An update on missing feral cats - very sad :(

I posted on here for the first time almost 2 months ago asking if there would be any reason for a colony of feral cats to just disappear. I had been holding out hope that they had just moved on and were ok, but I found out today what happened and I'm just so upset and heartbroken right now.

When they first disappeared we went to the neighbor behind us to see if they knew anything. The cats would hop the fence between our yards all the time, but when we asked, they said that they hadn't seen them either.

Well today our doorbell rang, and as soon as I saw that it was these neighbors my heart just sank because I just had a feeling that it wasn't good. And it wasn't. They found most of the cats dead in their yard . 3 of them were under their deck and they only found them because they smelled them decomposing. They actually had to saw apart part of their deck to get them out of there. The other 2 were found in their old doghouse which is pretty hidden in their backyard. When they found the 3 under the deck, they went searching for the other ones, which is how they found the ones in the doghouse. There are still 3 missing but I'm guessing its not going to be good for them either. We had only seen 6 in our yard, but apparently the 2 extra ones were the ones found under the deck. The neighbors said they were smaller kittens who didn't look big enough to have been able to hop over the fence. They did say that they appeared big enough to have been weaned though.

They are convinced that they were poisoned and my husband and I agree. It turns out that the neighbors own cat had been poisoned several months ago, but they thought that it was an isolated incident. He was an indoor/outdoor cat (their 2 other cats are all strictly indoor now) and they thought that he had gotten into anti-freeze somehow so they didn't think to mention his death when we first asked about the ferals. Now they've connected them all though. Most of the neighbors around us have cats so we ruled them all out as being the potential killers. However, they told us that there is one neighbor who yells at another neighbor all the time about his dogs. Plus this week my husband noticed that our fence was starting to get knocked down by this neighbors own dogs (the one who yells at the other neighbor about dogs). Then today he noticed that there is a board nailed to that part of the fence to keep it up that wasn't there before and that we didn't put there. Which means this guy either came into our yard to nail it up, or he reached over to do it. Either way he obviously has no problem just coming into the yard to do something without asking us first.

Our neighbors that came to talk to us today are as heartbroken and as upset as we are. They are convinced that this guy dropped the poison into their yard. They can't be sure but based on the fact that they were all found there and on the fact that 2 kittens that were old enough to be weaned, but not big enough to get over the fence, were found dead, that they had to have eaten the poison in their yard. And knowing that this guy reached into our yard to nail a board to our fence makes it seem more likely that he wouldn't care if he was going into someone else's yard. The people behind us are huge animal lovers and their backyard is like a heaven for all kinds of animals. They know for a fact they dont have anything poisonous out there, and they doubt they could have died from leukemia or something like that because they all appear to have died at the exact same time.

We had trapped 2 of the cats and had gotten them spayed and now I feel so guilty for re-releasing them back outside. We've taken in several ferals in the past, but we have 10 in our house now so for once I obeyed the "return" part of trap, neuter, return and its the one time that I shouldn't have. I feel like I could have at least saved 2 of them.

I just feel angry, upset and so guilty right now. How can someone do this? I know not everyone likes cats but to me its one thing to just ignore or shoo away cats but its completely different to intentionally kill them.

The only good news that might come out of this is that my husband is furious, and while I'm also furious, I'm definitely not as outgoing and driven as him and as soon as we finished talking to our neighbors, he got in the car, drove to the police station and made a report. We found out that its a felony in Washington state to kill domestic animals (including wild domestic animals) so if we can find proof or get this guy to confess, he could end up in jail. We're hoping that he'll be dumb enough to just say "yeah I killed them" but who knows. An animal control investigator is supposed to come out on Monday to talk to us and the neighbors. The neighbors took their own cat to the vet when he first acted weird, and he died the very next day. The vet didn't say for sure that he was poisoned but he did say that he wasn't producing red blood cells (I think it was red) and thats a sign of being poisoned, so we are hoping that they can either autopsy the body (although a vet tech friend thinks it may be too late to do that) or that the original medical report will be enough evidence. Also, as much as I don't want to see that the missing 3 are dead too, if we do find them, we're supposed to contact the police immediately so they can take pictures and treat them as evidence. I really, really hope that something comes out of this.

