Accidental Ways To Kill A Cat

The person to blame for this kitten's death is the one who took her from her mother far too young. The very youngest a kitten is capable of looking out for herself is 8 weeks and preferably she should be with her mother even longer than that.
It's not your fiance's fault, he didn't do it on purpose and hopefully your story will save another tiny kitten's life as it shows just how vulnerable and fragile kittens are.

On christmas day i got a 6 week old kitten! Well three days latter which was yesterday i had to go to work so my My finace who works third shift stayed with the kitten. My fiance who worked all night and had work again that night got tired and went to bed. The kitten joined into bed as he was sound asleep. He didn't realize the kitten was next to him and he rolled over and suffocated the kitten! I can home from work and noticed she didnt come to me so i started looking for her. When i couldnt find her i woke my fiance up to help me look tor her. When he turned and I moved the blanket off of him and saw her laying there dead I immediately burst into tears and was so angry at him!! He feels Horrable and burst into tears to and was in shock. I know it was an accident. But I was so angry cuz I loved her so much. Ive been cryin for 2 days and havnt slept. Did I overreact yelling and being so angry with him? And making him feel guiltyer. I was and am just so sad and depressed and Lonley and miss her sooo much! I was the one with her all the time. He loved her to but I feel like I loved her more. I'm the one that wanted her and taught her and slept with her since I brought her home. I kinda need advise!! But having a heavy sleeper that turns alot in bed with ur kitten is a way it can die!!

On christmas day i got a 6 week old kitten! Well three days latter which was yesterday i had to go to work so my My finace who works third shift stayed with the kitten. My fiance who worked all night and had work again that night got tired and went to bed. The kitten joined into bed as he was sound asleep. He didn't realize the kitten was next to him and he rolled over and suffocated the kitten! I can home from work and noticed she didnt come to me so i started looking for her. When i couldnt find her i woke my fiance up to help me look tor her. When he turned and I moved the blanket off of him and saw her laying there dead I immediately burst into tears and was so angry at him!! He feels Horrable and burst into tears to and was in shock. I know it was an accident. But I was so angry cuz I loved her so much. Ive been cryin for 2 days and havnt slept. Did I overreact yelling and being so angry with him? And making him feel guiltyer. I was and am just so sad and depressed and Lonley and miss her sooo much! I was the one with her all the time. He loved her to but I feel like I loved her more. I'm the one that wanted her and taught her and slept with her since I brought her home. I kinda need advise!! But having a heavy sleeper that turns alot in bed with ur kitten is a way it can die!!

5 weeks old!!
Whoever sold/gave him to you should be reported. He should be with his mother until at least 10 weeks of age.
No wonder he was trapped,a tiny baby taken from his mother far too soon,unable to look after himself so young.

My five week old siamese lil boy that we only had for two days died today stuck behind my sons small dresser....I'm heartbroken and so are my boys. I just can't understand how he couldn't get out. :(...

I just rescued my little kitten who got her head wedged underneath the door!!!.......I freaked out......Great article!!

I had a cat many years ago who would always join me in the bed when my husband left for work. One morning she didn't join me. I even went outside and called her with no luck. I came back inside and started calling her again. I heard a faint meow. I called her again and she meowed again. I followed the sound to the kitchen. Then I shook my head. No. It couldn't be. But it was. My cat had gotten in the bottom shelf of a 21 foot upright freezer. She'd been in there about 20 minutes when I found her. If I hadn't gone looking for her she would have died. I still have to watch out for kittens getting into the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.

Although I am a freak about checking the washer/dryer, I still will not turn either on until I do a headcount!

I have 2 hazards to add. Both have happened to my cats. I keep my broiler pan in my oven. I opened the oven to get it out right after I had turned it on to preheat. I went to set the pan on top of the stove's hood and just caught my cat out of the corner of my eye. She had jumped into the oven!! I had almost closed the oven door!! This has given me nightmares for years!!

The second incident was with a throw rug. The ticking around the edge of the rug had come a little loose. I never thought about it, much, except to think I should get some new ones soon. I was watching TV late one night while my husband was sleeping. I heard a strange cry. When I investigated, I discovered my small kitten had gotten his head stuck in the small hole. He had twisted it around like a tourniquet around his tiny neck. I screamed at my husband to get some scissors while I tried to free him myself. We cut him loose and he was fine. Very scary situation!!

About 30 years ago when I was young and married, I had just gotten a full-blooded burmese kitten. I'd had him about 4 months, along with a little tiger striped mixed breed the same age, and both were in the house.

Being in that "teenaged" age they were, they ran and played and chased each other day and night. It's amazing what they can do when they're rough-housing like two small boys.

We bought a new bed, mattress and box-springs. The store was coming to deliver it and remove our old one. My husband brought out the mattress and box springs and leaned them against the wall in a hallway to await the pickup.

