Accidental pet abuse

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Some animals are always underfoot. Rudy and Mochi seem to be the worst in this house; they're always getting kicked or stepped on or shut in a door.

Have you accidentally injured your pets? Did they ever forgive you?

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001

Answers

This thread should extend to children. I've definitely injured my chilren accidentally. When my son was 3 months old, I changed his diaper and snapped his little undershirt thing closed (my wife calls it a "onesie"). I took a little fold of his belly flesh into the snap, too, and he howled. I still shudder when I think about it.

And a few months ago, we were coming into Grand Central Station on a weekend trip. I bent over and picked the boy up, straight from his seat into the overhead luggage rack. There was one of those "thumps" that can only be a human head hitting something hard. Again, he howled and howled. We both tried to get over it quickly so we could enjoy our tour of the station. But just yesterday I was telling him a story about a boy on a train and my son said something like "and then his daddy bumped his head." Ouch.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001


It's hard to injure a cockatiel accidentally without actually killing it, so instead we hurt him deliberately: you'd think that when we trim his talons we're really shoving bamboo stakes into his toes, and he's never learned to be a good patient so sometimes his kicking means we snip into the quick/blood vessel and make him bleed a little. A little styptic powder seals him up quickly, but for some minutes afterward he'll favor the wounded foot, standing on one leg, and looks at you like you're a murderer. Or sometimes a feather gets bent the wrong way and it's everybody's fault until the feather is realigned; he glares daggers at you even if you're the one to lay it smooth.

The only time I can remember my carelessness hurting my dogs was when I braked the Torino too abruptly and Shadow slid off the vinyl bench seat and fell into the footwell and banged her head on the dashboard. I was so afraid I'd concussed or killed her. But she just looked at me like I was an idiot (which I was) and climbed back up. She was tough.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001


I constantly kick my very dumb cat because she always does that typical cat thing: she hides under tables, chairs, etc, and then darts out at my feet at the last second. Then of course she runs away like i have beaten her and wonders why her Mommy kicked her in the head. Well, perhaps if she would walk around like a normal creature, these things wouldn't happen.

I also used to have a dog and i punched him straight in the nose once. I was taking kung fu, and i was demonstrating a punch to someone. The dog came out of nowhere and i saw him at the last second. I managed to hold back a bit but momentum was against me - i still ended up clocking him pretty hard. I was horrified, and i thought i must have really hurt him, especially when he stopped dead and stared straight ahead like he was shocked. Then he jumped straight in the air, barked, and crouched down to "attack" because he decided that this was the bestest game ever. "Punch me again Mom, c'mon, punch me, i'll bite you in the kneecap, c'mon it's only a flesh wound!"

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001


Okay, first understand that I have a Japanese Bobtail cat, and these cats are freak shows to begin with. They are very energetic, curious, and well, weird, personality-wise. In temperament they are much more like dogs than cats. Anyway….

My bobtail loves to get into everything, especially in the kitchen. She is in the sink, the cabinets, you name it. She likes to walk all over the stove to see what’s cooking. I guess you can see where this is going.

I put the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner. However, the gas didn’t light right away. The starter just kept clicking and the gas kept venting. Along comes Bob to see what’s going on. It is just a precisely that time that the burner lights in a flaming ball of gas.

I was frantic that she might be scarred for life, or blinded, or worse. Luckily she just singed all the whiskers on the right side of her face, making her lopsided.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001


My brother and I accidentally injured our dog when we were young. We were having a pine cone war in our backyard when our dog was inadvertently caught in the crossfire. A pine cone to the eye and a trip to the vet for a scratched cornea. Eye goop twice a day and a little patch to keep it shut for weeks. We had a very bitter Pirate Dog. I like to think that she eventually forgave us. That happened when she was about 4 and she lived to be 18, so I hope that at some point she forgave us. We certainly did feed her enough biscuits following the injury to alleviate any lingering guilt.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001


Yes. I stepped on Sasha's back when she was a kitten, but thankfully realized I was stepping on her, picked my foot back up and did something akin to a pirouette into the wall myself.

The cats are always coming up to talk to us and then turning to 'accompany' us wherever we go, but this often results in tripping over cat bodies or stepping on tails.

I don't know about forgiveness, but they've definitely learned to avoid our feet. I don't trip over them nearly as much as I used to. The only drawback, is that they tend to cower if we move toward them too quickly, when all we mean to do is sit down and pet them.

However, I'd rather have them occasionally a little bit cowery than getting kicked accidentally on a regular basis.

