Oy. I’ve flattened two kitties with my power chair. Fortunately, neither of them were seriously injured, but the experiences scarred me for life. For a while I had a sort of PTSD and would freak out whenever I rolled over a small inanimate object like a lump of clothing. It cured me though, and now I have a permanent sense of “pet awareness” when I’m in a room. If I have to back up and I think a small critter might be nearby, I always ask someone to make sure I’m clear first. If no one is around, I move veeeeeeery slowly. If I catch its tail, it’ll hurt, but at least it won’t be squished.
When you get a new kitty, slap a bell on the bastard. The jingling will help you find it when it manages to hide somewhere inappropriate. After a few years it’ll grow a bit wiser and you can ditch the bell.
I’ve had a lot of kitties and I’ve been using a power chair for a long time. It’s a recognizable hazard. Sorry for your loss
Thanks, but I knew where the kitten was. I just thought I’d help my mother, who’s overweight and has some leg and back problems by lifting the chair with my hands, and then I lowered it on the ground. I didn’t hear any sound from the kitten so I must of killed him quickly. I thought by using my body instead of the chair remote the kitten would be safe. I think that qualifies as ironic.
Anyway, even though I can’t help but keep running the incident in my head over and over again and the different ways I could have prevented the kitten from dying, time is helping me get over it and I’m ready for a new kitten. And once my wife is ready I’ll go out and get one.
It could be worse though. I new a girl in school who accidently killed her cat by sitting on it. (She was a larger girl). The cat was on the couch, it was dark, she sat down . . .
These stories make me so sad AND they also reinforce my catsquishaphobia. I live in almost constant fear of accidentally shutting a cat in the dryer, rolling over it with a wheelchair (when my foot was in a cast) and I refuse to have a recliner or rocking chair of any sort in the house because I’m just SURE one of the babies will end up trapped under it. Aauuugh.
When your wife is ready for a new pet, I’d like to echo what has been said in this thread about getting a slightly older cat. Our most recent rescue was over a year old when we got him and is, by far, the most charming and lovable cat I’ve ever met.
I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to open this thread because I knew it would make me cry (I go to pieces over stories of anything going wrong with cats or kittens) and it did. I used to worry all the time when my cats were small that I would accidentally shut them in the dryer, step on them, drop something on them…I still worry about dropping things on them, because they like to get underfoot so much. How horrible to actually have it happen. At least it sounds like he died fast and didn’t suffer.
I won’t say please don’t feel bad, because of course you feel bad. But it was an accident. Kittens are fragile little things, and they’ve got all the sense of a suicidal fluffball. Sometimes they go where they’re not supposed to, and they’re so quiet you don’t hear them. It’s not your fault. It’s not your wife’s fault. It just happened, and it’s terrible, but there’s no blame.
I’m sure when you feel ready for a new kitty, whether it’s a kitten or an older cat, you’ll be acutely aware of potential dangers–probably too much so. It’s a sad lesson to learn, but I’m sure your new future kitty will benefit from it, and in time the pain will fade.
You probably know this, but it wouldn’t hurt to refresh your memory - cats always go the wrong direction when you’re walking, and they always get into something you don’t want them to get into.
I’m so sorry, I hope you can get past blaming yourself. It was clearly an accident, very tragic probably for you most of all because of your feelings of guilt. Your reaction indicates to me that you are a decent person who takes responsibility - please don’t let this drive you crazy.
Maybe your next cat could be a little older - I adopted a one year old and he was still kittenish in behavior but he was old enough that he was less fragile.
