Was this an older cat? Oreo has an intestinal cancer, and we woke up to a barf today too... but she has always done this since she was a kitten. She has been much better in this regard since her treatments in Oct and Nov.

Cancer is very common in older cats. I suspect that. If she was bloated, she probably had peritonitis from a ruptured intestine.
Also cats get into dental floss discarded in the trash, and Xmas decorations, and plants which might be poisonous. So if she was younger, some misadventure is possible. There is a chronic intestinal inflammation some get from wheat or corn in the food. So that is possible too.. bleeding etc. A blockage in the intestines sounds like what the problem was.

Vets will cremate for a fee. It is usually around $40 or so (you don't get ashes back this way). There are sometimes places which will do individual cremation...when Tippy passed last January suddenly, the ground was frozen and we could not bury her as we did our others. So I had that individual cremation and they sent me the ashes. This was expensive..around $160. So I would just call a vet and ask for disposal figures, and they usually have the information for individual cremation. You take the pet to the vet and someone picks it up there.

We have a hole dug now for Oreo so she can go eventually where our other much loved cats are. We don't know how much longer she can live with her cancer diagnosis. (There are 2 gerbils, a squirrel and raccoon there with them too).

I know this is traumatic. Also alot of guilt, esp since you will now think about how this happened, etc. My sincerest condolences at this time for you.