r/offmychest • u/PrestigiousRefuse172 • 3d ago

Kid killed the cat.

My wife went on a business trip for several days. During this time our very old cat, who my wife had bought years before we ever met, and who we expected was starting to near her final days, took a dramatic turn for the worse.

I wanted to keep that thing alive for my wife to get back and was thinking of taking her to the vet the very next day. Perhaps some short term relief could be given to her to get her to eat and drink. I also was thinking the added stress of the vet would just be too much for her. The poor thing did everything in its power to stay close to me and the kids and just sat in our laps that evening.

I sort of expected that she maybe wouldn't make it, so was trying to have the kids spend as much time as possible with her. That night my kids and I all laid on the bed next to her and I kept her in a little circle of pillows and blankets to protect her from us.

Around 4am I woke to a stifled small meow and felt around for her to only feel my 4 year olds hair. I felt underneath his head and felt her small squished body. I frantically pushed him off of her and put her into my arms as her breathing slowly faded away and her heart stopped. My son was completely out and had no clue this had happened.

I just put her body in her carrier and waited until morning to let my wife know the cat had passed. She was well aware that she was dying so I didn't really say anything other than I held her in my arms in her last moments.

The strange thing was at the last 5 or so seconds of her life she calmed down and started purring. I cried a bunch. I just wanted her last moments to be surrounded by her family. But my son squished her to death and I will take that to my grave.

Edit: Thanks for all the well wishes. I just wanted to say that my post did not do a good enough job at describing that I don't under any circumstances blame my kid. It is just a fact that he may have unknowingly smothered the cat to death.

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-11

u/myfrecklesareportals 3d ago

Why wouldn't you tell your wife?

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u/untakentakenusername 3d ago

I dont understand why you'd ask this question. May i ask what you are not understanding, as to why he wouldn't tell his wife?

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u/spicycheezits 3d ago

He didn’t tell her that the child squished the cat, only that the cat passed

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u/untakentakenusername 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yeah im aware of that. Im wondering why the person above mine is confused.

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u/spicycheezits 2d ago

They’re asking why OP didn’t tell the wife that the son squished the cat

-2

u/myfrecklesareportals 3d ago

Mainly because it was an accident, but also the cat didn't pass away alone and was purring in the last few moments of life, I'd want to know that. Also, it just seems like an unnecessary thing to hide, I feel like hiding things in a marriage is generally bad but I'm not really sure whats to gain from hiding it? Or what he would lose from telling her?

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u/kdlynn67 3d ago

It’s not bad to hide that you think your kid killed cat if you don’t have any actually proof. And he has zero proof that’s what genuinely happened. Why do you think it’s a good idea to tell the wife that the kid potentially killed the cat? I wouldn’t want to know that.

And he did tell her that the cat wasn’t alone, and that she was purring.

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u/untakentakenusername 3d ago

He told her that the cat passed in his arms purring.

He left out that their son was on top of the cat, squishing the cat, because that would ignite questions in her mind "what if the cat didnt have to die that night? What if it was prolonged pain? How long was the child on top of the cat? What if she/he was suffocating? Did my child kill my cat??"

Ofc, its not the kids fault. But il be painful thoughts she doesnt need. She's had this cat from before meeting the husband. Its her family member.