[Ygrec23]

Dogs got him. Couple of escaped pit bulls from down the street. Right on our front lawn. Sylvester was just way too old to move fast. About seventeen and slowly dying from kidney disease as usual. But we loved him very dearly. Only neurotic cat we had. Talk about anxiety. Talk about neediness. Someone did something really bad to this seven-toed tuxedo cat when he was very young.

He was full grown when he showed up at the bottom of our steps. Took a month of outdoor feeding to get him inside. Slept in bed with us, snuggled up against one of our backs. Alpha male, too. Insisted on his rights. First to go out the door, first to come in. And then, wham, he was gone.

Well, I hope it was fast. It happened early in the morning just before I came out on the verandah with a mug of coffee. Saw what happened immediately and ran down to him. Gone. Chased the dogs off. We've had four cats at a time for 35 years. First time the dogs got one. Sad.

De profundis.

[Omers]

I am so sorry for your loss.
hugs

[arcangel]

I'm very sorry for your loss and for Sylvester to have suffered such an awful fate.
If you don't mind, I have some questions I'd like to ask you about a "free" cat I'm feeding. I'll send an IM or PM.

[lynn P.]

(((Ygrec23))) - I'm so sorry this happened to your dear pet Sylvester. This is such a traumatizing scene to imagine. Those dogs shouldn't be lose at all - regardless if they're friendly or vicious. I hope you called the police so they could do something about these dogs. I can't imagine how upset you and your wife must be. I'm happy to see you posting again, but its so unfortunate this is a sad time - I haven't seem you in the forums lately.

[Yoda]

That is horrible that happened to your innocent cat. I am so sorry.

[Indie'sOK]

((((((((Ygrec))))))))))) This makes me so sad.....I'm so sorry for your loss

[Rohag]

Sylvester.
Ygrec.
Grief.

[Queen of Chaos]

I'm so sorry. We had a cat named "Charlie" for over 20 years - the ONLY time Charlie ever got injured in any way was a few hours before we were to leave for a 12-hour drive out-of-state to a family wedding. Another cat viciously attacked Charlie and nearly killed him.

It's hard to lose a pet - to realize how traumatic Sylvester's last moments were has to be hard to accept. I, personally, am terrified of pitbulls. It's usually the innocent or defenseless animal that gets killed or injured.

I love animals and know how hard it is to lose a pet under any conditions. My heart goes out to you.

[Open Eyes]

((((((((Ygrec23)))))))))

I am Soooooo sorry that you had to go through that. I really hope you reported it and the people who own those dogs are punished for not making sure the dogs were properly contained. Dogs should not be left out with no one watching them, expecially those kind of dogs.

I know all too well to see the amount of damage that can be caused by dogs. So I truely hope you make sure action is taken and the dogs owner gets fined. If you do not do that it will happen again and someone elses animal may suffer a terrible fate.

Open Eyes

[Indie'sOK]

I agree with Open Eyes - something like this should under no circumstances go unpunished. It's bad enough when a careless person lets their dogs run loose, but when it ends with the death or injury of another animal or person, that's when serious action should take place.

[Flo Medina]

I am so sorry about what happened!! I have a cat named Sylvester and I would be so sad if anything like that happened to him!! I hope you are ok.

I'm so sorry.

[SoupDragon]

That is so dreadfully sad and sounds pretty traumatic - wow how can people let dogs like these out of their houses without lead or muzzle.

I hope Sylvester, is now in a peaceful place - thinking of you. SD

[Lostime]

((((((((Ygrec))))))))))

I'm so sorry.

....Sylvester ......R.I.P.

[Fresia]

Oh my. I am so sorry to hear of losing him and this way. ((((((Ygrec))))))

I agree if you are up to it, the owners should be contacted through the city (animal control/police) as a warning; let them know/need to be made aware that not only are the dogs being loose but they are attacking. It's not hard to imagine they will attack again. It's more than irresponsible.

Again, I am so sorry for your loss!

[lizardlady]

(*(*(*(*Ygrec*)*)*)*)

I'm so sorry. It's bad enough to lose one of our fur family. It's way, way worse when it's such a horrible circumstance.

I'm with Indie and Omers. The attack should be reported to animal control. The dogs that attacked Sylvester may attack someone else.

[Sabrina]

Ygrec, I am so sorry

[missbelle]

Oh sorry about him! I can't imagine!

[Ygrec23]

Oh my! So many wonderful, sympathetic replies! I hope you all won't be insulted if I don't answer every single one of your kind posts separately. Yes! All of you! Open Eyes! Indie's OK! Flo Medina! LovebirdsFlying! SoupDragon! Lostime! Fresia! lizardlady! Sabrina! missbelle!

Thank you so much!!!

I must let you know, though, that taking into account all the circumstances, which I'm about to describe for you, Jacky and I didn't feel this was an appropriate occasion for making a big deal:

1.The owners are nice people who have been on our block for years without any problems at all. Their children are polite and well-behaved.

2. These people have never made it a practice to keep "problem dogs." The ones involved in this incident were the first dangerous dogs they'd ever had.

3. Unlike all too many other people (though not around here), the owners did not "let the dogs out." The dogs were kept in such a very securely fenced yard that it's hard to believe they got out of it, but they did. Both husband and wife were at work when the escape and killing happened. No one was in the house.

4. After the event, the owners got rid of the dogs. The dogs are no longer there.

So, really, what's to resent? What's to punish? The neighbors made a bad call (getting these dogs) in good faith (they never had bad dogs before), they kept the dogs fenced quite well, and the dogs escaped and did what all too many dogs do naturally. Kill cats.

Can we blame the dogs? No. They were being dogs. Can we blame the neighbors? No. Everybody gets a free throw. What could Animal Control do now if we made a stink? The dogs are gone!

Poor Sylvester died as if from a disease. He was an old fellow and he was already dying of disease when he was killed. I just hope very much that he didn't suffer too badly.

There are such things as true accidents. Thanks again to you all.

[Queen of Chaos]

You make some good points, Ygrec23. Several weeks ago I was walking my pug one morning when a neighbor's aggressive dog pulled the leash out of her owner's hand and the dog ran down the street and attacked me! I scraped all the skin off one finger and both knees on pavement but was otherwise O.K., as was my dog.

I knew the minute it happened it was a horrible accident. I know the dog, I know why she is so aggressive (adopted from a shelter, abused/neglected early in her life) and I could not, in all good faith, make the owners feel any worse than they already felt and, had I pushed the issue and reported the attack, our local animal control people would have confiscated the dog and probably destroyed it.

I've thought about what happened a lot over the last few weeks - the one thing that haunts me is the realization that someone else could possibly get injured in the future, possibly a child or an innocent pet. It's been a tough decision to make. I just couldn't bring myself to hurt someone else and it would haunt me the rest of my life if something I did caused the dog in question to be destroyed.

Someone in our neighborhood criticized me for "sticking my head in the sand" but I did the best I could and pray the dog's owners will be more careful from now on.

[lizardlady]

Ygrec, I made an ***-umption that the owners weren't doing anything abot the attack. I would contact animal control if they got rid of the dogs either. I do hope that they placed the dogs somewhere that this sort of thing can never happen again.

From what you said this was an accident. An accident with a horrible outcome, but still an accident.

Last December one of my dogs killed a kitten I had. Initially I was very angry with the dog. Then I realized the dog is a wonderful ratter. He keeps my barn rat free. How can I praise him for catching and killing rats, but punish him for catching and killing a small cat, that probably looked like a rat to him? Am I sad about the kitten dying? Heck yes! Will I ever allow any of my other cats anywhere near the dog? Heck no!