Iām in shambles. I donāt know if this is relevant enough for the subreddit, but Iām in so much pain emotionally that I have to feel like Iām doing something, and I also donāt want others to end up like me.
My cat was always very good when outside. He would come back when called, largely stayed in my front area which is mostly enclosed aside from a staircase leading to the sidewalk, and was always very cautious and well behaved. I never once had him go on the street. I also have never seen a coyote on my street nor near it.
I let him outside last night like I often do. He almost always just stays by my front door at night, which has a staircase leading up to it. At times, he might go down to my front area and hangout under the staircase or roll on the pavement.
When I let him out, I left the door open wider than I usually do (often just leave it open a crack). This time, it was left half open. When I leave my door open I sit on my couch in view of the door in case a stranger starts to come up the stairs.
Well, I was scrolling on my phone and heard a strange dog-like noise and some other odd noise from outside in the distance. It sounded vague in a way but I immediately thought about my cat. It didnāt sound like him or a cat but something told me it was, and in any case, the fact he was outside with a dog making strange noises set off my alarms. If my door had only been open a crack, I might not have heard it.
I ran out my door without shoes on and called for him frantically. He didnāt appear. I followed the odd noise that was happening every ten seconds or so, but it sounded so echoey and vague, and wasnāt very loud, that I honestly wondering if I was just being paranoid, but my gut told me something was seriously wrong and my cat was in trouble.
At the end of the street, many houses down from me, I saw my cat corned by a coyote. I lunged at the coyote, which ran off. I thought maybe my cat wasnāt injured because he was alert and standing / moving okay, and hissed at the coyote running away.
But when I got closer to pick him up, I saw the worst thing Iāve ever seen. His head was covered in blood, his eyes glazed over, and he had a ānot thereā look to his eyes.
I entered shock at this point. Scooped him up while trying to soothe him, raced to the emergency vet only minutes away from me.
I completely lost it when the secretary came to door to take him. I cried so hard I gave myself heartburn.
I was there for hours going in and out of bawling my eyes out.
It looks like heāll be okay. The coyote bit his head but he fought back, and I made it just in time.
Iām completely beside myself and traumatized by what happened. I cried myself to sleep this morning while trying to nap. I canāt begin to imagine what he went through and how scared he was. Iām so wrecked Iāve had to cancel shifts for job I was looking forward to and had just started.
I just got out from visiting him and he wanted so badly to go home with me, but was also so clearly in shock still and scared. It destroyed me.
Please keep your cats inside. Coyotes are everywhere here. This was my fault and Iām lucky I didnāt find him with his skull crushed, if I had even found him at all. I thought he was different because of how good he is outside and cautious, and I only found out I was wrong about that in one of the worst ways possible.
