As some of you who follow me on Twitter might know, our cat Gabby was attacked by a dog in our own (fenced) backyard last Thursday. I have no idea how the dog got into our yard, but when I came home with Little Sir and Little Lady from Mother’s Day Out on Thursday I found this small white-and-black terrier wearing a collar attacking Gabby in the backyard. I ran out and yelled at it and lunged at it, but it was NOT afraid of me at all, and kept attacking our cat. I finally took a swing at it with some small sticks and finally it decided to just leave, it squeezed through our back fence.

Since I had both kids, I had to call Christian to come home and take the cat to the vet. After $540 of x-rays and whatever else costs $540 at a vet, they kept her overnight and said they thought she would be OK. They gave us pain pills for her and suggested we keep her in the garage away from stress and the other cat.

She was definitely NOT herself when she came home. She just laid on her quilt, and every time we moved her, there was a pool of drool where her head had been. If you know Gabby, you know that being still and being compliant are not necessarily her strong points in life. Christian gave her a pain pill Friday night but I am not sure if it worked or not.

This morning we left home around 10ish to visit some garage sales and go to the White Rock Festival with friends (post on that later!), and when we returned she had passed away. I am sad that it appears she might have been in some pain. I wish we had known she was in pain, we could have had the vet put her down peacefully rather than the possibility that she might have suffered these last 24-48 hours.

Christian dug a hole in our backyard and buried her. Since we rent this house, I took pictures of the grave because we’ll have to leave it when we eventually move. In the grave I put some twisted-up twist ties, which were her favorite toy.

Also attending her funeral was a squirrel.

In the last few months, Gabby has ceaselessly pursued this squirrel and its family, who have a nest in one of our trees. She never minded that she has no claws and could not have done anything if she did catch the squirrel (she was not supposed to be getting outside but she was tricky and motivated… that is another story).

When Gabby was lying in the yard after being attacked and I was waiting for Christian to come take her to the vet, this squirrel and it’s partner chattered and yelled at her the whole time. I think they might have been mocking her. But the squirrel must have felt bad about that, so it attended her funeral to pay its respects. {video here}

Rest in peace, Gabby. We are glad you are not in pain anymore.
And I am going to find that dog.