Last November we found two stray dogs and took them in -- the pregnant female alpha is a husky mix and the male a boxer. We keep them in a huge kennel outside during the day and kenneled in a room at night or when we're away from home.
I came home yesterday afternoon to find the female had busted and chewed her way through the door of the inside kennel and my 16 year old cat was dead on the kitchen floor, with the husky covered in blood. No blood was on the boxer male or the pups they'd had together, most adopted out, but with three left, all of which sat cowering and shaking in the kennel room and wouldn't come out even though they could've.
We're just devastated.
My advice would be, if you love the animals you already have, keep them safe and don't risk them being killed or hurt or stressed by a dog breed known to hunt and kill cats. If I'd only known this information beforehand, my cat, completely healthy and with me since we adopted him at 12 weeks old, would still be alive.
To add misery to misery, now because the husky mix is dangerous, and I have three 8 to 10 lb terriers, one of which is also 16 yr.s old, and I of good conscience can't risk adopting the husky-mix out and perhaps put another family through this misery, (and I love this dog immensely, let me add, and don't harbor ill will toward her, especially since I realize she's a dog doing what some dogs do), we're about to lose a second beloved pet all in one weekend, as she will be euthanized tomorrow for the safety of our other pets and other peoples' cats and small dogs.
We were up all night making this horrible decision, and my husband and I are just as devastated over losing this dog, too. The situation is just tragic all around, especially as the husky mix and boxer were seen being pushed out of a moving truck, abandoned into the rural desert, both so scared and emaciated when we found them. They finally had a good, loving home with us, which is what they should have had all along, but it wasn't supposed to be at the expense of my old, loving, sweet and gentle cat.
Based on this horrible experience, I'd advise that multi-pet households can be deadly, and if someone wants a breed that is known to injure or kill cats or small animals, then don't have small pets and cats with such a breed, or with larger dogs with prey issues. Personally I can tell you a million times over that it's not worth it. I'm posting this hoping it may save a family or its pets from the devastation and grief we're going through right this second.
Lastly, losing our cat is all the harder because we weren't here to protect him, because the death was so violent, and because he should've been safe in his own home. Now, instead of cuddling with our cat watching television, we're about to bury him in the garden. We'll always be blaming ourselves for his demise, and will have to live with all of it, including flashbacks of the grisly scene and the unnecessary loss of a much loved feline family member, plus the loss of a dog we grew to love.
My only gratitude is that my 16 yr old terrier, loose in the house at the time, was unharmed. Shooken up, but unharmed, as the other two terriers, in a metal pen in the kitchen, and my 16 yr old terrier witnessed the whole thing happen in front of them. The one terrier, a rescue from the county animal shelter, won't eat today. She and the cat were the best of buddies and she's spent the day constantly searching for the cat. It's heartbreaking to watch how she doesn't understand.
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