Hi, I’m Miss Kittie.
I was a happy, healthy 10-year old tuxedo cat until my life was tragically cut short on Nov. 22, 2013, when I was crushed by a closing garage door.
It was a cold day. In the afternoon, my person-dad, Sam, and I went outside to the mailbox. When Papa Sam got back to the garage, he saw that I was still sniffing around in the yard. He hit the garage door closer and went on inside.
I decided that I wanted to go inside, too, so I ran as fast as I could to get back in before the door closed. I wish I had used my kittie door like I usually do, but I was running fast, and I thought I could squeeze under the door before it closed.
I didn’t make it, and the door started pushing down on me hard. Papa Sam doesn’t hear well and he must not have had his hearing aids in and didn’t hear me calling for help.
A little later, my next-door neighbor Donnie came over and found me. He tried very hard to revive me, but it was too late. He, his wife Diane, and Papa Sam were terribly upset. And all of them were shocked that the garage door did not come back up after it started hitting my body.
That’s why they are helping me tell my story. They want to be sure that everyone who had a garage door with a motorized opener gets it checked out to be sure the settings would prevent death or injury to small pets or children.
There are two things to check: the height of the reversing sensors/electric eyes and the downward force setting.
You can test your garage door with a roll of paper towels and see what happens. If the door keeps closing on the paper towels, then you need to get with a garage door opener company to send a technician to change your settings.
The downward force setting seems to most often be set on the highest force level. That can also be set lower; it might just take more time to fine-tune the setting so the door works properly.
Most reversing sensors are set higher than they need to be. It seems that installers usually put them 6 inches from the floor. They actually can be mounted as near the floor as possible. If the ones on our garage door had been lower, they might have sensed me trying to scamper under and caused the door to go back up.
My neighbors Donnie and Diane loved me just as much as they love their own four cats. So, in my memory, they have made a $1,000 contribution to the Snuggles Park Memorial Fund to Help Animals here at All Creatures. (See Nov. 21, 2013, blog post about Jasper the Dachshund for more information about the Snuggles Fund.)
Snuggles was a brave, old cat with what he went through for years, going to All Creatures twice a week for his fluids and shots. When Snuggles died, his family wanted to do something so that his death could bring about some good for other animals. By telling my story about the garage door, they want to be sure that at least my death might prevent deaths or injuries to other small pets and children.
I hope all your pets live long and healthy and that they love you as much as I loved my people!
Miss Kittie
