[Chocaholic]

. . .an I feel like crap as a result. We had to calm down the kids, take it to the back of our property and bury the little fella. In a nut-shell:

We returned from vacation yesterday. My oldest son (13) and I were out in the garage, door opened, working on his RC airplane model. A small kitten came in and hung out with us during the evening. Sweet little thing....probably no more than 3 or 4 months old. Not even close to full grown. It seems our next door neighbor, an elderly couple with two other cats, found this one wandering the neighborhood and decided to care for it. They're the nicest people in the world and we have a great relationship with them.

Anyway, we have two golden retrievers, one is almost 15 years old, and the other one is 4 (a female stray that we took in about 3 years ago). Advance to today...

Lucy (the younger golden retreiver) is at the front door watching for the kitten. No biggie. A few hours later, my wife let her out in our fenced-in back yard to do whatever it is dogs do when you let them out. She lets the dog back in about 20 or 30 minutes later. Some time after that, I happen to look out the back window with my youngest son (8) and we see the kitten laying on our back deck inside the fenced yard. . .clearly not moving. We watch....nothing. I go out back and he is dead. Drying dog slobber all over its mid-section and the poor thing had apparently pooped in the closing moments of it's life....I'm sure it was absolutely terrorized.

Kids actually handled it pretty well, all things considered. I picked it up and carried out to the back of our lot and dug a hole. Wished it a restful sleep as I covered the little thing up. Ruined my day.

Fortunately, the neighbors were very nice about it and indicated that outdoor cats often meet such a demise. They were not mad or upset, but rather they urged us not to feel bad. We live in a rural area and it's not uncommon for the natural pecking order of things to display themselves. It just hurts since we played with the little fella last night and he was a sweet, playful and gentle little domestic kitten.

Such is life I guess.