Sunday 13 October
2019
The neighbours' dogs
got Chloë tonight. Nugget killed her. (He's the same one that attacked Gemma
and Cosmo at different times.)
How this
happened:
At about 7:30 pm, an
intruder was in our back garden for a few moments - I have no idea what
precipitated that, and I didn't see him. All the neighbourhood dogs, including
ours, were barking by that stage (he may already have run through some
gardens). Next thing, Layla dashed through the kitchen into the house, with
saucer eyes and her tail like a brush. Then I heard cat/s yowling briefly, so I
thought it was a cat fight. Our dogs were running around at the non-dog
neighbours' wall, but there was also scuffling on the other side of the wall
where the attack dogs are.
The non-dog
neighbours (actually, they have one dog, gentle Mia) then told Gail via phone
that a man had jumped from our garden into theirs and then out into the street
over their very high devils' claw fence. All the neighbourhood dogs were still
barking. Apparently the man ran down the road and some people may have chased
him.
I was trying to call
Chloë. I knew she would have panicked at the same time as Layla, and could have
hidden under some bushes in our garden. The dog-neighbours said on the phone
that the intruder hadn't gone there and they also didn't think there were any
cats there.
But a few minutes
later they phoned to say that there was a cat. And yes, it was dead. The
description was "mostly white with some coloured patches". We knew it
was her. We met Louis at our front gate, and he handed Chloë to me, wrapped in
a towel, intact but dead.
I have cried a lot
tonight.
Later, when Gail
returned the towel to Louis, he told her that Nugget kills for trophies (hence
Chloë was intact). I wish they didn't keep a dog like that. I also regret that
we still live next door to each other. And I'm so, so sad that Chloë, who never
ever left our property (even though she lived 90% outdoors, but in OUR garden),
was so terrified of what was happening here, just then, that she made such an
awful choice.
We let Layla sniff
Chloë so that she could see for herself what had happened. We didn't risk
letting our dogs do the same, as they were very wound up. But I did tell them
(with visualisations) that Chloë is gone. In the morning, I will take her to
the vet to be cremated. We're too numb to decide yet how to honour her.
It was only in the
last three months or so that I felt that Chloë and Layla had fully landed here
- that they now owned the place, as cats should. They are just under two years
old.
Chloë had a good
life, albeit brief, with us.
Here's my last photo
of her - I took it a week ago.
And here's the link
to an album of photos of Chloë.
Monday 14
October 2019
It feels quite empty
around here today. Also, I think we are all still in shock.
I decided to plant a
bougainvillea in a pot in honour of Chloë– she spent much of her time in the
deep shade under our large, pink bougainvillea (it’s like a kitty bedroom in
there). On my way home from leaving her at the vet, I stopped at a nursery
and bought a white bougainvillea, plus a beautifully scented rose for Gail and
me, a “Christ’s thorn” plant for inside the front wall as a deterrent against
jumping into the garden (I think this is more for me, psychologically, than
anything else), and a potted spekboom for the bedroom (for air quality). I
spent some therapeutic time planting the bougainvillea and the rose in very
large pots in the swimming pool area, another place where Chloë and Layla spent
a lot of time together.
We kept Layla inside
with us last night. She became more relaxed by about 4 am. Today she’s
doing a lot of sleeping, mostly where Chloë used to be, under the
bougainvillea; she emerges every now and then to check things out, a little
tentatively. Perhaps Layla needed Chloë to help her settle into her life.
Chloë was so busy that she crammed a lot into her short life, and now it seems
that her work is done and Layla needs to come into her own. Layla is, anyway,
the one who is more connected to us in a cuddly, spending-time kind of way. But
maybe all I’m doing is rationalising something that is hurting a
lot. Chloë and I had settled into an understanding, even though I did tell
her that it would be nice for her to come indoors a little more. Whenever we
went outdoors, she was there to greet us and accompany us round the garden.
Actually, I also
needed her help to settle me into my post-SAQA life, and that work is now
complete as well.
I’m missing
her.
Uhambe kakuhle, dear
Chloë.