You would never think that two small cats could disturb something as heavy as the box springs of a bed, but apparently these two did. We were watching tv and heard a thump on the other end of the house, but didn't think too much of it...wasn't that loud, surprisingly. In a few minutes, the tiger cat came into the den and laid down in the floor. Something suddenly told me something bad had happened.

We went to see and I couldn't even look. The box springs were flat on the floor with the mattress on top. No brown kitten was following us as usual. I buried him and cried for weeks.

For all these years I am very aware not to ever lean anything up against a wall no matter how stable it may look. That was a tragedy I'll never forget and a lot of heartbreak to deal with...

Sorry to sound redundant, but we did forget declawing.
Not in UK, of course, not in Israel (I've heard they've just did it - made it illegal, hurray!), but here in the US it is still happening and it is deadly.
Declawing kills not only by taking away the only defense a cat has in case it encounters another animal at home or outdoors, or taking away their grip, so they may slide and fall. Just complications alone after that horrific mutilating surgery are deadly. When I brought this subject matter in class the other day, one of the students told us how his girlfriend's beautiful and happy kitty died just a couple of weeks after the declawing. He said they would never ever do it again.

Another thing to remember if you hand wash dishes is to remember to turn knives down in the dish drainer.

There are so many dangers of which our pets are not aware. They are ever curious, which can lead to catastrophe. When Monty was very small I was cleaning the toilet one day and suddenly, there he was, and the next thing I knew his front paws had slipped into the toilet bowl. I screamed and he took off running. I was picturing burns to his skin and I was terrified he'd lick his paws or that some had splashed into his face or eyes. It took me a few moments to find him and wash his paws in the sink. (He didn't like that very much.) Then I picked up the bottle of toilet bowl cleaner to see if I needed to rush him to the vet for possible burns to his skin. Luckily, I had just switched to one of those green cleaners. All that was in it was a gentle coconut based soap. I put some on my fingers and rubbed it around on my hand. No burning sensation, like you'd expect from toilet bowl cleaner. I had just switched from a very caustic brand. That bottle was sitting there so I read the label. If I had been using that my cat would have had burns on his skin and a much greater chance of being poisoned or injured from it. The green cleaners don't kill germs; they state that on the label. But they are a lot gentler, not only on the environment, but on people and pets as well. That incident was so terrifying to me, and then I was so relieved that Monty got nothing more on his paws then a gentle soap, that I actually called the company and told them that I and my kitten really appreciated their product.

We only have one rule in our house and that is 'Think cat'
Our 2 boyz are 9 years old now but we still check the washing machine each time we use it even though neither have ever climbed in.
The worst that ever happened was Walter jumping in the toilet once when a gentleman friend left the seat up, the friend never did that again after feeling our wrath.
Rocking chairs are another hazard to cats as a little paw could be so easily crushed.
Another hazard you might not think of is toys tied on with string to cats play stations and scratching posts, one of our neighbours cats almost strangled herself when she got the string caught around her neck.
Like hot pans, hot irons are another hazard, a trailing wire to the iron on the ironing board can tempt a cat to have a bat at it and bring the iron down on himself. Never leave a hot iron unattended.
You are right Elisa, there are almost as many hazards indoors as there are outdoors.
Cats are not children but we need to think of them just the same as we do our children and watch over both cats and children as carefully as we can without smothering them.

Great article. We found out about the window blind cords just last night. Our Quanah[the nosiest cat on earth] jumped down behind our dresser and got himself tangled in the blind cords. What a scarey mess. It took Jeff about a half an hour to get him out because he was freaking out of course. We have the cords behind the dresser because we obviously didnt think anyone would go back there. Well the great nosey explorer Quanah just had to get back there. I also had a friend whose cat died when a shelf fell off the wall onto her. Make sure your shelves are anchored properly to the wall as cats love shelves.

Thank You again,
for the advice and to remind us what some of us may have forgotten or never knew!I really enjoy your writings,info,and the wonderful Furby and his tails and purrs! Also all the care and kindness you have for all these little angels you give a second chance,truly you have a heart of gold!! Thank you again...

I found this article useful, Elisa, because it covers a lot of areas where accidents can occur.

I think I'll do a post myself on reclining chairs. These really are very dangerous for cats in my opinion.

I don't have first hand experience of the dangers to kittens that reclining chairs can pose but I do know a high profile cat breeder who has a reclining chair and kittens do climb up the inside of it where the springs etc. are.

If a person sat in the chair and reclined the kitten could be crushed. This hasn't happened because precautions are taken but kittens do like to climb into these hidden spaces.

Another accident in the making is walking on a kitten or adult cat.

Cats get underfoot especially when feeding. If you are preparing food and your cat has come up to your legs and is rubbing against you or about to do that you can turn and accidentally walk into your cat. This could, it seems to me, cause a broken leg or worse.

Breeders have to socialise their kittens. This means they are left to wander around. If visitors come into the home the kitten can get walked on. Easy to do.

With kittens around we should look down at our feet!