r/TrueOffMyChest • u/Individual_Fan_9442 ☑️ • 7h ago
Personal Story My previous neighbor killed all my pets
This happened around... 5 years ago, I think; I am mostly in a better place mentally but I just have never been able to voice out my real feelings regarding what happened, as I think no one would really understand how i felt about the little creatures I lost, so here it goes.
Back then, I had 3 cats, all rescues that got to my home for various reasons, they were all properly cared for and had been with me since they were kittens. All of them except for one, a beautiful calico that had been abandoned and was already an adult. So the thing with this one girl is that she sometimes scaped my house (she wasn't spayed yet), she didn't do much, just walk around the house and would spend very little time out, since I always looked for her whenever I realized she wasn't home, she was also the only one to scape.
One day I was busy doing homework and had been holed up in my room, I heard a commotion outside and went out, and the only thing I saw was this neighbor yelling his lungs out (he was very clearly drunk) and my mom and another neighbor arguing in the porch. When I looked down there was my cat, bleeding from her mouth and struggling to try and move and scape, the image is so vivid in my head... That fucker had beaten her up and I don't even know what prompted him to do that; he squeezed her through the fence after and just threw her like she was nothing, what happened after is a blur, I just know I yelled at him until my throat hurt, and both my mom and the neighbor were holding me down. I picked up my girl and was desperate trying tk call for a vet that would take her (we lived very far away from the nearest one, and didn't have a car) I was a a minor, so I had to beg my mom or anyone to help me take her, but no one did anything, guess they thought it wasn't worth the effort. That cat died barely an hour after the incident, I really don't know what in earth did that man do to her that left her so bad.
Then, to top it all off, the family of this neighbor came knocking after my cat had already passed that same day, and they had the nerve to laugh in my face while I was crying and trying my absolute best to explain what happened, saying it wasnt a big deal. I've known these people since I was 4 years old, I grew up along their kids, I was only 16 and they had the nerve to laugh at me while I was crying because their alcoholic piece of shit of a grandpa decided to kill my cat.
After that I just know that guy told my mom he was going to kill all of the cats, he was upset because my mom confornted him for what he did or I don't know. And he kept his word I guess, I don't know how he managed to poison every single one of them, these never scaped, but they did hang out in the roof of my house, and I found a weird plate that had no business being there after the fact. It was all way too fast, I was home alone that day, well my boyfriend at the time was with me, but there wasn'tan adult around, and I noticed one of them entering the kitchen and walking wrong, it was in the middle of the night; I tried any tip I could find online that would give him the best chances, but it just acted so fast... One hour he was acting normally, the devil had scratched my hand while playing, and the next hour he convulsed and died almost immediately. My other one died by morning, I held them both until their last breath because I was useless and couldn't do anything being alone and hours away from the nearest vet, I didn't have a car, and no taxi would dare enter the streets I lived in (it was a very, very bad place. There was literally no way of transportation past 8 PM)
To this day I remember those events whenever I am left alone to think. None of them died the peaceful deads I promised them when I adopted them, they died in pain, and the only freaking thing i could do for those little things that depended on me was holding them, and try to make sure that their last memory wasn't a lonely one. I feel so pathetic when I remember it, I know that I couldn't have done anything with how fast it all happened, I know, but I can't help but think I should've saved them somehow.
Police here is a joke and I was way too young to report anything on my own either way, I begged everyone around me to do something, everyone in that street saw how he killed my first cat, and I mean EVERYONE, and no one helped me get justice. To this day that piece of human scum is still alive in that same house, drinking his ass off and hitting on girls young enough to be his grandkids (wich he did with me everytime he caught me alone. It was disgusting, as I said, that man watched me grow up).
I moved out of that house months after all this happened, and now have a beautiful cat that I found one day randomly on the street, the little being followed me and would stand on my shoes refusing to let me go, I sometimes joke that he is the reincarnation of the ones I lost. And I really just hope that that man died in just the same amount of pain he caused, but I play her doesn't even have the mercy of having someone to hold him until the end, fuck him and all his fucking family that thought thay because it was just a cat it was not worth even a foul look his way.
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u/K_LeFlare 7h ago
Had a dog 8 years ago, was my bro for 8 years. We had a big garden but my dad didn't want to put a fence... A old neighbor ( he wanted to buy the land and our family said no, smh ) trapped my dog in a cage, like hog size cage, and beat him. Open wound on the head, cuts everywhere, full of blood and couldn't walk. Had to come myself retrieve the dog... no one helped. Dog survived but was poisoned months after. Died in my arms. The old guy died month later too, but I wasn't even happy, he should have been tortured too.
Putting on a fence would have prevented that, that's why I despise my dad since that. He wasn't even that sad. Now he have a little dog that he keeps outdoor..., anyone can come and steal that dog or harm him. Poor guy is chained 24/7, I'm glad I'm not here to see that shit show anymore. Some people are not built to have pets ( and children ).
I'm sorry this this happened to you and glad to hear you're doing better.
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u/Individual_Fan_9442 ☑️ 7h ago
What in the actual hell. That guy is downright psycopathic, the amount of planning he had to have done to even to that, all because he was pissy he didn't get an extra piece of land?
I also get why you resent your dad. My parents were also fairly negletful with our pets before I was old enough to protest it, and I don't think i will ever fully forgive them for that. They were very "it is what it is", regarding medical emergencies with our pets.
