Sunday, December 31, 2006

Kit the Cat

For the last few weeks, on our walks, Ella has been playing with a new friend. Kit. A cat. It apparently was a loose cat that showed up at Nelson's house at 9th and Ellicott and he began feeding it while it lived in his backyard. It was a playful little cat, not afraid of dogs. I always enjoyed walking Ella by there, looking forward to a little cat play. It was a fun time.





A few days ago, I was walking Ella by Nelson's house, looking for Kit. Nelson was in his kitchen and through his open kitchen window which overlooked the yards where we and apparently many others played with Kit, he gave me the bad news.

One night, after coming home from running up to the store, two men came up and told him they had found Kit and that a dog killed it. He was heartbroken. Although not a cat person, he had decided earlier that day he was going to get the cat fixed and bring him/her indoors. He always enjoyed watching from his windows, seeing people walking their dogs playing with Kit.

Susan and I were always afraid something like this would happen, that a stray dog would hamr the cat. However, as I spread the news to several neighbors both close and far, a darker theory emerged.

There is a neighbor nearby who has two dogs. One day the son was walking those dogs by Ashley Warner's house. Somehow. . . somehow... somehow those dogs got loose and ran into Ashley's yard, killing her cat, while the son just stood there, taking no action. The father was advised of the cat murder and he became incensed at the cat parents and refused to take responsibility for the killing. Fortunately Ashley's mother is a lawyer and she showed him the light.

Later apparently the dogs got loose and ran into a closer neighbor's yard and killed one of his cats. Again the owner of the dogs became incensed at the cat parent intread of taking responsibility for the death. He said no way could his dogs have gotten loose, that someone must have opened the gate. Police were called and he was taken to court and fined.

Suspicion now falls that his dogs were involved in Kit's death and that perhaps, . . . perhaps, it was deliberate.

If so, there is a special place in Hell waiting. Outer Ring of the 7th Circle of Hell standing deep in the Phlegethon (Dante's Inferno)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a cute video. Kit seems more interested in the leash than the dog.:)

It's a crying shame that some people won't take responsibility for their animals.

Anonymous said...

Im going to be honest..
Cats need to be kept inside too like dogs.
One day my dog accidentally got loose and killed a stray cat on accident.
Some breeds hunt like that and when he smelled the cat it got him excited and he bolted.
Now before you call me a kitty killer, the law says cats should be leashed like dogs and not stray on others property.
The cat was walking on my property.
I dont let my dog free roam?
Why is this any different?

Anonymous said...

Agreed - cats should be inside pets. However, it appears this cat was a stray that obviously once had a dog as a friend. I have to tell you that in the 70's I had an outside siamese cat named Tricky that would jump on the back of any stray dog that wandered in the yard. He was the terror of the dog world!

Mal Carne said...

You can't blame the dogs for being dogs, but you can blame irresponsible owners. Usually people with the hardest to control breeds are the people who have no business having a dog in the first place.
Too many incidents like this and you end up with ridiculous legislation like the city of Denver passed, banning pit bulls. Useless owners get dogs as an extension of their ego (to be polite about it) and then do nothing to train or properly care for them. Dog gets left in the back yard by it's self to slowly go insane and then one day gets out and hurts someone or something. All the dog's fault, it's just a bad breed.
I'm sick of idiots who have no realization that in getting a dog, you are then responsible for that living being's health and safety.

Anonymous said...

Let me politely disagree with you as a pit bull owner.
My dog is very loved and trained.
But he loves cats.
And dont you think I feel bad when he kills a cat?
So it pisses me off that people let the cats roam free for me to have to see that.
My dog is in a fenced yard but the cats come over the fence.
The one time my dog did get loose is when I was answering the door and a stray cat was sitting in the middle of the yard unexpectedly.
This dog is a good watchdog and thats why I have it.
Many people like big dogs for personal protection.
Especially if you have been party to a violent crime.
All dogs have the potential to bite.
Not just pit bulls.
There are some pit bulls that are the sweetest dogs ever.
Some dogs are just cat aggressive and it has nothing to do with how much they are loved or trained.
Read up on it.
Most dogs WILL protect their home and owner from intruders.
Wait until sweet Poochie sees someone trying to hurt you.
With that said...there are a lot of bad animal owners in SESH.
Chained up dogs, no love, no water, way too aggressive dogs that arent properly fenced in, fighting dogs, etc.
But I am going to have to stick up for dog rights.
What needs to happen is have the really bad dog owners cracked down on by animal control or maybe we should see if Major Guidara knows a solution.
He seems to be able to fix anything.
But the cat aggresive dog is common.
And against the law to have free roaming, untagged cats for just that reason.

Susan said...

