Posted on 02/22/2005 7:52:56 PM PST by Dinsdale
An otherwise “loving family pet” was shot dead by police after the tabby cat went berserk and terrorized a city family late last week, The Intelligencer has learned.
The bizarre ordeal began when the family’s 12-year-old daughter arrived home from school Wednesday evening and began petting the feline, ‘Mickey,’ in the living room of their east end home.
“He was just your average, playful cat,” who never had any behaviour problems before the incident, recalled the homeowner, who asked her family’s name not be used. “He was a sweet and loving household pet.”
While her daughter was stroking the long-haired white and orange tabby in the living room, the feline leisurely walked downstairs.
But when Mickey emerged from the basement-area of the home, it was “ ... a different animal ... it looked as though it was possessed.”
Ears flat back, hair standing on end and eyes bulging, Mickey lunged across the dining room and attacked her daughter, biting through her jeans and slicing into her leg.
When the cat released its grip, it continued coming at the girl, shrieking and hissing.
“I had to intervene ... he was coming right at her again,” the mother recalled.
The husband arrived home a short time later and managed to corner the cat in the living room until his wife and two children could sneak out the back door to safety.
“So I stood there having a stare-off with this cat for 20 minutes until the officer arrived,” he said, adding that both animal control and police were called to the scene.
While it ran wildly around the interior of the brick bungalow, the cat continued shrieking and began defecating throughout the home.
“You could actually hear the cat screaming from the other side of the street,” he said.
A city police officer arrived at 5:20 p.m., according to Insp. Merle Foster, and was informed of the animal’s behaviour.
“The daughter had been taken to the hospital by her mother for treatment . .. and the information we received from animal control was that they were not going to attend until after a meeting they were currently attending.”
There was a concern the animal could get lodged in the crawl space of the home, which was under partial renovation.
“I said ‘If that cat got into the crawl space in the frame of mind it’s in, it’ll be a nightmare to get it out. And there’s no way, after being viciously attacked by this cat, that we’re ever going to trust it again.’ ”
He asked the officer to, if given the chance, put the animal down.
As the constable entered the home, the cat ran up the stairs and stared the officer down.
Speaking to The Intelligencer on condition of anonymity, the constable said he had “ ... never seen an animal act like that before — it was like it was possessed or something, hissing and growling.”
The officer shot the cat square in the chest with his Beretta .40-calibre handgun.
“Even after he shot it, that cat was so hopped up — we’re talking about a little, eight-pound cat — Mickey ran down the hall into the bathroom and jumped into the tub,” the husband recollected. “He didn’t die for at least five minutes ... he was all nerves and adrenaline ... he wasn’t in his right mind.”
Foster, meanwhile, said a use-of-force report will be submitted as part of police protocol, however, “We did this at the request of the homeowner ... and, quite frankly, I completely support the actions of the officer in this situation.”
“For all he knew, that animal had rabies.”
Government test results earlier this week confirmed the feline didn’t have rabies. An autopsy to determine the exact cause of the animal’s behaviour is not scheduled, however.
As to why details of the incident were not released by police, Foster was blunt.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I don’t know why this wasn’t released earlier.”
Without knowing the animal’s history, Dr. Kim Drysdale of the Belleway Veterinary Hospital on Highway 62 said it would be hard to pin-point the exact cause of Mickey’s wild behaviour.
“There are cats out there that are a little bit aggressive,” whether because of its natural disposition or a medical ailment of some sort, she said.
“There are viruses that can cause changes in behaviour (and) ... there are some cats that just are not as genetically friendly as others.”
But, usually, there are warning signs the animal is not right in the head, Drysdale added.
“Most people seem to think it’s out of the blue, but when you get a detailed history there are smaller incidents that lead up to a major outburst .. but who’s to say, I wasn’t there, I haven’t interviewed these people or seen the cat.”
And an angry feline can be a handful — even more vicious than an aggressive dog, Drysdale said.
“A cat with a behaviour problem or serious aggression problem can be a force to be reckoned with. But that’s not normal — most cats are pretty nice and social.”
“We have heard stories about people not being able to leave their homes because their cat was blocking the doorway. So some cats can be aggressive.”
If any household pet shows aggression, the family should contact their veterinarian for advice, she said.
While the family has nothing but praise for the officer involved, the conduct of the current animal control company contracted by the municipality — Tweed-based Municipal Animal Control — is another story.
When the service was initially called — before police arrived at the scene — the family was told it could be up to a three-hour wait for an officer to arrive, “ ... because they were just about to go into a meeting,” the female homeowner said.
“I told them that wasn’t good enough, and he said ‘Well, I’ll try to break my back and come in before then.’”
After the police officer arrived at the scene, police dispatchers attempted several times to contact the animal control officer, but to no avail.
“When I arrived home from the hospital with my daughter, there was a card put in my door from them,” the female resident said.
Heide Elliott of Municipal Animal Control was tightlipped when asked about the incident.
“All I can tell you is that the cat was cleared of rabies by the public health (unit).”
Elliott did confirm the company responded to the incident — but didn’t arrive until after the cat had been shot.
“There was a timing issue ... we ended up going down after the incident with the police to pick up the body and take it to the lab for testing.”
For the family, who owned Mickey since he was seven weeks old, the cat will always be remembered as a loving pet.
