[bubbie57]

My 14 year old Quaker died today- it was so hard to watch him die while I was holding him- I am wondering what happened. Maybe someone will be able to give me a probable answer based on my description

We came home and found Cosmo on the bottom of his cage fluffed up with his head down. My husband reached in to pick him up and Cosmo tried to stand and fell over.
We wrapped him in a towel and cuddled him- he just laid there and pretty soon he was making strange noises as he clearly was struggling to breathe. I held him after that and suddenly he kind of flopped over and had what I would describe as a seizure. It didn't last long and then he died. I will never forget this- it looked like such a painful death.
Earlier in the day he was fine, sitting on the door of his cage and eating his favorite food- popcorn.
Any ideas? We were thinking he had a stroke- he did seem to have problems with one of his legs as he tried to stand and his toes were curled.