My God, this sucks.

[tmanjim]

This is our first feline that met with this type of demise. As stated, I have had many cats over the last 30 years and ALL went out daily. Most lived so long, one 21 years, that we had to have them put down because they were suffering from old age symptoms, arthritis, failing organs, blindness etc. We have had many compliments from our neighbors on the declined mouse population since we moved in and our cats our welcome with most of our neighborhood. Opinions are opinions, I understand that. The decisions are with the owners. DJ, I also apologize to you, it was a very tough time for my family and me and I may have gotten defensive.

 

[RoachGirlRen]

Very sorry for your loss; I hear stories like this all too often. Though I'm relieved that it was the result of predation and not some sadist; when you said they went missing around halloween I was cringing to think of what could have happened. Someone in our area has been trapping and burning cats alive. It's very distressing.

edit: below is not directed to the O/P, but to the general discussion.
Since a little debate has sprung up: As a wildlife rehabilitator and former vet tech, I'm obviously on the side that is opposed to free roaming cats (and free-roaming anything domesticated, for that matter; don't even get me started on what feral/escaped livestock are doing to our national park lands); they are one of the most destructive invasive species we've ever encountered in the US, and the potential for the cat to be wounded, killed, or made ill while free-roaming is massive. I am a big time proponent of cat enclosures and cat-proof fencing for those who want to let kitty outside, due to not only the risks to our precious biodiversity, but also to the cat's own health and wellbeing. I feel it is no more unreasonable to ask that someone contain their cat than to demand dogs be leashed or fenced.
Our cat is strictly indoors because he is FIP+ (from being feral because someone let their cat roam and didn't spay/neuter it). We considered building an enclosure, but unfortunately our neighbors let their cats free roam, and since it is such a contageous disease and vaccines are unreliable or unavailable for it, we felt it would be unfair to potentially expose them by letting him out. In an ideal world, their cats would be properly enclosed in their yard, and ALL of our cats could have a degree of freedom without hurting themselves, each other, or our wildlife.

 

[phil jones]

well lets hope thats the end of it and as we know cats are cats dogs are dogs it in there nature to do what they do and again sorry about you pet my heart goes out to you and your family ----- phil

 

[mr.wilderness]

It's the nature of children to follow the "if it feels good, do it" thing, to choose to eat things like candy over healthy foods and stay up late on a school night, but as adults, we have to put limits on what they are allowed to do and where they are allowed to go, for many reasons, not the least of which is their own safety.

pitbulllady

Lol Heck, it's in human nature in GENERAL to follow the "if it feels good, do it", thing, not just with kids but we get the idea heh heh Also domesticated and manmade are different, manmade usually implying that an object is of synthetic origin and was created in a lab in a rather quick time scale. Domestication is just the manipulation and expression of certain desired genetic traits in a species that typically takes thousands of years to achieve. Just my .02

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I believe cats usually wander off to die of old age. Most larger mammals do.

You may be right. Animals do tend to go off to themselves when they become sick and weakened. It's a survival mechanism, I believe.
Of course, the point I was making was that whenever I kept a free roaming cat, they always disappeared well before they were old enough to die of old age.
The last time I had that free-roamed was about ten years ago when a stray mother cat came here and had kittens. All the kittens died except for one tom, so we had the mother spayed and kept the surviving kitten.
A year or so later, the mother vanished and a few days later, so did her lone offspring. I hunted all over for both of them, with no luck.
Later, I found out that a neighbour had put out poison for skunks. Given the nature of the poisoned bait he probably used, I highly suspect that my cats got into it and crawled off somewhere to die. So, I decided no more free-roaming cats for me. And since I don't like litter-box maintenance, this means no more cats for me period. Although that isn't written in stone, of course!

 

[butch4skin]

You may be right. Animals do tend to go off to themselves when they become sick and weakened. It's a survival mechanism, I believe.
Of course, the point I was making was that whenever I kept a free roaming cat, they always disappeared well before they were old enough to die of old age.
The last time I had that free-roamed was about ten years ago when a stray mother cat came here and had kittens. All the kittens died except for one tom, so we had the mother spayed and kept the surviving kitten.
A year or so later, the mother vanished and a few days later, so did her lone offspring. I hunted all over for both of them, with no luck.
Later, I found out that a neighbour had put out poison for skunks. Given the nature of the poisoned bait he probably used, I highly suspect that my cats got into it and crawled off somewhere to die. So, I decided no more free-roaming cats for me. And since I don't like litter-box maintenance, this means no more cats for me period. Although that isn't written in stone, of course!

Yeah, I believe it. The activity of human beings has generally put the ecosystems of the planet in such dissaray that the topic cannot even begin to be properly covered in one thread. At the risk of sounding misanthropic, I'd venture to say that we are the most destabalizing force the planet has ever seen, short of major volanic events and asteriod impacts that may happen once every few millennia.

 

[tmanjim]

Thank you to everyone offering condolences. We have lost some sleep and under the circumstances, it is a hard situation to get over. We are doing OK. Again thanks to all. And we are definitely being more careful about out and in times for our other 2 at this time.

 

[ragnew]

Sorry for your loss, that's quite sad.

To chime in on the "all cats need to go outside" bit, I've got 4 cats that would never venture outside. If the door is left open, they'll make their way to it but at the first sight or sound beyond their "domain" they bolt back down to the basement.

They've never been outside, and I can guarantee that none of them want to change that. I guess my cats just don't miss what they've never had.

I'm fine with that.

 

[craig84]

Sorry about your loss but I think all cats should be kept inside. If they are not spayed or neutered then they can make more offspring which there is too many. Also, feline aids and leukemia as well as other feline transferable diseases. I worked at an animals hospital. Not a cat basher as we have 4 and like them all. Not basher you either just my thought

 

[tmanjim]

Craig, I can appreciate your view and opinion. The decision is up to the owner. As stated ALL of my cats over the last many, many years have gone out. ALL go to the vet regularly and ALL are 'fixed'. I have had as many as 7 at one time and 18 total over the last 30 years and this is the first time this happened. Thank you for the condolence. This incident has opened my eyes to how terrible things could be, although on my property I have seen how the cats play and never stray very far from the house. Unfortunately the coyote made its way to our property due to the fact the creek is very low and it made its way down the crrek bed from the forest preserve.

 

[fishwithoutabik]

I am so so sorry your cat died. that is truly awful. especially painful for you in the way that it happened.