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RIP Mr. Sissy & Pip


sea4th

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Little Pip was 6 months old. Mr. Sissy, the big old red cat was about 4 yrs. old. I found them both dead, next to each other last night. I'm still in shock. They're buried, but I'm thinking of going back and getting one of them for a necropsy. I don't know. I'm I little shaken right now. No blood. I think they might have found their way into one of the many nooks & crannies in this old house and found some old rat poison.

 

They were the best of buddies. They died together, next to each other and now they are together for ever.

 

I've been in shock since I found them.

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I'm so sorry.

peace to Mr. sissy and Pip and peace to you. I think I'd want to know since it was both of them. Strange unless you think about the poison, sounds like it could only be that.

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Oh Vicki, how very sad. I can't imagine the shock of finding them like that. My heart goes out to you on your loss. RIP Mr. Sissy and Pip. May you find all the catnip you want at the Bridge.

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Little Pip was 6 months old. Mr. Sissy, the big old red cat was about 4 yrs. old. I found them both dead, next to each other last night. I'm still in shock. They're buried, but I'm thinking of going back and getting one of them for a necropsy. I don't know. I'm I little shaken right now. No blood. I think they might have found their way into one of the many nooks & crannies in this old house and found some old rat poison.

 

They were the best of buddies. They died together, next to each other and now they are together for ever.

 

I've been in shock since I found them.

Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. That is awful. Poor kitties and poor you. I think I would want to know what happened. Just for my own peace of mind.

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They will not go quietly,

the cats who've shared our lives.

In subtle ways they let us know

their spirit still survives.

 

Old habits still make us think

we hear a meow at the door.

Or step back when we drop

a tasty morsel on the floor.

 

Our feet still go around the place

the food dish used to be,

And, sometimes, coming home at night,

we miss them terribly.

 

And although time may bring new friends

and a new food dish to fill,

That one place in our hearts

belongs to them. . . and always will.

 

- Linda Barnes

 

Via con Dios, Mr. sissy and Pip.

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Sending hugs to you - so sorry for your loss.

Poor kitties! At least it seems they did not suffer -

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Thanks everyone. I can't even cry about this one.

 

Couple things happened over the weekend which were sort of out of the ordinary.

 

First, on and off all winter I've had problems with the old boiler furnace in the cellar. It had turned cold Thursday night and the repair guy had been out during the warm weather to what I found out later was to shut it off. (His business is right down the road from me and he has access to my cellar and furnace by way of a separate cellar door on the side of the house, so all I have to do is call him and he'll come out and can work on the furnace while I'm not home). Friday morning, I tried to turn the thermostat up without any luck in getting heat. So I went about my morning routine, getting ready for work, feeding the dogs etc and forgot to turn it back down before I left. When I came home that evening, there was an odor in the house which disappeared as soon as I turned the thermostat back down. Most of the dogs are in the house downstairs as were the cats who had the entire upstairs to themselves. All were fine, cats included. The last time I saw the cats was Saturday evening. Nothing appeared to be wrong. Also, from Friday night on, I opened all of the windows upstairs so there was pretty good cross ventilation. Also, there is no heat source upstairs. It's heated from the first floor heat.

 

I went back up Sunday evening after I got done doing some work outside, thinking it's been awfully quiet up there all day Sunday. Usually, and I always got a big kick out of it, these two, especially Pip, the kitten, sounded like a herd of elephants when they'd run and play overhead. I realized that I hadn't heard anything Sunday. So I went up to fill their bowls. Usually I had two greedy felines doing flip flops at feeding time, they were so happy to see me. No one greeted me this time. I went into the kitty room. Nothing. I turned and went into one of the other rooms and that's where I found Pip and Sissy, lying next to each other. Sissy was still kind of warm. The boxes in the room were all overturned.

 

One day, last week when I came home from work and went upstairs to tend to the cats, there was another room that has a storage space in the wall with a door in front of it. One of the cats had pried open that door and Pip ran in there showing me that she was able to jump around in there and go in between the floorboard and under the floor. I blocked that door --- more because I didn't want anything crawling in, rather than thinking they'd be crawling in there. In hindsight, I'm thinking that maybe if they had access to under the floors in the house all day, maybe there was some poison from years ago that they got into.

