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| Curled up in the baby doll car seat that Bridgette has for her stuffed Minnie Mouse Doll |
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| On lay-z-boy with Stephanie talking on phone |
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| playing on the bed when I went to get clean sheets |
The above pictures are of my baby Pharaoh. We have cats. 3 black and white tuxedo cats (Calliou [9yrs], Blackbeard [6yrs] and JJ [5yrs]) whom we call the "black cat mafia" (there used to be 4 of them, but Romeo [JJ's brother] went to live with my daughter Sam in Wisconsin this past August), and one Siamese cat named Pharoah (2 yrs). I think I have the ages correct. We had a second siamese cat (female named Shinya) but she recently went to live with her favorite person (my step-daughter Rachel) in September, leaving us with just the 4 cats.
This morning my brother Brian was woken up by a dog yelping and what he thought was another dog growling etc. He assumed it was two dogs fighting in our side yard. When he looked out the window he saw a large dog (breed was Akita, apparently a breed known for attacking cats) attacking Pharaoh. Before he could do anything, the dog killed my cat by breaking his neck. Brian woke Stephanie (his wife) and told her, she came and woke up Ron and I to tell us.
I immediately went outside, not caring where the dog was (by that time the police had him in a yard across the street and were keeping an eye on him waiting for animal control to come get him). I was hoping that my cat was okay, just stunned or something, maybe unconscious, but not dead. But no matter how intensely I wished it, he was gone. I've been crying off and on all day. Especially after I found what was on my front steps because the story this evidence told is very clear and it hurts to know that when my baby really needed one of us, needed our help, we weren't there..I wasn't there. I didn't save him when he wanted and needed it. That hurts. I know its not my fault, but emotions are not always logical.
Animal control wanted to take him. They wanted to put him in a bag and "dispose" of him. I was appalled at the idea! No way! I would take care of my baby not some stranger. I lovingly wrapped him up in a soft towel and held him for a while, telling him I was sorry that we weren't awake and didn't help him and that I love him. A couple hours later, with my husband's help, we buried him in the back yard next to the garage. It was so hard and I cried a lot. I've been crying off and on all day because every time I do something I expect Pharaoh to be there like he usually is and it hits me real hard when I look for him and he's not there and I remember this morning. I want my cat back.
Pharaoh was one of my favorite cats. He really loved me, cared about me and I really loved him too. We got him when a friend of my daughter's joined the navy. He owned two cats, Pharaoh, and an all black female (American short haired) named Isis. His brother took Isis, so I took Pharaoh. He was only about a year old when we got him. Such a pretty, soft, sweet, and lovable cat. When I was stuck in bed due to pain, he would insist on coming into my room and laying on the bed with me. If I was in too much pain for him to lay right up against me or on my lap, he would stretch out and lay next to me without touching me. Or he would curl up around the top of my head, just above my head, on my pillow. Other times he would lay along my chest, with his head resting on my arm. When I was sitting up reading, he would lay on my crossed legs/ankles (I tend to sit with my legs and ankles crossed, Indian style) and put his head on one of my thighs and just go to sleep. He would sit with me on my computer chair too, either curled up on my lap, behind me, or stretched out beside me. When he wanted to be near me but wasn't in the mood for cuddles or petting, he would lay on Ron's side of the bed and sleep.
He was very playful too. He loved to chase this little red laser light we had, it would make a red circle. We'd turn it on and move it around on the floor in circles and he would turn in circles chasing it. We'd move it along the floor and he'd pounce on it, he'd even try to climb the wall after it! He loved it and we would laugh, it was a lot of fun. I would play with him with a long piece of embroidery floss, or a balled up piece of paper, or just my hand under a blanket or towel.
When I would make a sandwich or a bowl of cereal, he would follow me to the kitchen. There he would hop up on to my bar stool (That I use when I'm preparing a meal so I can sit down while working) and watch me carefully. Then he would meow, asking me for some. I would give a piece or two of my sandwich meat. His favorite was roast beef and he did not like pastrami when it was heated up for a hot pastrami sandwich. When I was eating cereal, he would follow me sit and wait until I was done eating because he knew that I would give him a small amount of the milk at the bottom of the bowl (amounted to a tablespoon, the rest I drank). It was so funny! His eyes would never leave the spoon and he'd move his head following the spoon from the bowl to my mouth. A few times I teased him by moving the spoon in circles, or side to side but he kept his eyes glued to it and just followed every movement. It was so funny!
I'm not the only one he would cuddle with, slept with, played with, or begged food from. He would also cuddle with Stephanie (my sister-in-law) and Brian; sometimes even Kyle and he would let Bridgette pet him. With Stephanie, he would lay with her same as with me, along her chest with his head on her arm or shoulder and his body under the blanket. When she was sitting in the lay-z-boy recliner, he would get into her lap, or lay right beside her and cuddle up, just like in the picture above.
He really was one of our favorite cats and I am really going to miss him very much.
WARNING: FOLLOWING STORY/DESCRIPTION COULD BE VERY UPSETTING TO SOME
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When I started to go back into the house after speaking with the animal control officers (who took the dog) I noticed odd lines on the concrete of my front steps. I looked closer and what I found tore my heart apart. Apparently the dog dragged the cat off the steps. Pharaoh tried to hold on and left claw marks in the cement on the steps as well as the cement that is on top of the little brick wall that is around a flower bed in front of the house, right next to the steps. (the second step actually meets the edge of the wall as can be seen in the first picture). Also on the steps we found two of my baby's claws which were torn off while he tried so hard to hold onto the cement step. I also found paw prints, drag marks, and claw marks dug deeply into the dirt of the flower bed. All I could think of is that my cat came to the door for help and since no one was awake, we weren't there and the damn dog literally dragged him from the porch, over the step and through the flower bed then into the side yard, cornering him where the chain link fence makes a corner. This left my baby with no choice but to turn and try to fight. A fight that woke Brian, but that Pharaoh lost.
Animal control took the dog. It seems that this dog belong to a neighbor on the next street and is a breed that is known to strongly dislike cats and to kill them. This is not the first cat in the neighborhood that this dog has killed, but animal control can't do anything until the dog hurts or kills more than one cat or attacks/harms a human being. I am so angry that the owner was negligent and allowed an aggressive dog to get loose in a neighborhood full of small children and many cats.
I took the pictures of my stairs to show how the animal behaved in getting my cat, should it be needed as I plan to do my best to get this dog either relocated to a farm area, or put down as he is very aggressive. He was aggressive with the police officers and animal control officers as well.
But mostly..I WANT MY CAT BACK!
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| top of brick wall around flower bed, to left of second step |
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| beginning of claw marks, set of 4 but 4th isn't very visible |
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| left side longer mark a few inches from first set, am guessing front paws |
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| right side claw marks, inches behind first set of 4, am guessing right front paw |
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| The dog looked almost exactly like this |