I wish I could have just continued to be blissfully ignorant. I was sad that they had disappeared but it was so much easier to just think that they had moved on and found a better place than to think that someone intentionally killed them. I honestly don't even know how to stop crying about this right now .

That is just so sad

Antifreeze is easy to look for in a necropsy if they know to look for. Sadly, it's something people have used to poison other people with.

Did your neighbors mention if they're cat acted almost like it was drunk?

Unfortunately, I suspected this from the very beginning. You may talk to AC about whether it would be a good idea for you and your neighbors to give all of the people on your street a letter warning them that there is a potential poisoner. If the person doing this thinks they've got away with it so far, they will keep doing it.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Antifreeze is easy to look for in a necropsy if they know to look for. Sadly, it's something people have used to poison other people with.

Did your neighbors mention if they're cat acted almost like it was drunk?

Unfortunately, I suspected this from the very beginning.

You may talk to AC about whether it would be a good idea for you and your neighbors to give all of the people on your street a letter warning them that there is a potential poisoner. If the person doing this thinks they've got away with it so far, they will keep doing it.

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Sadly, a large part of me suspected it too, but I was holding out hope that they just relocated and that they were scared away by the hawk (in my original post thats what I thought might have happened - or that the hawk killed them). I don't know whats worse - knowing what happened to them or not knowing. Being blissfully ignorant was certainly much easier. But on that same note, I think its important to do something about this now that we know.

We already talked to one neighbor and told them what happened, and they thankfully keep their cats inside. I didn't even think about writing a letter, but thats a good idea and when we talk to animal control on Monday I'll mention it. This is the first place I've lived where a lot of people let their cats roam free. I've seen many cats roaming around the neighborhood, but they all have collars on so they do belong to someone. I would hope that if the guy who killed them saw a collar that he would leave them alone. To me personally it wouldn't matter either way - I don't see a different between the ferals and the pets when it comes to their lives, but I know that some people might see a difference.

I just feel so guilty because I could have saved 2 of them. I know that there are hawks and eagles around here, but because so many cats roam free it didn't occur to me that someone around here would hurt them. My husband keeps trying to reassure me that it wasn't my fault, but I feel like it was. We already have 10 cats and thats pushing it for the size of our house. We have the ability to take care of them all and provide adequate space for them, but I really think 10 is our limit as far as what we can keep inside the house, and still maintain a good living space for the cats and for us. I just wish I hadn't let the 2 that we spayed back outside. One of the missing ones is one of the spayed ones, but the other one is definitely dead. Their ears were tipped to show that they were spayed and our neighbor asked us if we had gotten any of them spayed because they noticed the tipped ear on one of the dead ones . They were completely feral though and I know TNR is a common thing so while I didn't like that they were outside, I also didn't think it was a horrible thing to put them back. I mean thats the whole point of TNR right? This is horrible and I'm about to start crying again.

As for the neighbor's pet cat, they didn't say he was acting drunk. They just said that he was really lethargic and not eating and it came on very suddenly. They took him to the vet, and he died the next day. The vet mentioned several things it could have been, one thing being poison, but at the time they didn't want to do a full autopsy. Now we're wondering if its possible to do an autopsy on a cat thats been dead for a few months because that would be the evidence that we need. Do cats that have gotten into antifreeze typically act drunk? I know antifreeze can kill them, but I don't know how they act once they eat it. When we filed the police report though, the police officer said that this isn't the first time this has happened in this town but that what we described didn't sound like antifreeze poisoning. Granted he's not a vet, but he has apparently dealt with this before and he said it sounded like something else, but I don't know.

I just hate this right now. I feel like I shouldn't be this upset about cats that weren't technically mine, but they were fun to watch, and they looked so happy and playful outside so I can't even imagine why someone would want to harm them .