 

I always thought that cats were harder to poison than dogs. Maybe it's an old wives tale, but I believed it and still can't picture a feline, who'd turn up it's nose at some savory cat food, would eat rat or mouse bait.

 

The other thing is, I noticed -- since that "open door" incident last week, their water bowl needed refilling a lot more often than usual.

 

This is how my brain is sorting things right now -- it seems the most logical to me. I can't think of anything else.

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Saturday sucked too. On a 50 stretch of country road that I ride daily, to and from work, there is one area that I would always see an Amish kid, about 12 yrs. old, riding in a cart with a high stepping pony. I used to love to watch them and even looked forward to a chance to see them again. Sometimes he had a little sister in the cart with him. The pony looked well taken care of and the cart wasn't one of those dour looking black things. It was a small cart, 4 wheels -- probably the sporty version of his parents' buggy.

 

Saturday, I was on my way to a town 35 miles from home when I saw someone directing traffic on this road. As I got closer, the first thing I saw was this kids cart -- I didn't recognize it as anything at first. It was nothing but splintered wood and one wheel. Off to the side of the road was this kid, sitting on the ground, his face white and ashen, a look of shock on his face and a woman who was holding a blanket around him. He was sitting near his pony, who was still in harness, lying on it's side, partially covered by a blanket, lifting it's head every now and then.

 

As I passed and continued down the road, I heard all of the emergency vehicles from nearby townships speeding to the accident site. The car that hit him must have been going pretty fast to leave nothing but splinter wood of the buggy. That the boy was able to sit up is a good sign. Still, an awful thing to have happened.

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So very sorry for the loss of your beloved felines. Could they have gotten a hold of some insulation or something in the floorboards?

 

How sad for the boy and his horse. Seems things like this tend to come in bunches and it really knocks the wind out of you for a while.

 

Healing thoughts for your aching heart...

Pam

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I would strongly suggest that you further investigate the possibility that this was related to the furnace. You and your other pets could die if there is a leak or high levels of carbon monoxide. Often local fire departments will come out and check levels for free if there is a concern. It is possible the cats died because they were in a pocket of gas, whether it was in a particular room or under the floor boards. For your safety I think you need to get to the bottom of this.

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For what it's worth, rat poison is basically coumadin (warfarin), which is the same drug used to prevent blood clots in humans after surgery. It works by blocking the body from making vitamin K, which allows us to clot blood. When the K is gone, the rat (or dog or person) will bleed internally. My understanding is that they also get very thirsty. Allegedly (though not in my experience) a rat will leave a house, looking for water, after it's ingested rat poison. So... the thirst may point to rat poison, though I would also investigate other things - it'd be horrible to have this happen again. Definitely check carbon monoxide.

 

Horrible, horrible thing to have happened. I'm so sorry.

 

Mary

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Sorry, you have had a time losing your loved animals. Thoughts and prayers are with you, and I hope your posting will help someone avoid a similar heartbreak. It's all too easy.

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What an awful thing to have happened. I am so sorry.

 

Please be very careful about your furnace! Carbon monoxide is insidious -- no smell, no color, slightly lighter than air. Do you have carbon monoxide detectors? They aren't very expensive at the hardware store. I just popped over to Consumer Reports and found that their top rated detector costs $25 -- First Alert SA302CN. Also high rated were the Kidde PI2000 and Kidde PI9000, in the same price range. Anyone who has a combustion furnace -- gas, oil, coal, wood -- should have carbon monoxide detectors.

 

Rat poison is also a worry in an older house. When I cleaned up my mother's house last year, I got down on the floor and was horrified to discover pieces of rat poison underneath dressers etc. It had probably had been there for over 8 years. She didn't remember (though she didn't remember much, at that point.) One of my dogs could have gotten into it while I was distracted cleaning, which kind of took my breath away. I would put on my gloves, get down on my knees, and search very, very thoroughly.

 

I hope you can figure out what happened, prevent future problems, and get some peace. You deserve it, you are so kind and generous to our fellow creatures.

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Oh my what a horrific thing to discover and on top of seeing such a sad event with the car vs horse buggy accident. My heart goes out to you!! Nothing I can say or do will make you feel better but please know you're in my thoughts.. I'd be just devastated if anything like that were to happen to my furry family. I can't even begin to really understand how upset you must be feeling. big hugs to you... :rolleyes:

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