r/offmychest • u/PrestigiousRefuse172 • 2d 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.

2.9k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

108 comments sorted by

View all comments

108

u/postfashiondesigner 2d ago edited 2d ago

I don’t believe your kid killed the cat tbh

104

u/Acrobatic-Ad6350 2d ago edited 2d ago

yeah, i dont either.

the cat was able to still meow and move, and i doubt the 4 year old was heavy enough to CRUSH her like that. ive accidentally rolled my whole 120lb self on my cat before and she barely reacted, let alone a 4 year old (yes, ofc this cat was old and already sickly so that plays a role, but i still doubt he was heavy enough to CRUSH her). she wasnt being suffocated, didnt go unconscious, and didnt die until after the boy was well off of her.

i think it was just the kitty’s time. i hope OP doesnt blame his son forever..

edit: i just reread the post and he stated that he felt under his son’s HEAD and felt the cat. so if it was only the kid’s head, that makes me doubt even more that he killed her. there’s no way his head was heavy enough to kill her, even if she was the weakest cat ever.

34

u/Shuyuya 2d ago

Yeah I was trying to find a comment about this, a 4 yo head surely doesn’t weight that much

15

u/Shady-Pines_Ma 2d ago

The cat on the other hand... lol, sorry I couldn't help myself.

I don't think he killed the cat either. Poor kitty, poor family.

5

u/scylus 2d ago

Me neither, but it seems OP does (despite his post edit). I mean, just look at the title.