After the initial shock of finding Cookie dead in my front yard, it is occuring to me that she may have fallen victim to a stray dog attack. Remembering the other day how a large dog, from the neighbor's accross the street, chased Amy up a tree. Normally, all of the dogs in my immediate neighborhood do not bother the cats. But this one large dog, who, BTW, does not live permanently accross the street, was definitely aggressive towards Amy, and I suspect when he saw Cookie he immediately went after her. Although I cannot prove any of this, it still bears some re-thinking. I remember coming in from the shelter that noon time and not finding my furkids at the door to greet me, which I though was strange. They were all hiding! Apparently, they either saw or heard Cookie being attacked, and it scared them. Also, none of the 2 remaining indoor/outdoor cats (Tiger and Amy) have a rentless desire to go outside any more. Even Pepper is reluctant to go outside, and he is a problem, being an opportunist, about keeping inside. Every morning they usually want to go outside. I just tell them, "No, you are not going outside, I am not going to loose you like I did Cookie"........and they understand! I am finding the main reason these two like to go outside is so they can eat grass. So, I bring in grass each day for all of them. Amy likes to sleep the day away from the others, so I'll have to make her a little hide-away place, inside.

Again, thanks for all the support that all of you have shown me.