In the middle of the night last night, one of our beloved pets came home after being absent for a few days, we awoke to a pitiful sound of pain, I picked her up only to discover a gaping wound across her abdomen, 6" long and several inches wide, she died shortly thereafter.

I suspect a Mt lion got in one swipe before she escaped.

Squeak will be sorely missed, one of those cats that never ever did anything wrong, and was always happy to see you.

   I am sorry Solar.

Quote from: JustKari on August 12, 2013, 02:29:00 PM
  I am sorry Solar.

Thanks, we are too. Toy somehow feels responsible, so it's hitting her harder, but there was nothing anyone could have done, she loved the forest, to make her a house cat would have been cruel.

Sorry to hear about that.

I had to put our, (half wild), cat, down last year. She picked up rabies, or something that made her crazy and dangerous looking. She had a good life, and she enjoyed being part of the food chain out in the wild. "House cat", never would have worked.

My cat, Patches, is a housie pretty much, but she wants to be "outside" a lot, meaning sleeping on the deck or under my lawn tractor or under the shop building or sometimes up on the shed roof where she crawls inside the grass bag for the push mower. (I tossed it up there to keep the late Mrs. Tbone from using it.) Of course, when the weather changes for the colder, she'll get to be the "housiest" cat you ever saw! 

Quote from: Solar on August 12, 2013, 11:19:31 AM
In the middle of the night last night, one of our beloved pets came home after being absent for a few days, we awoke to a pitiful sound of pain, I picked her up only to discover a gaping wound across her abdomen, 6" long and several inches wide, she died shortly thereafter.

I suspect a Mt lion got in one swipe before she escaped.

Squeak will be sorely missed, one of those cats that never ever did anything wrong, and was always happy to see you.

I'm sorry for the loss of Squeak, Solar.

I have a cat, "Mack" that I got because, as a tiny kitten, maybe a couple months old, he would come visit my neighbor. She feeds her cats outside, and he would come and eat and socialize with the cats. Mack was obviously born outside, and I have no idea what happened to the rest of his litter, but he was so small, the size of my palm, that he had no business being out and roaming about.

When he was distracted by watching one of the adult cats, I slipped around the planter he was hiding behind and snagged him.    After some hissing and snarling, Mack settled down and decided I wasn't all bad.

Now, a year later, I let mack outside but when I'm not there to watch him I sometimes put him outside on an extended kitty leash.  Only last night I got it into my head that some hawk or other animal might find him and harm him, and went out and brought him in.

Quote from: Trip on August 12, 2013, 11:42:43 PM
I'm sorry for the loss of Squeak, Solar.

I have a cat, "Mack" that I got because, as a tiny kitten, maybe a couple months old, he would come visit my neighbor. She feeds her cats outside, and he would come and eat and socialize with the cats. Mack was obviously born outside, and I have no idea what happened to the rest of his litter, but he was so small, the size of my palm, that he had no business being out and roaming about.

When he was distracted by watching one of the adult cats, I slipped around the planter he was hiding behind and snagged him.    After some hissing and snarling, Mack settled down and decided I wasn't all bad.

Now, a year later, I let mack outside but when I'm not there to watch him I sometimes put him outside on an extended kitty leash.  Only last night I got it into my head that some hawk or other animal might find him and harm him, and went out and brought him in.

Is he still real tiny? That id always my concern, eagles and other flying predators.
We'll replace Squeak with two this time, but unfortunately it's the price one pays for freedom living in the wild.

Quote from: Solar on August 13, 2013, 05:23:13 AM
Is he still real tiny? That id always my concern, eagles and other flying predators.
We'll replace Squeak with two this time, but unfortunately it's the price one pays for freedom living in the wild.

Yep. Around here, we can only speculate, but cats disappear from time to time. My neighbor has outdoor cats that hang around the yard and in his barn. Night time can be cruel...both large owls, and foxes share the territory, along with a few coyotes. The unwary cat can become a midnight snack for one of the other critters.

Quote from: kramarat on August 13, 2013, 05:30:20 AM
Yep. Around here, we can only speculate, but cats disappear from time to time. My neighbor has outdoor cats that hang around the yard and in his barn. Night time can be cruel...both large owls, and foxes share the territory, along with a few coyotes. The unwary cat can become a midnight snack for one of the other critters.

It's for this reason I'm encircling my property with 8' wrought iron railing fence, mainly for the safety of the dogs though.
Cats will never stay in a fenced acre, no matter what I do.

Quote from: Solar on August 13, 2013, 05:23:13 AM
Is he still real tiny? That id always my concern, eagles and other flying predators.
We'll replace Squeak with two this time, but unfortunately it's the price one pays for freedom living in the wild.

Mack has always been small. He's still small, and a cat born 3 months after him is much bigger.  Yeah a big bird might take him away, but he's really good at hiding too.

Sorry for your loss. No matter how many times you go through it, or how you go through it, losing a pal is never easy.

We have an orange and white neutered female called Squeaky. After 14 years, she's more family than some of the rest of us.