Lost my cat Mina today

[JDP]

Today in the morning I was shocked to discover the remains of one of my cats, Mina, in the bayou behind the house, they were being picked by vultures. The most likely culprit is any of the large stray dogs that sometimes roam the area. I have actually seen them attacking or killing cats and small dogs before. Sometimes they even attack people. After scaring the vultures away, I gathered all of what I could find of her remains and buried her in the garden. She must have found her way out of the backyard through a gap in the fence, which was caused by the strong winds during the late night hours knocking down one of the fence boards, as I discovered this morning. If you have lost a pet, specially due to a violent event that you know must have been terrible for the poor animal, you already know the experience. As if that wasn't enough by itself, then you have to go through the experience of physically handling the mangled remains of your cherished animal friend as well, there is no way of avoiding it, unless you want to leave him/her there to rot in the open and continue to be picked by vultures. Awful stuff. As a more light-hearted side-note to this sad event: when you see people digging holes in the ground to bury some cadaver in the movies, it looks easy. They do it quick and seemingly effortlessly. It took me a lot of elbow grease and about an hour with a shovel to dig a hole big and deep enough to fit in the box with my cat's remains. Now imagine an entire person!

[EvilNed]

I'm a huge cat person. Always had cats around me. To me, they are the most beautiful animals there are. I've lost cats and I share your pain. Rest in peace, Mina.

[JDP]

I'm a huge cat person. Always had cats around me. To me, they are the most beautiful animals there are. I've lost cats and I share your pain. Rest in peace, Mina. Thanks, man, I really appreciate that. Since you are a cat person, you already know the awfulness of the experience. It's bad enough that she died, but on top of that I had to recover and handle her mangled body as well. I hope I don't have nightmares about this.

[ProfessorChaos]

christ that's awful. sorry you had to go through that. pets really are like family to most of us, that would be horrific to see. i work as a highway maintainer and in addition to taking care of problems with roads, keeping them clear of snow and ice in the winter and beautifying the rights-of-way by mowing and landscaping a huge part of our job is keeping the roads free of debris for the safety of the motoring public....which involves a whole lot of dead animals that are in pretty sad shape most of the time. even though i love hunting, i still feel a small bit of compassion for animals I have to deal with at work, and the absolute worst is when it's a cat or dog. if it has a collar or is right in front of a house, there's usually special care taken and we keep track of where we move the poor critter to...on a few occasions people want to have the remains or at least see them, and sometimes we have to spare them that trauma and just hand them the collar and assure them it wouldn't be a sight they'd want to see. it's always an uncomfortable and somber encounter. again, I'm sorry for your loss and hope you get through this okay. we have two dogs and I shudder to think of ever seeing either of them look like the sort of shit i deal with at work.

[beat_truck]

We stopped letting cats we care about outside 20+ years ago. They usually ended up dead on the road or just disappeared due to some animal getting them. Our last cat had to be put down earlier this year after developing arthritis pretty quickly and then stopping eating for a reason the vet couldn't find. He was suffering, and it was just time. Part of me wants another cat, but after that, I don't know whether we will ever get another. It still bothers me.

[JDP]

