Yesterday, I accidently killed Baby Girl aka Ponyo, my daughter's 7 month old kitten, and I am devastated.
I was cleaning, shampooing my carpets and doing laundry. It is a common Saturday routine. I swapped the laundry and returned to carpet cleaning. The dryer was loud, thumping but I chalked it up to the number of wet towels in the load. I cannot recount how much time passed, but at least 20-30 mins. And the thumping was still happening.
This is when an alarm went off in my head. I opened the dryer and she was there, in the clothing, nearly dead.
I was panic running around the house, her in my arms trying to find shoes and a car key when my daughter awoke to this absolute chaos. Panyo was gasping for breaths, limp with blood in her mouth. We drove her to the vet a few miles away, and she passed before we even arrived.
She has hopped in the dryer before. I do not know how she escaped me noticing she did it this time. I am so angry at myself for not checking for her. I am so angry at myself for not investigating the thumping immediately. If I had, she might still be with us and not died such a horrible death.
Since it happened, I keep hearing that dryer thump in my head and I worry about my daughter. She is also devastated.
She was the bravest, most curious, loving spitfire. She was mischevious and playful. Only 2lbs when she first arrived from the rescue, nearly half the weight should she be.
She spent so much time with me, every day, on my desk when I worked, curled up to with my shih-tzu while we slept. Waking me up at the first crack of dawn to be fed.
Just yesterday morning, she curled up on my shoulder and purred so loudly that I didn't want to move.
We are both just so heartbroken. I just cannot stop crying or blaming myself.
I came here in hopes of being able to process my grief and guilt, especially as I see there are so many others who have experienced this horrific accident too.