-- Anonymous, March 19, 2001


Our cat has taken to sleeping in the dark in any room where the door is partially opened, right behind the door, so lately he's gotten clobbered by doors being pushed open on regular basis.

I'm probably being insensitive, but I'm only inclined to apologize for that a few times (esp when it's the door to the bathroom, and I'm not exactly awake) - after that, if he's still laying there it must not be bothering him much.

He doesn't cower either, he comes and finds me as soon as I've sat down and puts his face up right close to mine and gives me that long 'yoooowwwwwwrrrrrr' cry that says he's really offended.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001


Sasha seems to think that getting stepped on is a grand, fun game. She'll follow you around and then suddenly....swooooop....right under your foot. I swear she even laughs. When you step on her, of course, she lets out the horrifying shrieking sound of pain, causing (of course) examination of the wounded part and much petting and fussing. She thinks she's quite tricky.

Kelly, being smaller (and newer, and not yet having been to obedience), is already always underfoot. She's still in "I'm so excited to be here" mode, and thinks that every time someone stands up, she should go see what's going on. She also has the longer hair thing going on, so she's easier to step on or catch in a door. I give her two weeks before she catches on to Sasha's game.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001


Oh my god, I have a funny story. One of my cats likes to get inside plastic bags if you leave them on the floor. Sometimes when I buy clothes or groceries I just leave the bags on the floor for her. Well, one time there was a bag on the floor--a pretty big bag like from a department store. My ex-boyfriend came in the room, hauled back and KICKED the bag for all it was worth--expecting to see the bag go flying and floating in the air. Instead, there was a very mad and surprised black and white ball of fur flying out! She wasn't hurt, but she was mad. She did forgive him. I had to laugh, even though I didn't want to because the sight of her, and the unexpected looks on our faces was hilarious. We had no idea she was in that bag!

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001

I'm currently dog-sitting for a couple, and am also staying over at their house. Ursa is a fun loving black lab who likes to roll in the snow (that's still hanging around) and harass the cat. She's great fun.

Except that one morning when I was snoozing peacefully and was suddenly woken up by a black lab jumping on my stomach and licking my face. Since it was 6am, and I wasn't supposed to be up for an hour and a half, and since Ursa is one heavy dog, I yelped and screamed sleepily, "Lie down! No barking! Sit!" She was confused, as was I - I was also flailing about and kicked her in her tummy, I'm sure.

Not a great way to start out a day, lemme tell ya.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001



Talk about perfect timing for this thread; just the other day, I was sitting on the couch with my kitty, reading a book, she snuggled on the next cushion in a lovely fuzzy ball, when along comes my boyfriend. He wants to sit down beside me - so he does : *without moving the cat first*!!! Apparently he didn't even see her there! He *totally* sat on her head! I was watching, utterly fascinated, thinking he was doing it to annoy her - you know, pretend to sit on her until she moved. But then his butt just kept getting LOWER! Right at the moment he would have squished her I shrieked and the cat took off. Oh man - superfunny!!! She didn't appreciate us laughing at her, but she seems to have forgiven him for the incident.

-- Anonymous, March 20, 2001

Joy, your story reminds me of the time my cat was playing in a big Wal-mart bag in the basement. I was upstairs folding clothes or something, and suddenly I heard this thundering sound, and looked up to see the bag coming at me. For all the world, I thought my husband had picked up the bag and tossed it into the bedroom, and all I could think was "How did he get it to move like that?"

A different cat once got a popsicle wrapper stuck to his side and did this long, leaning-to-the-side run around the couch. You could practically hear the William Tell Overture playing.

There's no pet injury in those stories - maybe psychological - but I had to share.

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001


I've got some bag stories too ... I've tripped over the cats hiding in bags before 'cos I thought they were empty. They love curling up in empty paper bags from the grocery store.

Sasha has also more than once, gotten stuck, with her head through the paper handles of the grocery bags and promptly gone tearing around the house trying to get away from the bag.

It's quite funny to see a paper bag fly like a superman cape. Of course I then have to chase her to set her free, or she'll hurt herself. The poor dear can never figure out that sitting still is better than running.

-- Anonymous, March 24, 2001


I put my (declawed indoor) cat in a tree in our backyard to take her picture. She wouldn't be still, and as I was trying to aim for the perfect shot she fell out of the tree. Not a beautiful, graceful cat landing, but just SPLAT. Then she gave me that wounded "why are you trying to kill me?" look.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

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