In article
,
lid wrote:

What do you think are the chances that someone poisoned her?

Well, after reading the website I posted in my earlier article in this
thread, it seems that toxicology is a particularly daunting forensic
problem. My feral (who I called MamaCat) could have been the victim of a
secondary poisoning; that is--especially given her feral nature--she
might well have eaten another animal that had been poisoned. Like a rat
or even a bird (exterminators poison pigeons around here).

It's very difficult to tell without an examination of the contents of
the throat, stomach, small intestine and analysis of other organs
including the liver, kidney, brain and fat. And even if you perform
those exams, there is no single complete tox panel or test that will
tell you what was the lethal substance. You have to deduce what to test
for, generally using indicators found both outside and inside the
carcass.

It's all very involved and usually quite expensive.

When I found her, given the advanced state of rigor, she'd probably been
dead at least six, but less than 24, hours.

Sorry if this thread is upsetting to others, but I'm finding I miss her
and don't want her death to go for nothing. I'm probably just tilting at
windmills. I wish it wasn't so damned hard.