Zoe and Floyd, brother and sister Siamese-tabby cats from the same litter, would clean each other and cuddle together on the couch. Sometimes in the middle of the night they would climb into bed with Kai and Hannah, the children of Melissa and David Burke. Floyd was the laid back one. Zoe was a bit more precocious.
But last Friday everything changed when a young cougar snuck into the family's Cumberland Road yard.
Returning home around 8 p.m. from a school movie night, Dave thought he heard a catfight in the backyard. But it wasn't a housecat brawl. The wild cat had Floyd in his jaws.
"Am I really seeing what I'm seeing?" he said, shooing the cougar. "He tried to take off with our cat at first."
Dave was glad the animal dropped Floyd and dipped beneath the fence, only to realize Zoe was lying limp nearby.
Meanwhile Melissa arrived home with Hannah and a friend - who was ready for a sleepover - in tow. Dave yelled frantically,
"What?" said Melissa, in shock. "A cougar in the yard?"
The girls headed to safety upstairs while Dave raced with Floyd to the vet to try to save Floyd.
Melissa decided she best deal with Zoe's limp body.
"I grabbed the dead cat and brought it in the house," she said.
It wasn't long before the cougar returned.
"It was just sniffing around the perimeter of our yard," she said, noting there was actually a deer it began stalking in the neighbour's yard. "I was really worried there might be an ugly mess."
She wasn't at peace until she saw the conservation officer arrive and heard the gunshot.
The staff at Courtenay Veterinary Clinic investigated the extent of damage Floyd sustained. Veterinarian Byron Hamlund noted the cat has a fractured sinus cavity, a puncture through his ear as well as one through his eye.
"We're going to have to see what's happening when the swelling goes down," Melissa said, adding she hopes his eye won't have to be taken out. "Our cat, he's really special, you know? He's a really good cat."
As the animal doctors worked away on Cliffe Avenue Monday Kai couldn't help but be affected by the shape his beloved family member was in. The fur on the scruff of Floyd's neck has been shaved down and the animal has a feeding tube because it hasn't been up to eating for the past three days.
"He's been around for almost my whole life," he said. "He played a lot and he would snuggle with me in the middle of the night."
Hannah can hardly find the words to describe the horror her family has been through in these past few days. But her sullen eyes say it all.
Over the weekend the family had a burial service for Zoe, as they try to regroup.
"I won't be having as much love from the cats as I used to," Kai said.
But, he adds, "One cat is better than none."
Now the family is faced with a vet bill that could be upwards of $3,500, whether the animal lives or dies.
Dave wishes the authorities had alerted the neighbourhood, since they had been searching for the cougar for several hours Friday. He had just let Zoe out before leaving for the movie.
But, he says, it could have been a lot worse.
"All the other things start sinking in," he said. "Our little girl had been playing in the yard earlier in the day."
Melissa agrees.
"The kids play outside all the time," he said. "We're just lucky it happened when the kids weren't around."
People interested in contributing to the family's vet bill can contact the Courtenay Veterinary Clinic at 250-338-7721 or reach the family at [email protected].
