I’m just passing on the word. This is another household danger for the domestic cat. There are many and sometimes they aren’t obvious. A similar sort of danger is found with recliner chairs which I have written about before. Recliner chairs can crush cats and so can garage doors.
You can guess what might happen. You park the car in the garage and you close the door by pushing a button. The door closes automatically. Your cat happens to be underneath the door at the point where it touches the ground when closed. The sensor on the garage door is set incorrectly. It does not stop when it senses the cat. It carries on to the ground and crushes your cat. Or there are parts of the mechanism in which a cat can become trapped and crushed.
One family in Caledonia Michigan have suffered the loss of two beloved cats in the above-mentioned way. Carol said:
“You don’t think about it. You push a button and you don’t expect that pushing a button is going to kill your cat….It’s just heartbreaking.”
The first time it happened Carol thought it was just a bit of bad luck and then a few years later it happened again. I guess you could say she might have been careless and that may be true if we are honest. Although it might just be a faulty mechanism.
It is thought that the sensors on the garage door were set incorrectly so that the sensitivity was set to high. I’m not sure how these doors work in terms of sensitivity levels. Clearly the door mechanism has to be sensitive enough to be able to detect when there is an obstruction on the ground so that it stops before hitting the ground.
If the mechanism is faulty or badly adjusted then the door will just carry on closing no matter what is in its path. Apparently, on older machines of this type it’s possible to adjust the sensitivity with a dial whereas on newer models the adjustment is electronic and in some instances in may have to be made by an engineer.
I think this is certainly something that needs to be thoroughly checked out before you assume that the garage door is safe. If you want absolute safety then it would make sense, I think, if you watch the door close before leaving the garage to make sure that your cat is not underneath it.
We know that another area of danger with respect to cars in garages is when cats climb into the engine space for warmth. This is not uncommon and many cats are injured as we all know.
Another danger: A cat can get killed if it gets up on top of the door when the door is raised. Then, when the door starts down as it’s closing, it takes the cat down with it. Unless the cat jumps off, and most of them probably will not and will instead try to ride the door down and jump onto the driveway, the cat will be crushed between the door and the top of the door jamb.
Thanks for that extra info. Mechanisms around the house can be dangerous to cats and manufacturers don’t always factor in the family cat.
Like this?
Horrible picture but I’ll publish it. I have edited your comment as usual because it was unnecessarily snide.
He needs to be Baker Acted. In this state, it means that he is forced into a mental health facility for evaluation.
Ofcourse, he can get it together enough to fool the staff, being the good sociopath that he is.
But, I would love to be present to trigger him into speaking his dribble.
Glad we dont have a garage,this piece sent chills down my spine,thanks Michael,shared it on my page.
Thanks Irish. I think these dangers need to be flagged up because people don’t know about them.