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Animals attacked, snake to blame?

We recently did a skin graft on a kitten that had been scalped by a dog. Even had some indents in the skull from the bugger's teeth.

Wounds that cause death aren't likely to swell. And cat's don't tend, in my experience, to get big puffy swellings from bites anyway unless they've become abscesses.

Also, while a bite from a dog can look like two simple punctures on the outside, if you necropsied... the inside looks like hamburger.
 
Definately not a snake. Bird of prey would leave talon marks on the back, neck or head (more then 2 and not tidy).

There was a mink (assumed feral escapee from a fur farm) hanging out for a couple weeks in the food-court dumpster alley at the mall where I work. If you are looking at how mustelids kill this one would grab rats, shake them, then rip their heads off leaving blood all around, take a few bites and then go chase another one. I don't think that fits the dead cats' body description. Weasels and similar go for the jugular on prey larger then themselves - blood everywhere.

Is the missing skin around the back or the front of the neck? Was there bleeding out on the throat?
 
Teddy Roosevelt said:
Also fictional. :shrugs:
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Tavia said:
I LIKE the Chupacabra theory! Don't ruin my fun with the "facts!" :flames:
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Exactly! I loves me some mythological creatures (and yes, I know they are mythological). :nope: ;)

But I do not mean to make light of the poor cats being killed or attacked by whatever it is.

I'm still thinking mustelid. Although Susan's post is very convincing. I just hate to think about the side of humans that would make them do something like that. Despicable.
 
vetusvates said:
Although Susan's post is very convincing. I just hate to think about the side of humans that would make them do something like that. Despicable.
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Saddly there are people that look down on all animals as vermin, no better that say spiders to be squished (sorry spider lovers). Respect is learned, not innate unfortunately :crying:
 
vetusvates said:
Exactly! I loves me some mythological creatures (and yes, I know they are mythological). :nope: ;)

But I do not mean to make light of the poor cats being killed or attacked by whatever it is.

I'm still thinking mustelid. Although Susan's post is very convincing. I just hate to think about the side of humans that would make them do something like that. Despicable.
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I know Eric, but you and I are old and sane enough to know how intrinsically wrong harming an animal unnecessarily is. Children are pretty much medical sociopaths until around 5 or 6 and real sociopaths do things like that all too often for my tastes. It sounds stupid, like why would anyone do such a thing? But it is more common than us animal lovers like to think about and I'm not ready to rule it out as a cause. Megan's description of how dogs can do the same thing relaxed me a bit though. A dog doing what dogs do is less frightening to me than some person out there killing animals for fun.
 
Teddy Roosevelt said:
I know Eric, but you and I are old and sane enough to know how intrinsically wrong harming an animal unnecessarily is. Children are pretty much medical sociopaths until around 5 or 6 and real sociopaths do things like that all too often for my tastes. It sounds stupid, like why would anyone do such a thing? But it is more common than us animal lovers like to think about and I'm not ready to rule it out as a cause. Megan's description of how dogs can do the same thing relaxed me a bit though. A dog doing what dogs do is less frightening to me than some person out there killing animals for fun.
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Didn't you just turn 19?

Children are NOT "pretty much medical sociopaths until around 5 or 6" and if you really think so, I'd like to know if there is ANY evidence to support this.

I've never seen a dog scalp anything. Other than vampires and rattlesnakes, there isn't much that leaves 2 distinct puncture wounds. Most vampires are too kind to kill kittys and most rattlesnakes, this I know from personal experience, have a tough time holding the blade necessary to scalp their victims.

Putting sugar on something that has an unpleasant taste does not change the cause, the root, the source of that taste, it just masks it. It may taste sweet, but it's still crap.
 
wilomn said:
Didn't you just turn 19?

Children are NOT "pretty much medical sociopaths until around 5 or 6" and if you really think so, I'd like to know if there is ANY evidence to support this.

I've never seen a dog scalp anything. Other than vampires and rattlesnakes, there isn't much that leaves 2 distinct puncture wounds. Most vampires are too kind to kill kittys and most rattlesnakes, this I know from personal experience, have a tough time holding the blade necessary to scalp their victims.

Putting sugar on something that has an unpleasant taste does not change the cause, the root, the source of that taste, it just masks it. It may taste sweet, but it's still crap.
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I present to you a list of sociopathic traits.
  • Aggressive behavior
  • Impulsive nature
  • Irresponsibility
  • Poor behavioral self control
  • Inability to maintain relations with peers
  • Speech and language problems
  • Inappropriately demanding
  • Destructive nature
  • Argumentative and bossy
  • Learning problems
  • Manipulative
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Tell me how many of those you recognize in children you've met and your own childhood. This is not a matter of debate, it's simply beyond difficult for children to think beyond themselves and their own gains until they reach a certain age. How many of you killed bugs without remorse as kids, before you learned to respect life? One of my worst and youngest memories is of cutting off my cat's whiskers because I thought they have to be trimmed, like hair. Maybe you're seeing kids through "my child is perfect" goggles, or maybe you've never spent a decent amount of time around them, but they simply don't have any concept of right and wrong for a while.