My gosh. I hate people. I just hate them. I guess for every good (such as you) there is evil to counteract. The letter is a good idea, but I hope you can nab the !@#%^&* before sending it out. A neighborhood warning letter will only tip him off.

I'm so sorry. I hope they didn't suffer too long, the poor things. Praying for justice.

Originally Posted by Brooklet425

I've seen many cats roaming around the neighborhood, but they all have collars on so they do belong to someone. I would hope that if the guy who killed them saw a collar that he would leave them alone.

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It doesn't really work that way. Once a poison is left out in an area where animals, and even children, come and go anything that comes in contact with and ingest that poison will be poisoned. Someone could mean to poison one animal and end up poisoning a child instead, for example.

I've heard of people being killed by antifreeze, exhumed years later, and the calcium oxalate crystals being found in the body (mainly kidneys). I would assume that if there's enough left of the kidneys and liver that it could be found.

And yes, it initially causes a type drunkenness. Then more general poisoned symptoms - nausea, vomiting, drinking a lot of water, seizures, etc. Sometimes an animal will look like it's getting better, but the damage after 24 hours (of not being treated) is usually so serious that the resulting kidney damage causes death. Cats, due to how their livers are, typically don't survive unless immediately treated.

It's a nasty poison that's far to easy for sick people to get a hold of. And unless you catch them putting it out - someone could just say their vehicle leaked or some was spilled in their garage..

I'm so so sorry for you, your husband and the cats. I hope their is justice for their poor little souls.

Thank you everyone. I'm really glad that I found this forum because it gives me a lot of hope that there really are people out there who care. It sickens me that someone would even do this. I know some people don't like cats, and I don't expect everyone to love them. But why kill them? Why not just ignore them or shoo them away?? Killing them is just so wrong and so horrible and I don't understand why some people can't just let them be.

slemoine94 - I just responded to your thread about one of my cats running away once. A wonderful man found him and contacted us. He went out of his way to notice that my cat was wearing a collar and tag and he spent 2 weeks earning his trust so he could read his tag. When we got that phone call my hope was restored in people. He could have ignored him, but he didn't. That situation made me feel good about people again and now this situation just ruined that for me. I know that there are good people in this world, but its so hard to remember that when something like this happens .

Hun, I am so, so sorry and incredibly heart broken as well. Please do not feel guilty as there is NO way that you could have know this would happen and you did a wonderful thing by trying to help those kitties.

I hope beyond all hope that this man gets what's coming to him. I just don't get how some people could be pure evil.

I am so, so, so, so sorry. How heartless and cruel. I'm so glad your husband reported it. I hope they catch this guy and prosecute him. I don't know if the information I have is up to date but he could be fined $10,000 and/or sentenced to jail for 5 years. Given he poisoned your neighbor's cat earlier, I sure hope they decide to really throw the book at this guy - it's a pattern.

And of course it's upsetting - they were cats you were caring for. You invested a lot in their health and well-being.

Play happily over the bridge, kitties. You deserved better.

The cats didn't necessarily have to be poisoned with antifreeze. Rat poison could have done the same thing. I hope they catch whoever did this sorry trick. I also hope you can find peace. I agree with your husband. It was not anyone's fault. Please don't blame yourself

I am very sorry for your loss, and the loss of those around you.

Behavior like this doesn't make sense to me. If this neighbor did do this, he is a complete pshyco. This is not how you handle problems, this is not how a normal adult would approach a problem.

Put animal ethics aside for a moment, this is not something a mentally healthy adult being would do. One would consider the long term effects, the risks (what if a child would have come in contact with this? not that a cat's life is at less value than a human child, visa versa..)

This is certainly violating the law, and I would see this through. This person should be made an example of, because I've heard too many stories of disgruntled neighbors turning to drastic measures, instead of thinking of reasonable options.

Good luck

Originally Posted by blueyedgirl5946

Rat poison could have done the same thing.

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In that case, it wouldn't even have to be intentional. They could have gotten the poison by eating a poisoned rat.