You don't want to go back there, Lewis. That's old Micmac burial grounds. They say the ground back there is sour, Lewis. You know, they also say the soil of a mans heart is stonier.
Posted on 02/22/2005 7:52:56 PM PST by Dinsdale
An otherwise “loving family pet” was shot dead by police after the tabby cat went berserk and terrorized a city family late last week, The Intelligencer has learned.
The bizarre ordeal began when the family’s 12-year-old daughter arrived home from school Wednesday evening and began petting the feline, ‘Mickey,’ in the living room of their east end home.
“He was just your average, playful cat,” who never had any behaviour problems before the incident, recalled the homeowner, who asked her family’s name not be used. “He was a sweet and loving household pet.”
While her daughter was stroking the long-haired white and orange tabby in the living room, the feline leisurely walked downstairs.
But when Mickey emerged from the basement-area of the home, it was “ ... a different animal ... it looked as though it was possessed.”
Ears flat back, hair standing on end and eyes bulging, Mickey lunged across the dining room and attacked her daughter, biting through her jeans and slicing into her leg.
When the cat released its grip, it continued coming at the girl, shrieking and hissing.
“I had to intervene ... he was coming right at her again,” the mother recalled.
The husband arrived home a short time later and managed to corner the cat in the living room until his wife and two children could sneak out the back door to safety.
“So I stood there having a stare-off with this cat for 20 minutes until the officer arrived,” he said, adding that both animal control and police were called to the scene.
While it ran wildly around the interior of the brick bungalow, the cat continued shrieking and began defecating throughout the home.
“You could actually hear the cat screaming from the other side of the street,” he said.
A city police officer arrived at 5:20 p.m., according to Insp. Merle Foster, and was informed of the animal’s behaviour.
“The daughter had been taken to the hospital by her mother for treatment . .. and the information we received from animal control was that they were not going to attend until after a meeting they were currently attending.”
There was a concern the animal could get lodged in the crawl space of the home, which was under partial renovation.
“I said ‘If that cat got into the crawl space in the frame of mind it’s in, it’ll be a nightmare to get it out. And there’s no way, after being viciously attacked by this cat, that we’re ever going to trust it again.’ ”
He asked the officer to, if given the chance, put the animal down.
As the constable entered the home, the cat ran up the stairs and stared the officer down.
Speaking to The Intelligencer on condition of anonymity, the constable said he had “ ... never seen an animal act like that before — it was like it was possessed or something, hissing and growling.”
The officer shot the cat square in the chest with his Beretta .40-calibre handgun.
“Even after he shot it, that cat was so hopped up — we’re talking about a little, eight-pound cat — Mickey ran down the hall into the bathroom and jumped into the tub,” the husband recollected. “He didn’t die for at least five minutes ... he was all nerves and adrenaline ... he wasn’t in his right mind.”
Foster, meanwhile, said a use-of-force report will be submitted as part of police protocol, however, “We did this at the request of the homeowner ... and, quite frankly, I completely support the actions of the officer in this situation.”
“For all he knew, that animal had rabies.”
Government test results earlier this week confirmed the feline didn’t have rabies. An autopsy to determine the exact cause of the animal’s behaviour is not scheduled, however.
As to why details of the incident were not released by police, Foster was blunt.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I don’t know why this wasn’t released earlier.”
Without knowing the animal’s history, Dr. Kim Drysdale of the Belleway Veterinary Hospital on Highway 62 said it would be hard to pin-point the exact cause of Mickey’s wild behaviour.
“There are cats out there that are a little bit aggressive,” whether because of its natural disposition or a medical ailment of some sort, she said.
“There are viruses that can cause changes in behaviour (and) ... there are some cats that just are not as genetically friendly as others.”
But, usually, there are warning signs the animal is not right in the head, Drysdale added.
“Most people seem to think it’s out of the blue, but when you get a detailed history there are smaller incidents that lead up to a major outburst .. but who’s to say, I wasn’t there, I haven’t interviewed these people or seen the cat.”
And an angry feline can be a handful — even more vicious than an aggressive dog, Drysdale said.
“A cat with a behaviour problem or serious aggression problem can be a force to be reckoned with. But that’s not normal — most cats are pretty nice and social.”
“We have heard stories about people not being able to leave their homes because their cat was blocking the doorway. So some cats can be aggressive.”
If any household pet shows aggression, the family should contact their veterinarian for advice, she said.
While the family has nothing but praise for the officer involved, the conduct of the current animal control company contracted by the municipality — Tweed-based Municipal Animal Control — is another story.
When the service was initially called — before police arrived at the scene — the family was told it could be up to a three-hour wait for an officer to arrive, “ ... because they were just about to go into a meeting,” the female homeowner said.
“I told them that wasn’t good enough, and he said ‘Well, I’ll try to break my back and come in before then.’”
After the police officer arrived at the scene, police dispatchers attempted several times to contact the animal control officer, but to no avail.
“When I arrived home from the hospital with my daughter, there was a card put in my door from them,” the female resident said.
Heide Elliott of Municipal Animal Control was tightlipped when asked about the incident.
“All I can tell you is that the cat was cleared of rabies by the public health (unit).”
Elliott did confirm the company responded to the incident — but didn’t arrive until after the cat had been shot.