christ that's awful. sorry you had to go through that. pets really are like family to most of us, that would be horrific to see. i work as a highway maintainer and in addition to taking care of problems with roads, keeping them clear of snow and ice in the winter and beautifying the rights-of-way by mowing and landscaping a huge part of our job is keeping the roads free of debris for the safety of the motoring public....which involves a whole lot of dead animals that are in pretty sad shape most of the time. even though i love hunting, i still feel a small bit of compassion for animals I have to deal with at work, and the absolute worst is when it's a cat or dog. if it has a collar or is right in front of a house, there's usually special care taken and we keep track of where we move the poor critter to...on a few occasions people want to have the remains or at least see them, and sometimes we have to spare them that trauma and just hand them the collar and assure them it wouldn't be a sight they'd want to see. it's always an uncomfortable and somber encounter. again, I'm sorry for your loss and hope you get through this okay. we have two dogs and I shudder to think of ever seeing either of them look like the sort of shit i deal with at work. That's very kind of you, both your message as well as your consideration for the people who took care of these cats and dogs and might want the remains back. Not all workers in this department are so considerate (I have previous experience with this, so I know how uncaring some of them can be and they just dispose of your cat or dog without giving it a second thought.) Yes, seeing them for the last time might not be the best idea when they have died violently. In my case I had no choice. I had to. Besides the fact that I did not want to leave her remains out there to be picked by the vultures, I had to make sure it was her, so I had to examine the remains, otherwise I wouldn't know if I had to stop or continue searching for her. During the searching of the bayou area, I in fact stumbled upon yet another cat's remains, but these were older, so that immediately eliminated them from being her. The other ones were fresh, though, so I already expected the worst. Closer examination confirmed that it was indeed her. Extremely unpleasant experience, the kind you don't wish on anybody. - - - Updated - - - We stopped letting cats we care about outside 20+ years ago. They usually ended up dead on the road or just disappeared due to some animal getting them. I hear you loud and clear. Believe me that if I could have done the same with this cat, I would have. I have more cats, and we don't let them out either. We know how it invariably ends, sooner or later. But unfortunately, this one was just too used to be outside. You see, she had a previous owner, and he let her out whenever she wanted to. When he gave me the cat, I tried to confine her to the yard, I would not let her out in the streets or the bayou, precisely because I already know from personal experience that it can be very dangerous for cats. She would climb up the trees, make it to the roofs and walls, but she would very rarely actually climb down outside. In fact, whenever she wanted to come down she would come to us and "ask" to be brought down (yep, she would "meow" us in a peculiar tone, and lift her right paw; that meant "bring me down".) She was one of those cats who are good at climbing up, but not so much at climbing down. So, for years she was quite safe. There aren't many predators that can get to a cat on the roofs or walls. It would have been pretty difficult to re-condition her not to go out to the yard or climb up to the roofs and walls. It was just an integral part of her daily existence throughout all her life. But unfortunately, today she got out through that gap in the wooden fence, so she was roaming the bayou on the ground. Some animal, likely a large stray dog, got to her. Since this territory was new to her, she probably just "froze" in fear and did not know where to run to. Our last cat had to be put down earlier this year after developing arthritis pretty quickly and then stopping eating for a reason the vet couldn't find. He was suffering, and it was just time. Part of me wants another cat, but after that, I don't know whether we will ever get another. It still bothers me. Oh, it never goes away, I have lost other cats due to similar circumstances, and it's still as awful as the day it happened.

[beat_truck]

Oh, it never goes away, I have lost other cats due to similar circumstances, and it's still as awful as the day it happened. It was just way harder with him than it was with our past cats. He quickly got to where he could hardly walk and started wasting away because he didn't want to eat, no matter what we tried to give him, plus he was hiding all the time. The vet though there was possibly more he could do, but we just couldn't watch him suffer like he was. Not to mention, the expense. A stray mother cat and two half grown kittens recently showed up at the door. My mom has been feeding them, but they are partly wild, and I don't think they will ever be able to be kept in the house. She managed to bring one in, and I saw what I thought was dirt on it. It was a tick. I told her to put it back outside. I have bathed cats, but I don't want to try it with half-wild ones.

[MinionZombie]

Damn, JDP, sorry to hear about Mina, even moreso in those circumstances.

[JDP]

It was just way harder with him than it was with our past cats. He quickly got to where he could hardly walk and started wasting away because he didn't want to eat, no matter what we tried to give him, plus he was hiding all the time. The vet though there was possibly more he could do, but we just couldn't watch him suffer like he was. Not to mention, the expense. A stray mother cat and two half grown kittens recently showed up at the door. My mom has been feeding them, but they are partly wild, and I don't think they will ever be able to be kept in the house. She managed to bring one in, and I saw what I thought was dirt on it. It was a tick. I told her to put it back outside. I have bathed cats, but I don't want to try it with half-wild ones. If you get them while they are very young it is easy. They get used to people and being indoors in a matter of just some days. All the cats we currently have indoors are in fact technically stray/wild, but we took them in when they were very young. They have never shown an interest in trying to go back outside. They are fully domesticated. It is when they are older that it is very difficult to make them fully adapt to an exclusively indoors life. It's "the call of the wild" in them. Sooner or later they will ask to be allowed to go outside and roam free for a while. - - - Updated - - - Damn, JDP, sorry to hear about Mina, even moreso in those circumstances. Thanks, Minion. And the worst feelings are just kicking in after the initial shock and anger. You know what I mean if you have gone through similar experiences. You start feeling "guilty" for what happened, as if it was your fault that it happened. You keep seeing things in retrospective: "I should have reinforced the fence better", or "I should have kept her indoors that day", etc., as if you could have foreseen the tragedy. But unless you have psychic powers, obviously this is not possible. But you still feel guilty.

[EvilNed]

In times like these I like to think of all the good times me and my pet shared together. Did they live a good life? Was I kind to them? Did they love me? If the answer to all those questions are yes, then maybe that can rest your conscience. While it may be scant comfort, whenever an animal dies the way nature intended I feel that it also helps. I've had cats run over by cars, and somehow I think that's more heartless and pointless. Someone took a trip to the store and my cat paid the price.

