STUPID STUPID STUPID CAT! *breaks out into tears*

Emily-Fisher · 05-24-03, 04:39 AM

Okay...first things first, I wish that I could dip my cat into a vat of boiling acid. Why? Heres why:<br>
Last night was a warm night and so I had my windows wide open for the sir to come in. It was 28 degrees outside so my herps would be fine. Now, whenever I go to sleep, I put my cat ouside (unless its winter) so that she wont get to my herps. Well there's a lilac tree in front of my window which stretches up to my room. And my cat climbed it to get into my room. Luckily, I have screens on my windows so that mosquitos and cats can't get through but I guess I was wrong because that stupid cat ripped them open and silently crawled inside. I was sleeping, it was maybe 1:00 a.m. and then I here *CRASH SHATTER BANG!* I jump up to see what happened and there is my cornsnake enclosure lying on the ground in PIECES which my cat knocked down. She of course was frightened and ran away. There is a huge puddle of water all over my wood floor from the snake's soaking bowl too but I run to see if my sweet little Hamlet is ok. He's not. There is a piece of glass going through his skin and he is squirming in pain. I rush to wake my parents up and drive him to emergency. They take the glass out but have to keep him for another week until he is safe enough to come home. STUPID CAT! They say that he is definatly going to be alright and shouldn't even be left with a scar. Thank god!!! They also said that it will cost me around $200-$400 in vet bills. Not only that but I also have to replace the screen which can cost up to $50 and replace Hamlet's enclosure, water bowl, and his two clay pot hiding pots which shattered too which will cost me around another $50+. So that means that when I go to the show in september, I won't be able to buy anything at all since I will be owing my parents $400 at least and I will only be able to go for the people. That also means no new herps for another year since I already owe my parents $500 from my gecko and another cat accident, which I'm not even going to bother explaining. That stupid ****ing cat!!!!!

:skull:

Samba · 05-24-03, 05:34 AM

Emily... sorry to hear about your mishap... but remember it could've been a lot worse, A LOT!

A few years ago my boyfriend took in a cat that had been abandoned by our neighbors. I was okay with this because I love all animals, and our reptiles were always locked in a bedroom, (this is when I might add we stayed in a one-bedroom apartment and slept in the living room!)

Well as time went by we moved out and eventually landed in a studio for awhile. We, of course, took our zoo with us. For months we were careful about having someone watch the cat and reptiles at ALL TIMES. One night while I was working, he was supposed to be up watching the animals as usual (let me say that the cat never showed the slightest interest in our reptiles before) and I guess he fell asleep watching T.V. When I came home that morning I went to check on my 'children'.

I first noticed on approaching the leopard gecko tank that my boxer shorts were in there!! It was unusual, but not uncommon for one us to do that to give the geckos something to explore (Hey, they were clean!) On second notice I saw that the screen mesh on top of the tank had been RIPPED up from one corner and my heart SANK.

When I took everything out I discovered my male hi-yellow leopard gecko cowering in the corner. He appeared fine, but was very frightened. I never did find his sister, and one can assume that the cat got to her. It always makes a reptile owner feel shamefully stupid when something like this happens, and needless to say I booted the cat and the boyfriend for awhile. (The cat has a new home now). Cats are now banned from our household as a precaution.

You have a lot to be thankful for, and might I add, give your parents some credit! You are lucky they support what you like, and are sympathetic enough to rush your snake to the vet, as well as foot the bills. My parents would NEVER do that! I'm glad to hear the snake will be fine; and even though the cost will take months to repay be thankful that things weren't worse. There will always be more reptile shows coming and going!

Keep us updated on the snake's condition, I wish you the best of luck!

Emily-Fisher · 05-24-03, 05:47 AM

Okay I went back to the vet about an hour ago..I think that they gave the snake some sort of shot kind of like a pain killer since the pain that he was in could of killed him alone. He looks kind of dead at the moment and his sides are displaying his wonderful insides but I think that he will be ok. I calculated how long it will take me to pay off all of this stuff and it will take me 17 months since I also have to pay for food. I am so happy that my hamlet is ok!!

Samba · 05-24-03, 06:39 AM

Good to hear he's alright, but I'm confused... is he staying with the vet or is he back home now? 17 months isn't bad, because losing him would've been much worse, right? I wouldn't worry too much about the money, just the snake. Another thing, I know this applies to humans, but snakes I'm not sure... if there is something piercing the flesh and is relatively severe it's better to leave it in, and let the doc remove the glass then it is to do it yourself. (As removing it yourself could cause more harm, or allow blood to flow from the wound, possibly hurting the animal more...) Keep us updated on his progress!

Emily-Fisher · 05-24-03, 06:44 AM

He is in the vet. Yeah, losing him would of been at least 50 times worse! And I didn't remove the glass...the people at emergency did. I can't wait for him to come home! I miss him so much...

RachelS. · 05-24-03, 08:30 AM

I am so sorry to hear that Emily. I'm just glad little Hamlet is going to be okay. That was a real freak accident, and I'm glad you're cat didn't kill him. Why do you have the cat anyway? Can you not get rid of it??

sSNAKESs.com · 05-24-03, 08:52 AM

Firstly, sorry to hear about your mishap Emily!! very tragic... But come on guys, lets not blame the cats!! :P They are very inquisitive and curious, that is their nature and by owning one we should all know that!! They always get into everything and if its small and slithers or crawls they will definatly be intrqiued!!

