Fool's journey - A little taste of death
Lost my cat - nursing mother cat- on thursday. She was the daughter of another cat we had for several years, Chipie. I named her Venise (Venice), because she was the only one in that litter who had a perfect grey mask over both eyes, a grey heart shaped on the chest and perfect gloves as if she was ready to go to the Carnival.
Number Two was absolutely in love with her, and she had her third litter just before Easter, six kitten, but one died.
I don't know what happened ?
I spent the morning with doctors Thursday, and when I came back home, there was no sign of my cats, though they often diver in the lawn. Only my dog, Diva, uncharacteristically whimpering and asking to go in her basket in the house. She never asks during the day, except in the dead of winter when it's freezing. I was so knackered, I didn't consider, let the dog in and went to lay down.
Later, I saw Venise feeding her kitten, but said to myself that she looked... I don't know... Passive was the word that came to my mind.
There was an orage, and I hurried to collect the boys on the way from school. When I parked the car, Number Three stepped down before me, and suddenly I heard him crying, «what have you done, you ran over her!»
… Which was impossible since the kitten were between her and the car, and of course I stopped.
Venise was laying on the side, breathing hard and I promptly caught a towel to put her in, to assess what I could, and decide if I needed to take her to the vet? She dragged herself out of my arms, and went to hide behind a plank. I noticed there was blood oozing from her anus. In a matter of two or three minutes, she was dead.
I found a little pool of blood where she had last sat to feed her young... She was already dying.
I suspect a stray dog or another wild beast might have attacked the kitten and she defended them ? We've lost many kittens in the past, when they escape to explore, mainly because of weasels. The reason why I never got her a sterilisation nor killed any kitten, though I had quite a lot that got adopted. It's hard, a cat's life around here, in the wild, even with a shelter to return, and they hardly live more than 5 years between wild beasts, roads and much too often, poisoned rats and mouses.
Yet, I rather think it might be a dog. Diva is rather small but she's a mongrel ratter and Husband once saw her kill a marten in the woods. I can't imagine she'd let a weasel approach. She also has friendly relationships with all the dogs in the neighbourhood, visiting and receiving visits, but her friends always behave and are used to cats too. So what?
Husband burried her at 6:00 am, while we were all still in bed. I hope everything will be all right with the kitten. They have had solid food for two weeks now, but I'll never beat the dedication of Venise who incessantly brought them field mouses and birds.
Only a cat.
Merde!