Yesterday morning a woman dropped her 2 dogs off at my house for us to watch for the long weekend. A Jack Russell Terrier and a 12 week old dachshund puppy. I asked her how the 2 of them were with cats - she said that the jack russell likes to chase them and would bark at them, but "just wanted to play with them". The dachshund had never before met a cat. To play it safe, we confined our kittens, Maximus and Commodus in the office so that they would be safe.
I was checking my email with both cats in here with me, and my fiance came in to check on how I was doing. Before he could stop him, Commie darted out of the room, probably wanting to play with the new dogs that were there - he loves dogs. The jack russell promptly picked him up, and mauled him. We grabbed him as fast as we could, and all I remember is seeing blood pouring out of his ear, and his nose. His mouth was open, and he was twitching a bit, but his eyes were closed, and his breathing was almost non existent. We rushed him to the 24 emergency animal hospital, which is a few blocks from our house....there was nothing that they could do. His skull was crushed and his neck was broken. He was only 7 weeks old. The Doctors told us that he likely felt nothing, because it was all over so quickly. They said that when we picked him up, he was probably taking his last breath, and that the movements we saw were likely just involuntary spasms.
We called the woman who owns the 2 dogs that we were watching, and told her what happened. She was horrified, obviously. We told her that she needed to make other arrangements for her dogs - either for us to bring them to a kennel, or have a friend come get them, because I could not have that dog in my house for the next 4 days, I didn't trust myself to be around her, I didn't trust myself to not do something irrational.
Commie loved dogs so much - he used to do this thing with my dogs, he would walk over to them and lick and nuzzle their noses until they opened their mouths, and then he would stick his head inside so they would lick him. He did the same thing with us - every time we would yawn, he would stick his head in our mouths. He was so, so funny. He liked to climb up on our shoulders while we sat on the couch and sleep curled up next to our necks.
Maximus and our 2 dogs have been walking around the house all day looking for him. It's absolutely heart breaking. Max keeps crying, and going from room to room, like he's searching for him. On one hand, I don't know if I can bring myself to get another cat right now - but on the other hand, is it really fair to Maximus to make him go back to being an only cat, when he was just getting used to having a buddy to play with? They were just starting to nap together, groom each other, and play nicely....and now this. I just don't know what to do from here.
We've decided not to foster any more dogs for a long time...and not to pet sit at our house anymore, unless we know the animals extremely well and know they are gentle with cats - our animals are our top priority, and clearly we can't guarantee their safety when bringing animals in here who we don't know.
I loved him so much. So very much. We had him for 1 week, and I could already tell how incredibly special he was. He was loving, funny, and had so many funny quirks about him. We brought Commie home in a box and buried him in a quiet shaded are of our back yard, and put a little stone garden over it as a memorial. I don't think either my fiance or I will ever forgive ourselves for this, for not being more careful, for allowing a strange dog into our house and putting him at risk like that. For not being there fast enough to protect him, and not being able to save him.
These are the last pictures that I took of our sweet little guy. He was taken from us far too soon, and I miss him so much. I hope that he knows how much he meant to us, and I hope that the week that he was in our lives was as happy for him as it was for us. We love you Commie.
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