“There was a timing issue ... we ended up going down after the incident with the police to pick up the body and take it to the lab for testing.”
For the family, who owned Mickey since he was seven weeks old, the cat will always be remembered as a loving pet.
“Mickey was just a sweet little thing ... and had never shown any kind of aggression before this,” the female resident said. “It was as though he didn’t recognize any of us ... and didn’t know where he was, the way he was looking around the home.
“Mickey was our pet and we loved him ... but in that state he wasn’t the cat we knew.”
“He was just wild,” continued her husband. “We really had no choice but to do what we did.”
The officer who shot the animal paid a visit to the family the next day, he added.
“He wanted to check up on (our daughter) and make sure the family was doing all right.”
The couple’s daughter was treated and released at Belleville hospital for her leg wound and is currently taking antibiotics to prevent an infection.
“The Belleville police officer was very compassionate — and I think he was just as shocked as I was to see an animal act in that manner. I would tell anybody who has a cat that starts acting odd to take it seriously.”
[Freepmail me to get on or off the Kitty Ping List.]
BTTT
Fascinating. I am sorry about your poor dog.
You don't want to go back there, Lewis. That's old Micmac burial grounds. They say the ground back there is sour, Lewis. You know, they also say the soil of a mans heart is stonier.
My brother was stationed there for a few years. He just retired and is thinking of relocating there with his family, but that would mean leaving Honolulu. Tough decision.
About the flea drops, that's an interesting thought. That got me thinking too, what if there was mouse poison, ant poison, or something like that in the basement...
One day he was working in the yard when he felt the call of nature. Since they were miles from any neighbors he stepped behind a rose arbor to drain the morning's coffee. Unknown to him the cat was lurking in the undergrowth. The cat saw his chance at last and leapt. . .
Gramps was never the same . . . kind of a sprinkler effect.
I used some on our cat about a month ago and she went wild. She was foaming at the mouth, screaming and running wild. I did some research and a lot of cats are being killed by that stuff. She finally came out of it but I thought I had killed her.
Probably no gun in the house. But I can tell you, a cat can cause an incredible amount of harm to a human.
Stephen King fan?
SUV cat.
My father's grandfather was a city marshall at a small town in Kansas...dad told of visiting him, when the cat jumped onto the kitchen counter and started eating his breakfast bacon. He took his revolver and shot the cat dead, right there.
My aunt always said that he shot the cat in the yard, after chasing him out, but I don't believe it, because I tried to shoot a feral cat one time. I'm pretty good, but it took me 5 or 6 shots with a .22 rifle. And I don't think he would have bothered getting up out of his chair.
Yes.
My immediate reaction was that Pet Cemetery cat.
hahaha. that was a perfect reply man.
if i were the dad id be feeling pretty stupid for having to call the police just to shoot my own cat. (sigh)....thats why you keep a gun in the house.
LOL!
My German Shepherd lived with three cats, and had to deal with with various snakes, a raccoon and a fawn.
That cat is no more afraid of that canine gauntlet than I was when my DI positioned my squad of 30 "at ease" females amongst several hundred "parade rest" males.
The word the indians who lived here in ancient times used to describe this place translates to 'paradise'.
I agree.
Not my cats.
But then again, I routinely snip the front and rear legs off of all my animals.
I detest chasing them around the house, so it's the only humane thing to do. Meet my cat "Hot Dog", and my dog "Door Matt", and my other cat "Mr. Stationary".
The cat thought it was Hunter S. Thompson.
1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
2. Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and close door.
3. Open door and remove cat from closet.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc.
7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.
9. Reopen drawer and re-remove cat.
10. Remove present from bag.
11. Remove cat from bag.
12. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.
13. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
14. Try and smooth out paper, realize cat is underneath and remove cat.
15. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.
16. Throw away first sheet as cat chased the scissors, and tore the paper.
17. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting cat in the bag the present came in.
18. Place present on paper.
19. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize cat is between present and paper. Remove cat and try again.
20. Place object on paper, to hold in place, while cutting transparent sticky tape.
21. Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.
22. Seal paper with transparent sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
23. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase cat down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
24. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
25. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to cat's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
26. Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.
27. Decide to skip steps 13-17, in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box, that is the right size for sheet of paper.
28. Put present in box, and tie down with string.
29. Remove string, open box and remove cat.
30. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.
31. Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to re-lay out packing materials.
32. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close door and relock.
33. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear cries from cat outside door.)
34. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best.)
35. Discover cat has already torn paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because cat helped with wrapping last year.
36. Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
37. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing tears with transparent sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.
38. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.
39. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.
40. Spend 15 minutes looking for cat, before coming to obvious conclusion.
41. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
42. Retrieve all discarded sheets of wrapping paper. Feed cat. Return to lockable room for last attempt, making certain you are alone and the door is locked.
43. Find least torn and wrinkled sheets of paper. Attempt to use sheets of same pattern.
44. Vainly try and wrap present in patchwork of paper. Tie with now tattered ribbon and decorate with the now limp bows. Label and put present in bag, for fear of anyone seeing this disaster.
45. When giving the gift, smile sweetly at receiver's face, as they try and hide their contempt at being handed such a badly wrapped present.
46. Swear to yourself that next year, you will get the store to wrap the damn thing for you.
47. Smile smugly, knowing that the recipient could have received a cat!
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