This is totally bizarre. Still can't believe it.

[trof]

I've written before about our "next-door-dog" Lucy.
She was an affectionate little Beagle and hung out with us almost as much as she did with her owners next door.

She disappeared about 2 months ago.
The whole neighborhood searched high and low.
Ads placed in newspapers, etc.
No Lucy.
We missed her and it saddened us all.

Yesterday she was found.
Her decomposed remains were in an unoccupied house in the neighborhood.
The house belongs to snowbirds who usually come down after the New Year.
A neighbor stopped in to turn the heat/refrigerator/water heater/etc. on in anticipation of their arrival in a few days.
She said the odor almost knocked her down when she opened the front door. She found Lucy's remains in the master bedroom.

We have no idea how she got shut up in the house. To our knowledge no one has been in the place since Thanksgiving.
There are scratch and gouge marks around the front door trim.
What a horrible way to go.
Poor Lucy.
:-(

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Oh, that poor little dog. What a horrible way to die.

:cry:

[Inchworm]

2. Oh my

:(

:cry:

[ThomCat]

3. That's horrible. :(

How could she be in a house and none of them knew?

[trof]

11. That's what we can't figure out.

No one has been in the house since Thanksgiving.
Empty. Locked up.
Lucy went missing after that.
Got no idea how she got in.
Total mystery.

[blueraven95]

4. ...

:cry:


:hug:

[DS1]

5. bastards

[Blue Diadem]

6. That poor baby

:cry:

[Kali]

7. poor thing

I can't remember the details but my sister had a cat hanging around her place for a while that she was positive had been locked up in a house or shed or something in the neighborhood for at least two weeks - it was skinny as hell but she got it feeling better and it eventually wandered off, hopefully not to get shut in somewhere by accident again.

[lost-in-nj]

8. oh the poor thing

:cry:

I am sorry about Lucy.....



lost

[BeachBaby]

9. Jesus. I'm so sorry.

:( :cry: :hug:

[LeftyFingerPop]

10. Heartbreaking. I'm so sorry.

[underpants]

12. Wandered in when they were packing the car to leave?

Damn that sucks

[applegrove]

13. Poor dog.

[haele]

14. I had that happen once to me -

A stray cat was apparently got into my garage/storage shed looking for a good ratting location and had gotten herself locked in. (There were often mice in the neighborhood, and I was stuck storing furniture and boxes for a roommate who was out of state for a year taking care of her mom)
For two months, I thought there was something in there; little noises when I was doing laundry or getting something from the work bench or going through boxes, a hint of movement...
After a week of thinking there was something larger than a mouse there, I got in the habit of leaving the laundry door entry to the back yard for a couple hours in the evening after I'd do laundry twice a week, just to see if whatever it was would leave. After another week or two, I didn't hear anything, but I kept leaving the door open just in case.
It was hot, close to the middle of summer, and I took one week off for a once in a decade real vacation, so I left with a neighbor coming by to feed and care for my critters while I was gone. I told him to keep an eye on the garage for anything unusual inside, because I still had this feeling something was there.

When I came back, it was heartbreaking - there by the laundry door where it was cool and there was a deepsink, was an extremely skinny and dehydrated, dying cat who could only struggle to hide somewhere when I opened the door. I managed to get her in a box with some pedialite and some tuna water to try and calm her down before I took her to the emergancy vet. She was too far gone to help; the vet thought she had been starving for at least a month. I think she just too scared and couldn't convince herself to show herself or get out even when I was leaving the door open. She had hid herself so well, I could be in the garage for an hour and not know she was there. And I had a fish-pond and lots of nice bushes and high, protected planting beds to hide in in the back as well as I always left food out for the strays in the back - why wouldn't she go out and be comfortable there?

:cry:

Haele

[sammythecat]

15. "Oh, what a wonderful world."

When I started reading your post I thought there was going to be a happy ending. Stories like this depress me. I'll do my best to forget about it.

I'm not one who believes everything happens for a reason and that there is any kind of lesson to be learned here that is worth the price. If there is any plan for this world it is utterly indifferent to the pain and suffering of the creatures that inhabit this world. I always try to avoid stories like this, but I was off my guard.

Poor girl. That's so sad. My condolences to you and Lucy's family and friends.

[Haole Girl]

16. Didn't the dog bark?

Seems like someone should have heard barking. :shrug:

How sad... and, yes, what a horrible way to go. :-(

[trof]

20. It was sort of a 'perfect storm'.

The house one one side also belongs to snowbirds who are rarely here.
The couple who live on the other side were out of town on business for several weeks. They have a debris clean up business and are in Galveston cleaning up from Hurricane Gus.

If there had been anyone home in either house they might have heard her barking.

[Haole Girl]

24. Thanks, that explains it

Poor doggy. :-(

[MajorChode]

17. Dogs don't have opposable thumbs

Someone had to let her in and trap her.

It calls into question why the owners let her roam free. Bad things happen to dogs that aren't leashed and fenced.

[Shakespeare]

18. Do you know that she wasn't fenced and leashed?

That's a bit of a presumption. Beagles are notorious for escaping and roaming.

[trof]

23. Lucy was an escape artist.

She had a fenced yard, but that never held her for more than a couple of hours.

[trof]

22. I'm sure no one did it on purpose. Your second comment is true.

In our house, Lucy's favorite place was under our bed.
Our neighbors first found her running hell-for-leather down the road in a thunderstorm.
She was terrified of thunderstorms.
They made a good faith effort to locate her owner, but to no avail so they kept her. They have two little girls who adored her and she returned the love.
Very protective of them.

She had obviously been abused by her former owner too.
She would cower when you first tried to pet her and sometimes suffered involuntary urination if you verbally chastised her for something.
We soon learned NOT to do that.

Yes, we have a leash law, but the neighborhood gave Lucy a pass. She was kind of everybody's dog. Never a problem, never caused any trouble.

[MajorChode]

25. One of my dogs was abused and would do the same thing

You didn't have to even chastise her. All you had to do was just walk up to her. After many years she finally stopped the involuntary urination, but she is still very submissive.

It's not necessarily owner abuse that causes it. If they are in a pack of dogs and frequently get jumped on, the same thing can happen.

[BurtWorm]

19. That's too horrible to contemplate.

Poor thing.

:cry:

[trof]

26. I keep thinking about being buried alive.

Sends shivers down my spine.

[driver8]

21. Oh, No -- that is horrible!

Poor little girl...

This really sucks -- I'm so, so sorry! :hug:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

27. Poor baby.

:cry: :(

trof :hug:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

28. My deepest and sincerest thoughts, prayers, condolences and sympathies

To all involved:hug: I'm so, so very sorry. That poor dog:cry:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. How sad for the poor dog...

I wonder if she got inside when the Thanksgiving occupants were getting ready to go.

We had a neighbor's cat who ran in our house once when we were packing to go on vacation years ago, when I was a kid. My dad got on the floor to get his slippers from under the bed, and saw the cat. If he hadn't, she would have been there for a couple of weeks.