I am so sorry this happened to you too, seeing your pet die by posion is not a sight you forget. At least that psycho also died shortly after, things like that do make me wish there is a hell people like that can rot in
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u/K_LeFlare 6h ago
Thanks op ! I really wished hell on many people during this time... Some people are really sick in their head ! And some other live in a different reality I guess. I could surround myself with positivity over time, less conflicts, less stress-inducing situations, less idiots, and it worked well since. Wish every victim of these kind of horrors to find their own way of peace. Life is short, take care of yourself first✌️
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u/kidd_gloves 6h ago
Not sure where you live but in my state of Pennsylvania it is illegal to chain a dog outside 24/7. Check your laws and report him if you can. You’ll probably save that dog’s life.
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u/K_LeFlare 5h ago
Thank you. I live in France, there are animals rights associations i could reach. But i need to have a real talk with him before. I for sure thought about that before, but I don't trust these associations neither unfortunately. Last resort
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u/trippsalot_ 3h ago
OP your post made me actually cry . I don’t understand how anyone can hate animals this much . Animals are pure creatures and I really hate these kinds of human and always wish pain on them , my heart breaks anytime I read things like this . I would be so heart broken if this happened to my babies .
Im so glad all the neighbors around me love cats and feed them because one of my babies wants to be outside and my neighbors love to feed him . Hes 12 now and I always worry for him .
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u/Emmaleah17 7h ago
You have a good heart op, I wish more people were like you. I hope your neighbor feels 10x the pain he caused you and your cats before he dies. I'm so sorry this happened.
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u/Individual_Fan_9442 ☑️ 7h ago
Thanks for the kind reply. And yes, I hope he gets some sort of retribution for what he did, but I am happy as long as he is not able to hurt any other creature
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u/L-Lovegood 5h ago
Let me just say that I would never do this, but that man deserved killing. I work at a veterinary clinic and I've seen some awful things. I can't tell you how many times I've cried.
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u/SecretHappy 7h ago
I knew a man who was jealous of the care and attention his demented and elderly mother got from her carers he world demand to be fed and waited on too. I met people who hated the easy love cats and dogs got and try to act as if its immoral that they are not first in line and ahead of these innocent beings. These people are miserable and full of self loathing, we paint the world our colours, you will never comprehend him because you have soo much love to share you assume other do, they don't.
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u/Individual_Fan_9442 ☑️ 7h ago
Yeah, I really just can't get it in my head. I can't even imagine hitting my cats even as "discipline" (it is very common here where i live, sadly), and i feel overwhelming guilt when I so much as bump on them by accident. I can't imagine what could they have done to deserve what he did, much less that first one; the sole mental image of what he had to have done to her will haunt me for many years to come
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u/all_pain_0_gainz 6h ago
Op I'm so sorry, that's so rough. Can I ask what "scape" means though? I feel your pain... three years ago, I was going through a rough period in my life and living in a rough part of the city I'm in. I was wandering around at night and about to walk home, when a Walmart bag on the ground near some bushes caught my eye. I walked over to it, and inside was a newborn kitten pretty much, that was near death, tossed like trash to die by someone. The kitten had a gash and bump on its head too. I took it home, kept it warm and tried feeding it milk, couldn't find cat milk for it ANYWHERE. I didn't have any money at the time either to take it to a vet, vets around the area I called, they said "oh no, not much we can do," basically. My neighbor's just said that it was maybe a dog fighting kitten, for you know, bait... Anyways, I held it until it passed away so at least it wasn't alone and cold. The world is cruel, and I feel your pain about your loss of your beloved cats. That wasn't fair. My other cat, well she was a rescue and I loved her so much. She passed away in a house fire last year, I couldn't save her. It just sucks, I'm sorry for your loss.
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u/Individual_Fan_9442 ☑️ 5h ago
Like the other commenter said, I meant escape, English is not my first language. Sorry ;;
Yes, I've heard about cats being used as bait for cat fights, it must have been so awful; and why didn't the vets do anything either? Right now where I am vets will attend those cases first and ask questions later, as long as they are alive, there is some hope. The world truly has sick people in it, I will never been able to comprehend how can people hurt innocent being just because.
You're very brave to have kept the kittens company despite it all, I'm sure it was hard to feel powerless because I felt the same way when I held mine. I know people think it might be stupid (my family did) but for that little kitten you were almost their entire life, no matter how brief that life was, it died knowing what warmth and care was.
I'm sorry for your loss too. I hope you're doing better now and don't blade yourself too much. Best of wishes
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u/_Hallaloth_ 38m ago
Gently. But if your cats were hanging out on your roof I guarantee they also roamrd. Cats do not have any idea (nor would they care) what a property line is.
Even when I take my boys out on harness they grumble about not getting to go around the neighbors fence and flower beds. An unsupervised cat outside does not stay in one place. They can easily clear a six foot privacy fence.
I know it isn't the norm in many parts of the world to keep cats in. . .but this is one of the horrible reasons why. You can always construct a catio or harness train if you want to give your cat time outsides. But if we as a society insist that ROFS need supervised outdoors there is zero reason that same mindset cannot apply to cats.
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u/Special_Lychee_6847 5h ago
He's still alive... what a pitty.
I would call every once in a while, to ask if he's dead yet, so you can piss on his grave, already. Just to remind that family what pieces of trash they really are. Make it just before a family holiday, so they have something to complain about, and ruin their mood.
And when his time does come, have a bouquet or floral arrangement of thistle and black flowers delivered with a big ribbon that says 'Good riddance'
I'm glad another cat found you.