The point being missed here is that this person's dogs have killed two cats that were in their own yards, as a matter of fact in the back yards near their houses. This person and his son evidently enjoy watching cats be killed. He is an angry, hate filled man who despises his neighbors. The kitten that died never left it's yard that anyone saw. Scott walked Ella by there every day and it would only go to the end of it's sidewalk, then stop when Scott moved on. The man who was feeding it is guilt ridden because he feels he made the decision too late to commit to this cat and bring it in the house. He just wasn't the type of person to want a cat, but this kitten won him over with it's loving spirit.

The city is a harsh place for animals. Far too many recieve minimum care, are abused or left behind when owners move. I agree that the animals are not the problem and not to blame for acting like the species they are. But in this case, these dogs are a menace because of the owner. We have no malice towards the dogs for their behavior. The man is just plain evil. I believe he was capable of walking up to the kitten, picking it up and throwing it in his yard. That kitten would not have run from him or his dogs because she trusted everyone. This happened the day before Christmas eve and I can't tell you how many broken hearted people there are. Kit made many friends in her short life.

Mal Carne said...

I can assure you that your point is not being missed. It's a factor that leads to a bigger problem as a whole.

Two big crimes that carry almost no punishment are being committed here; the first is that the dogs are being allowed and possibly encouraged to kill. (sorry to Kit's would-be parent, has to be rough) And the second is that this sick, twisted sack of puke is teaching his kid to further his degenerate train of thought. Can anyone see a future serial killer in the making? Jeffy Dahlmer started out pulling the wings off of flies - we can see where that went.
Unfortunately animal abuse (for lack of a better term at 6:40 in the am) carries laughable penalties in comparison to the level of grief caused to owners - and fostering a sociopath carries no penalty.
There used to be a law on the books in Texas where murder was perfectly justified if you could prove that the person "just needed killing". Not that bad of a law, in retrospect.

Anonymous said...

having adopted(indirectly) one of the blog posted kittens the thought of that theory on Kit's passing makes me sick.

Not giving a pass to the dog owners in this case but we should all make the efforts to have the feral cats in the neighborhood spayed and nutered so that there are not hundreds of cats and kittens running the streets in the spring. Feeding the strays provides a food source that only enourages reproduction.

Mal if we applied your Texas law then there might be a few less headaches in the 'hood but whos definition would we stop at???

Anonymous said...

Cat owners should be held just as accountable as dog owners. My pet budgie was killed by a cat roaming free. It came into my garage and caught my bird by reaching right through the cage bars. Darn folks who let their cats roam outside!

Mal Carne said...

Greg,
yeah - the devil is always in the details. But it doesn't make it any less fun to think about.

Anonymous said...

A stray cat killed the great little rooster that lived at Lake Roberta also.

Any loose or abandoned animal is fighting for survival and doing what they need and is natural to survive.

That's why my Mom got rid of her birds when she brought in a stray kitten - eventually the birds were going down so they went away to another safer home.

Mal Carne said...

I have to say that I agree with controlling one's cats as well as one's dogs. I have a rather large collection of animals, cats as well as dogs, who all share a common trait- they were put in a place where they would have died without my help, by some jackass human; either directly or indirectly.
Living in an urban environment puts any loose animal in a dangerous situation. Rural environments come with their dangers, as well. My pitbull daughter was almost eaten by coyotes before she was rescued from the ditch that she was abandoned in. But I digress.
If you truly love your cats, keep them inside. They are smaller than dogs and harder for drivers to see, have a whole slew of predators that occur naturally in this area (snakes, dogs, and the occasional birds of prey that call they neighborhood home) Not to mention the stray cat population around here that can pass on feline AIDS or the fact that they can and will kill anything that seems like dinner or fun to them - sometimes someone else's pet.
I'm all for licensing and maintaining restraint laws for cats as well as dogs. But that's not really the point of the original topic. I truly wish that there was something that could be done to the people that were mentioned. There's knowing, and there's proof, and even with proof they'd only get a slap on the wrist. My heart goes out to anyone who cared about that kitten, it was probably of better character than most humans that I've encountered.

Anonymous said...

Well, I am about to be very unpopular. Cats are cats and they do not react to training like dogs. And cats are different from one another. Some are very content inside. Some are not. Many times when you rescue cats, they come from a long line of outside cats and are miserable inside. I have cats and dogs. And some other small creatures that could be cat food. I just watch over them. They maintain a cohabitation relationship. Actually the dogs absolutely love the cats. And not for dinner! My animals are neutered and spayed, and receive vetting. But the cats come and go in my house, as they please. There presence keeps the ferral cat population at bay. They don't breed, and they have food available at all times, so they don't hunt. Oh about twice a year they bring me a rat, but that is it. The birds and squirrels stay up off the ground and seem to be plentiful. As I rescued them, I know they live a far better life now than they were. I also know that there is a possibility they will come to some harm. But it is the way things work. I will say that for the most part they live long lives and dogs have never been the issue with any of them.

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