[Moon Knight]

Pets are family. I’m so sorry about Mina, dude. Condolences.

[JDP]

Pets are family. I’m so sorry about Mina, dude. Condolences. Thanks for your kind words. Yes, they indeed are. And that realization hits you at its fullest when something bad like this happens to them. - - - Updated - - - In times like these I like to think of all the good times me and my pet shared together. Did they live a good life? Was I kind to them? Did they love me? If the answer to all those questions are yes, then maybe that can rest your conscience. The answer is most definitely "yes", this cat depended on me a lot. It was I who fed her daily, making sure that the other cats did not "steal" her food (she was so laid back and calm that the other cats would basically push her aside and eat her food if no one was there to prevent it), helped her climb down the roofs, trees and walls whenever she wanted to come down to the yard, when she was outside in the yard and wanted to come in or just some attention she would seek me out through the large windows and glass doors, and when she spotted me inside she would call me and "tap" the glass with her paws, etc. She certainly had a special "bond" with me that she had with no one else. She lived with us for around three years. She lived with one of the neighbors before that, but after they moved out they gave her to us, as well as their other cat, called Nani (who is still alive and well), since they spent more time at our place than at theirs! But I can't help but feel guilty for what happened, as though in the long run I failed to keep her from the potential dangers for a cat that I knew very well were beyond the property walls and fences. While it may be scant comfort, whenever an animal dies the way nature intended I feel that it also helps. I've had cats run over by cars, and somehow I think that's more heartless and pointless. Someone took a trip to the store and my cat paid the price. I am still not 100% sure of how she died. I am assuming it was a large animal because of the place where I found her remains, but since there's a road and a bridge not too far away it is also possible that she was hit by a car and she either survived for a while and made it to the bayou and expired there, or the vultures took her body and moved it there. When I discovered the remains they were so mangled by the vultures that I could not determine what was the cause of death. I looked around in the nearby road and bridge, but could not find signs of blood, so I am still leaning towards the large animal theory. I posted a notification in the neighborhood online bulletin board, to see if maybe some of the neighbors saw what actually happened.

[JDP]

After much investigation for the past three weeks, talking to several eye-witnesses, some of whom have also lost cats and dogs lately (one of them actually saw two coyotes lure and then kill one of his dogs, when he got out to try to stop them they were already starting to eat him, and then took off), I came to the final conclusion that Mina was in fact killed by one or two coyotes who have made this area their "hunting grounds". The so-called urban coyotes have become a veritable pest in areas of cities and towns that are near wildernesses. Once they move in, their prime target are cats & dogs, both "strays" as well as domestic. They will even try to break into people's yards in order to get at them. After hearing all these eye-witness accounts for about a week, I decided to stalk the bayou area to see if I could actually spot them. It took me a whole week of patient observation during the late night and early morning hours (1:00 AM to 6:00 AM), but I finally saw the first one. At around 2:00 AM he was crossing the bayou bridge. When I flashed a light on him, he stopped, looked at me, and then ran away down the other side of the bayou. I followed him, but lost track of him. Then I went back to my observation place to see if he would come back the same way he left. Sure enough, about an hour later he came back and then got lost again down the bayou. Three days later I saw the bastard again, strolling down the bayou, but this time he was not alone, he was with his "hunting buddy". A few days later I saw one of them again, once again very casually strolling down the bayou, quite unconcerned about me being there watching him go by. This confirmed the neighbors' accounts that at least two coyotes have been seen prowling around and killing any unfortunate cat or dog that they happen to come across. So, I decided to put an end to their terror rampage on the neighborhood's cats & dogs. It took me a week of patient stalking and luring, but I finally liquidated one of them tonight, at around 2:30 AM. I put a 20 inch broadhead bolt right through his back with my 150lb crossbow. When I approached to take a closer look at him, he was still alive, so I finished him off by bashing his head three times with a wooden fence post, and left his corpse there in the bayou for the vultures to eat him (a nice taste of his own medicine.) This fucker won't be killing any more cats and dogs. The other one is still at large. But hopefully not for long, if I can catch up with him like I did with his "buddy".

[Neil]

I put a 20 inch broadhead bolt right through his back with my 150lb crossbow. Woah! When I approached to take a closer look at him, he was still alive, so I finished him off by bashing his head three times with a wooden fence post Oh... woah!

[beat_truck]

We have some coyotes in this area, too. I think it is pretty much open season on killing them. Before he died, my Dad saw one in the back yard through his bedroom window. He opened the window, poked the shotgun out, and took it down. I haven't seen any, but would not hesitate to do the same. I do hear them at night sometimes.