevent the killing of cats. The cat killer monsters here just prefer to use traps and guns because they can. Many states here DO have laws against it, but the cat killers know that those laws are rarely enforced . Even if enforced, the penalties are often minimal, and usually pled down to nearly inconsequential. It is truly disgusting.
its disgusting an the culprit is Antifreeze, they are drawn to the sweetness of it ,one lick its all it takes to kill an adult cat. it a very painful way to die, im still bewildered as to why these wild cats arent desexed an released, we quite often do this in New Zealand in some areas. my heart aches for all theses animals
Thank you for commenting. I think that you will find that in the south of France and in a few Mediterranean countries that they have a slightly sloppy approach to street cats by which I mean they let them breed. I don’t think that TNR is that much in the news in Mediterranean countries compared to America. I know that in Greece they allow the semi-feral cats to entertain the tourists during the tourist season and then at the end of it they kill the cats by poisoning and possibly other means.