I thought that my lovable, cuddly living teddy bears Sasha and Pooh (pictured below) would just chase the cat away, as they've done before!
I was awakened at 4:30 this morning by my two very loud dogs barking. When I looked out the bedroom window, I saw the black cat lying lazily at the side of the pool. Realizing the dogs wouldn't shut up until the cat departed the premises, I figured I could just let them out and they'd chase him/her away.
But this must have been one very slow cat. I knew it was a bad plan when I heard the cat howl louder than the dogs barked.
By the time I threw on some clothes and found a flashlight, the cat was silent, and the dogs were standing guard over their prey. I pried them away and back into the house, and laid awake for the rest of the night/morning, realizing that I was responsible for the death of the cat.
Now I have a dead cat in the backyard, and two dogs who want to get out there. And I'm on the air in one hour on Air America.
Not my best day!
However, if you get a chance to pick up the Miami Herald today, you'll see a lovely piece about me, the loss of WINZ, the Radioornot.com podcast, and my work on Air America. Happily, there's nothing in it about the dead cat.
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5 comments:
Here's what you do with the dead cat. Put it in a box, put wrapping paper and a bow on it. Leave it on the curb. It will be gone before the day it out.
I hope the image of that poor mangled cat haunts you the rest of your life. You could have stopped it and you made a stupid choice
Wow, mep. Why the vitriol?
The image of the cat does haunt me. I was/am mortified by what happened.
As many have said to me, the cat was likely sick or injured, or would have certainly been able to outrun my two dogs.
Yours was the only truly mean-spirited hurtful message out of many I received on the topic.
I wonder what makes you so hateful. I hope you have a better day.
Nicole
You did nothing wrong. It was your yard, the cat was on your property. You and your dogs were protecting your property.
If it was a Feral cat it would have died young anyway. A local vet told me feral cats have a 2 to 3 year life expectancy.
In their lifetime feral cats or cats not under the control of their owners kill hundreds of songbirds.
Nicole,
I don't have any advice on what to do with the cat but I would like to ask you not to beat yourself up over the what happened.
I have four dogs and all of them fly out the back door pursuing any small animal that makes its way into our yard. At this time of year I see bunnies fleeing under the fence at lightning speeds several times each day. Every time it happens I cheer that bunny on. Go Bunny, Go!
I don't want to see an animal hurt by my dogs. But if it happens, I can't blame myself or the dogs.
One year a bunny decided to give birth in a corner of our yard near the house. One of my dogs sniffed out those babies and, well, before I realized what was going on two of them were dead.
I felt horrible and it haunted me for days so I think I understand what you are feeling. But despite the fact that our dogs are wonderful and loving animals, they are still animals with natural instincts.
You didn't send Sasha and Pooh outside with the intention of having any harm come to the cat. You couldn't have known what was going to happen the fact that you do feel bad about it only goes to show what a kind heart you have.
I think that it's ok to forgive yourself and chalk this up to a life lesson.
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