By the way, I'm not entirely sure what my age has to do with this, but if you all are so desperate to fling it at me (despite the fact that I speak on the same grammatical level as you, and compose my thoughts in an understandable manner unlike some other posters within my age range) you could at least get it right.
 
Teddy Roosevelt said:
I present to you a list of sociopathic traits.

Tell me how many of those you recognize in children you've met and your own childhood. This is not a matter of debate, it's simply beyond difficult for children to think beyond themselves and their own gains until they reach a certain age. How many of you killed bugs without remorse as kids, before you learned to respect life? One of my worst and youngest memories is of cutting off my cat's whiskers because I thought they have to be trimmed, like hair. Maybe you're seeing kids through "my child is perfect" goggles, or maybe you've never spent a decent amount of time around them, but they simply don't have any concept of right and wrong for a while.

By the way, I'm not entirely sure what my age has to do with this, but if you all are so desperate to fling it at me (despite the fact that I speak on the same grammatical level as you, and compose my thoughts in an understandable manner unlike some other posters within my age range) you could at least get it right.
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Sigh.

Never mind. You obviously know far more than I do.
 
Teddy Roosevelt said:
One of my worst and youngest memories is of cutting off my cat's whiskers because I thought they have to be trimmed, like hair.
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Actually, Lexie, THAT does not sound terribly sociopathic. Mistaken, yes, but not because you simply didn't care about your cat, or didn't care about right and wrong, but because you simply didn't have facts & didn't know you didn't have them. And although I am sure it was upsetting for the cat, cats shed their vibrissae, so in due time your cat shed the trimmed ones & replaced them. No permanent harm done.

This is NOT like pulling legs off bugs, or hurting the cat because it simply doesn't seem wrong to you, which I agree, kids do.

I disagree with you, however, that young children are sociopaths. The diagnosis of sociopath can only be applied to someone who is old enough to behave differently than that, does not have brain damage (from trauma or cerebral palsy or mental retardation) that prevents them from exhibiting normal behavior for age, etc. Want the DSMIV:

A. There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

(1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
(2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
(3) impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
(4) irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults
(5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others
(6) consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
(7) lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another

B. The individual is at least age 18 years.

C. There is evidence of Conduct Disorder with onset before age 15 years.

D. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia or a Manic Episode.
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Bold added by me. Kids "look like" sociopaths at certain points for developmental reasons, but normal children develop the ability to recognize right & wrong & exhibit remorse when they do wrong.
 
wstphal said:
Actually, Lexie, THAT does not sound terribly sociopathic. Mistaken, yes, but not because you simply didn't care about your cat, or didn't care about right and wrong, but because you simply didn't have facts & didn't know you didn't have them. And although I am sure it was upsetting for the cat, cats shed their vibrissae, so in due time your cat shed the trimmed ones & replaced them. No permanent harm done.

This is NOT like pulling legs off bugs, or hurting the cat because it simply doesn't seem wrong to you, which I agree, kids do.

I disagree with you, however, that young children are sociopaths. The diagnosis of sociopath can only be applied to someone who is old enough to behave differently than that, does not have brain damage (from trauma or cerebral palsy or mental retardation) that prevents them from exhibiting normal behavior for age, etc. Want the DSMIV:



Bold added by me. Kids "look like" sociopaths at certain points for developmental reasons, but normal children develop the ability to recognize right & wrong & exhibit remorse when they do wrong.
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And that's the only point I made.
 
If you are thinking the weasel family it could be a fisher. They are both powerful enough and large enough to kill something the size of a cat. Theres one that moved into my neighborhood a few years ago (a decently populated city too!). When it first moved in my brother unluckily ran into and it wasn't friendly. The next week it took our pet rabbits, all five of them. Since then its been spotted a lot by people around the neighborhood, including our neighbors who saw it stalking a stray cat and threw rocks at it inorder to scare it off. My mother said she saw it the other day in our backyard running down a log in the woods so hes still around.
 
I would have said a fisher, but I would expect it to eat it. The round wounds 2" apart don't jive with a fisher either. I would expect most wild animals to eat what they kill. A dog probably wouldn't though.
 
I had them put out some live traps, see if maybe they can catch whatever it is. May be plausible, but since they haven't noticed any other cats disappearing or showing up dead since the day I posted, it may have moved on or moved on to non-cat prey.

Again, thank you everyone for your input. I guess now we'll wait and see what happens next.
 
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