I’ve posted a few times about the urban cat colony I am the de facto manager of. The short version is that we bought a new house in a “transitional neighborhood” in a town that is starting to gentrify and found out that there was a booming colony made of ferals and dumped pets there. The houses are built like townhomes, so teeny tiny yards and homes are like 5 feet apart - most space is communal or is a parking lot.
After fostering 2 pregnant mamas and their resultant liters, I TnRed the colony with the help of a rescue (muni shelter did NOTHING). Anyway, there has been a core group of about 8-10 kitties who are part of the normal crew. They are all spayed/ neutered and me and a couple other homeowners feed and keep a loose and eye on them. Some are very friendly and most likely are dumped pets, others are much more feral- yet they have become accustomed to the daily doings of the neighborhood and know when to show up for kibble if they want it.
I know a life on the streets is very hard on a cat and that they deal with dangers all the time, but for the last 3+ years, I’ve gotten used to this outdoor colony. This is the colony where Nic and Daisy came from. I know I shouldn’t get too attached to these cats - they are not mine, and most have no desire to be indoor cats, but as an animal lover its hard to not reciprocate their affection.
Trigger warning - graphic description
This morning was a big shock. I found one of the older, very gentle but shy kitties was dead in the parking lot. Around 4am this morning, I did hear yowling and cat screams, but it sounded like a territory beef between toms (there have been 2 intact males that I see from time to time - both have evaded my trap). But this was nothing a cat or racoon did. There was so much blood everywhere and a lot of trauma to her head - so much so that her eye had popped out. She was lying in a pool of her urine.
I was just stunned. Maybe she was sleeping under a car tire and was run over? She has survived in this area for at least 3 years and seemed to be in good health, I have a hard time believing that she just forgot to be careful of cars. I hope her death was quick and she didn’t feel anything. Such a grusome death… we do have a lot of homeless people in this neighborhood - maybe I listen to too much true crime but my deeper fear is that this is animal abuse and that the cat screams I heard this early morning were her fighting for her life.
I’ve been in a fog all day. I truly hope that this was a quick incident with a car. I’m posting pics of her - I called her Siam since she had crossed blue eyes so I think she had some siamese blood in her, and I’d rather remember her like this than the sight that I saw this morning.
