Beware of bedframes and mattresses

[klunick]

Coworker came in and said his daughter called him last night in a panic because she found her newly adopted 11 year old cat dead. Not sure if it suffocated or had a heart attack due to panic but it died with its eyes and mouth wide open like it had been screaming. Said it got its body stuck between the mattress and bedframe and couldn't get itself out. Daughter is devastated and vows to never get another animal again.

I can't imagine finding that and thinking how scared that cat must have been and how long it suffered like that until it finally died. Check your mattress and bedframe to make sure there is either no room for your cats to do this or there is enough room for the cat to easily squeeze itself down to the floor. I am thankful that I only have a headboard and there is no way for either cat to get itself between it and the mattress. I will have to check on the side tables though to make sure they are far enough from the mattress that they won't cause a problem.

 

[tyleete]

I'm trying to picture thief and how it could possibly kill a cat, but just can't. Thankfully I sleep Japanese style. Large/thick mattress, but no frame and no frame. Just sits directly on the floor.
Thanks for the tip though. Perhaps it can save a life.

 

[Cat McCannon]

I am so sorry to hear this tragic news. It must have been terrifying for the cat and devastating for the daughter. My heart goes out to her.

It is well to heed your warning. This is one reason I strongly advise closing off unders & behinds. We don’t want our cats getting into someplace they can’t get out of or we can’t easily get to them.

 

[Kflowers]

I can picture this. We've kept the mattresses on the floor for decades to keep the cats from fighting under them and hiding when we need them in a hurry. This makes me even more glad that we've done this.

Thanks for posting.

 

[catsknowme]

Please extend our condolences to that traumatized family. The poor cat is no longer suffering but that poor girl will have that horrific scene seared into her mind and her heart must be doubly broken because she thought that she was giving an older cat a good chance for happy golden years. She probably could use PTSD counseling. It was a freak accident but things like that really haunt a person. I have been first on-scene at some awful nighttime car accidents & death is gruesome.

 

[Jewely]

I’m so sorry that happened to your friend’s cat. Please let them know the facial expression he had was not from screaming, but the natural death process. The muscles relax at death causing the eyes to look very big, and very often the jaw will also relax causing it to open, and then rigor mortis sets in and it it’s unnerving to find a loved one in that state. He most likely was stuck, or could have had a heart attack.