Maybe i am biased because i love cats, but lets not blame them for being what they are!

Dom · 05-24-03, 09:17 AM

I OBJECT lol ...

I say blame the cats... It alwasy there fault lol .. Can't trust a mammal..

My cat story is this...

She gets attacked by a dog.. cost me 600$ of vet..

she then catches and severly injures my IJ carpet python..

Snake survives with scares but dies about 6 month later - huge problem feeder.. lots of complications after teh attack...

Cat escapes and I never see her again...

so in the end I loose my snake.. my cat and lots of money ..

lol I don't own any mammals now - except for feeders...

Greg West · 05-24-03, 09:22 AM

I too have a cat story to tell. I bought 3 bearded dragons from Gold COast Bearded Dragons and 2 were 2 months old and the other was 3 weeks old. I got them the day before a reptile show and so they lived in temporary rubbermaids till their new home was actually home and setup. After the show I had no one to help me lift the cage upstairs so they had to stay in the rubbermaids for a couple of day. I kept them in the computer room with the door closed so the cat couldn't get in and when I leave the room I would always check to make sure the cat wasn't in there. Well one day I was sure the cat wasn't in there and too late to check so I closed the door and left for work. The cat was in there and decided to use the small baby as a chew toy. Needless to say the poor baby died and I lost a $300 US Bearded dragon. I couldn't blame the cat as it is their instinct to be curious and hunt, but man was I mad at myself for letting it happen.

Greg

drewlowe · 05-24-03, 09:39 AM

I'm so sory to hear about your snake and wish the best for him. And i think most of us know what its like for a cat to destroy everything. I love cats they are my favorite mammal. But like you i do have a bad story about one but thankfully nothing happend ( or eles my boyfriend might have killed that cat.)

We live in the basement of his moms house and her boyfriend moved in and brought ekkkk his cat. Well someone (one of my boyfriends younger siblings) left the basement door open and guess who came down to explore. Needless to say it was a good thing my boyfriend got home when he did or else we probly wouldn't have a house right now. He walked it to find the 75 gallon enclosure we have for our leos a mess, the hides were all messed up the screen lid and one of the heat lamps and the flouresent fixture inside the cage, and a 150 watt (turned on) heat lamp sitting right on the couch. That cat got so lucky my boyfriend didn't find him before his moms boyfriend got home he was on a mission to search and destroy. LOL. i showed up abound 20 min. later he left everything the way it was except for the heat lamp on the couch. So i could see what the cat had done. I tore into that cage as fast as possible to see if any of my babies were gone. I was truely afraid of what i would have done to that cat if i would have found any of them missing. (and i love cats) but i was really pissed off. but it all ended ok and now we always make sure that door is closed.

some of us may have stories similar to yours so your not alone and from someone that has experinced a possible disaster from a feline. I truely wish you the best. And please keep us updated on his recovery.

Jamie

Emily-Fisher · 05-24-03, 09:45 AM

Oh but I love my kitty!! As destructive as she is, I still love her. As for you, Jeff..haha! Seems like your cat is your best friend! In your gallery....all these photos of your ittle kitty..tisk tisk! You spoil him WAY too badly.
P.S. I just phoned the vets again and they said that Hamlet is doing much better than I though...a very healthy snake (hehe! yay for me!) and that he might be able to come home sooner than expected since he is doing so well.

The_Omen · 05-24-03, 09:57 AM

I am curious now.. What did they give the snake for pain?
Any idea? And the dosage?

And yah, it bites about what happened, BUT, anytime there is a chance for a free raoming critter to be in the house or herp room, then you have to make sure there is no chance for them to open cages or knock them over....

nouserpif · 05-24-03, 10:12 AM

That sucks... Why don't you have my cat? she goes in my room all the time... stays AWAY from the herps though. she is afraid of every animal in their after my hissing roaches hissed at her, haha! I once thought it would be fun to let her chase this GIANT cricket around, so I took it out of the cage, and tossed it infront of her... she let out this really loud RAAAUUUUUWWW! and SPRINTED away so fast... I have never seen a cat so scared, except when she came up when I was handling my bearded dragon... his beard puffs out, but since the door was closed for some reason, she couldn't get out of the room, and she was jsut ran into the corner and backed up against the wall... It was funny!
But, she is a nice cat...
So sorry about what happend...

Dan Conner

HeatherRose · 05-24-03, 10:26 AM

I'm glad your snake is recovering Emily

I know how you feel, I love my kitty too and couldn't just 'get rid' of her :P

When she was a kitten I used to 'mist' her when she got on top of my cages (for fear that when she got bigger she might collapse the mesh at the top) and she's trained anough to not go near them anymore...she liked to follow the crickets around in the tank with her nose and she still catches all the stray crix in my room.

But you can't train a cat, so I'm still always on the lookout.

Glad Hamlet is doing well!

garterguy · 05-24-03, 11:04 AM

yeah your lucky its not worse.i had a jungle runner a while back and my cat undid the latch some howand got in.and when i came home i found my jungle runner's (duke's)cage messed up and my cat inside the tank and i take the cat out to find out he was sitting on my jungle runner and well my jungle runner had two puncture wounds 3/4 the way through his throat.however it was still alive but i knew it was going to die and no hgerp vets live within 2 hrs of my house so i had no choice but to let it die in peace.