Looks like I may have missed a write up earlier in the year. It was a busy weekend - we had a major SAN issue after the events below, and that occupied my time for the hours afterward.
Ahh - the fat black one. Jade. After the passing of Toffee, Jade came into her own. Shed was a little more playful, and a little more demanding. She would push her nose up against the glass next to the front door and meow until she was let in.
We'd taken to putting her out at night - I can't remember why. When inside she would lick the lads eyelids open until she was tended to. This usually meant food. She would thunder around the house, and leave tufts of black everywhere. She had a habit of hiding in the bushes and talking to birds - as if they magically couldn't see her.
She refused to use the cat door, so we had taken to blocking it off, because the Beagle would summons the spirit of Houdini and manage to eek his way through it, even if it was locked.
We have a bit of a hedgehog issue - and when the time of year is right, and fruit is abundant (strawberries here, grapes at the last place) the beagle would have to wake everyone in the middle of the night to let us know that the 'hogs are prepping for winter.
One Thursday night back in February, the Beagle started up. Sounded like a hedgehog, so I yelled at him that it was alright, got some jandals and a robe on, and went for a look. I couldn't see anything, and he wasn't barking at anything in particular. I didn't have to trudge off into the reserve with a shovel full of prickleball to deliver a few hundred meters away as was the usual story. Then there was a loud cat screech - like a cat fight, but louder - coming from somewhere out the front.
Just a cat fight pup, bit of neighbourly dominance, nothing to worry about.
The next day, Jade didn't turn up for breakfast. Or later for dinner. The girl did a bit of detective work, and found a fair bit of black fur, some disturbing spots of blood, and what looked like claws. Or maybe teeth (Turns out they were teeth) down the side of the house. A bit of a blind spot then for the motion sensor lights and the webcams.
When she didn't come back on the Saturday morning, I drew up some fliers and dropped them around all the houses in the area. The girl went off to get her hair done, and then about an hour later we got the call. "Yeah, we think your cat may be in our bush...". It was the house at the end of the street. She was a big cat. And heavy. It wasn't another cat that fought her and dragged her this far - it had to be a dog. And the scuff marks in their garden showed that it had tried to bury the trophy.
Jade wasn't flash - I told the wife not to look, and I wrapped her up in a towel. The bulging eyes and twisted jaw made me think that her head had been crushed, and a large wound on her shoulder was oozing nasty stuff. She was stiff as a board, and encrusted with leaves and foiliage. The wife could barely hold it together as she carried her the 100m or so back to our place.
I rested her on the spoiler of the car, and put her in a bin liner, and placed her in the boot. Time to pick up the daughter, and then swing by the vet to sort out a cremation. I managed to snap some pictures of her new haircut before telling her - she almost smiled in them.
It hit us pretty hard - the whole cul-de-sac had heard the fight, and the policeman next door was going to leave a report at he local community constable.
I have my own theory - there is a couplf of malamutes a few houses aroud from where she was found, and they have managed to get out before. One time, the wife caught one and isolated it in our BBQ area until the owner could be contacted. So it kind of knew us. I've also seen them walking through the reserve and toileting - and they scratch up the grass and bark just like the pattern I saw where Jade was obscured.
But I haven't approached the owners - its all circumstantial.
Anyway, we have a small box of ashes that have sat in the media room since early March. I understand they will be relegated to a shelf in a wardrobe later today.
We promised ourselves that we would get no more pets - the kids were getting on, and we would prefer to be able to travel than have to find sitters - so when Bailey the Beagle expires, we'd be a quiet household. Until I mentioned Bengals.
The daughter is currently enroute from Japan - a school holiday sister city excursion - and is due back tomorrow. That gives the boy a chance to bond with Zena and Rhaegar before she gets here.
Pics may be big and unedited