“Mickey was just a sweet little thing ... and had never shown any kind of aggression before this,” the female resident said. “It was as though he didn’t recognize any of us ... and didn’t know where he was, the way he was looking around the home.
“Mickey was our pet and we loved him ... but in that state he wasn’t the cat we knew.”
“He was just wild,” continued her husband. “We really had no choice but to do what we did.”
The officer who shot the animal paid a visit to the family the next day, he added.
“He wanted to check up on (our daughter) and make sure the family was doing all right.”
The couple’s daughter was treated and released at Belleville hospital for her leg wound and is currently taking antibiotics to prevent an infection.
“The Belleville police officer was very compassionate — and I think he was just as shocked as I was to see an animal act in that manner. I would tell anybody who has a cat that starts acting odd to take it seriously.”
It wasn't smart of them to test only for rabies. If the cat ingested a toxic substance, they'd be better off knowing if it is something they have inside their house. Especially with a child living on the premises. A vet or an animal control officer could have caught or sedated the cat, and caged it for testing. It's done all the time.
Sudden onset of that type of uncharacteristic behavior sounds far more like the cat was poisoned, seriously injured or partially electrocuted than it does anything else. Shooting the animal in the chest wasn't a solution, it was a failure of human intelligence.
"That cat got into something. If rabies and previous head injuries were ruled out, it's gotta be chemical."
That was my assessment as well.
Weird, I use bleach on everything and have always had cats. Had one cat that would sniff and sniff and sniff the bleach on the floor, but never had bleach make one mean or crazy.
I bet it was strychnine. It's the main ingredient in rat poison, and works by over-stimulating the nervous system. Light, sound, touch, it all triggers so many fireworks in the brain that the muscles spasm and eventually a heart attack occurs or something like that. A really cruel way to go, I always thought. It's also present in small amounts in most modern-day LSD. Anyway it would explain how the cat took a long time to die even after being shot, "hopped up" like the officer said.
Whatever the cause, poor little thing. My own long haired, orange and white kitty is lying here peacefully snoring next to me (yes she really does snore!).
If you have pets, make sure the D-Con is safely out of reach!!!!!
Yep, not much nastier than a nesting trumpeter swan.
Gosh, we always used the kind with warfarin in it...but your idea sounds very likely. That's something I didn't know.
My cat snores something terrible. The sound of a cat snoring is so weird sounding that you look and look and look for the source of that strange sound.....and get hit by the "Oh for Pete's sake" factor like a ton of bricks when it turns out is was the cat sleeping peacefully beside you all along.
Hee hee hee, and it's so CUTE!
LOL...once you finally realize what it is.
Re: Bleach and cats
I've been learning from cats for 55 years - started when I was minus 5 - and I'm confident there was a good reason for the cat going ballistic. Am also confident there was a way to get it through this awful episode, but I don't condemn those present for being mystified.
Arasina and Calpernia have learned something I learned just a year ago, when I caught my two (loving but) emotional cats trying to mash themselves into a bleach spill on the concrete. I only know that the fumes make me very ill, so I can imagine how it would affect a small animal. Some chemical in bleach (simple as chlorine?) definitely arouses the cats' systems; their eyes will dilate, and you definitely want to approach them gently, if at all. Just shut them up in whatever you can get them to (with a broom? I shake plastic bags to shoo them) for an hour or so, and they will be back to normal.
One other possibility is that the cat was like the one in "Ghost," which saw an evil spirit. Okay, laugh at me, but they can do that. I think. So. Kick me outa here...
Smart Dad. Smart you. Works like a charm, AS LONG AS favorite wet food is fresh enough for fussy kittie. If my old girl won't finish, I add people tuna to sucker her in. My vet says old girls can have some tuna.
By the way, would you ask your Dad about the current epidemic of thyroid condition being caused by pop-top wet food cans? My particular cat is 17, and didn't have the condition until she was fed only "Science Diet" in pop-top cans for four months. She lost seven pounds, so the vet did some homework, and found this information on a veterinary hotline. She is a totally controlled subject, so we sure wonder.
"...the feline leisurely walked downstairs."
"But when Mickey emerged from the basement-area of the home, it was “ ... a different animal ... it looked as though it was possessed.”
"There was a concern the animal could get lodged in the crawl space of the home, which was under partial renovation."
Like other people here, my first guess is that the cat consumed something in the basement. The cat could have had strychnine poisoning, but I think the cat ate some kind of toxic fluid or material containing lead being used in the renovation of the house. I remember reading the warning label on a large container of material used in construction, it contained lead.
Some symptoms of Strychnine poisoning are agitation and excitability.
Some symptoms of lead poisoning are fits, excitation, and hysteria.
Am I the only one that finds this rather bizarre.
AND it took the cat five minutes to die... that must be one anemic cartridge load...
The bizarre ordeal began when the family’s 12-year-old daughter arrived home from school Wednesday evening and fed the feline, ‘Mickey,’a sugar cube that the nice man by the fence gave her.
You might think so... but an autopsy on a small dog cost my mother over $1000. That was a lot of cash merely for curiosity...
They didn't have to do all that to get rid of their cat...
Boys Eat Cat That Stole Christmas Dinner
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/812630/posts
Any lab anaylsis looking for own known agents has to be expensive.
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