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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Found a cat paw in the raised bed

98 replies

ExpectingToFly · 28/04/2020 22:29

So we moved into our house 17 months ago. We had the back garden completely returfed and two raised beds put in for vegetables etc. They are about 6ft x 3ft.
At the weekend I was digging in one of the beds and I thought I saw a cats paw sticking out. I only let myself look for a brief second as I felt so freaked out so I quickly put mud back on top. I then went to sort the kids out and sort of forgot about it.
I mentioned to my husband in the evening that I thought something weird was in the vegetable patch and could he check but he just laughed it off and even I thought it was probably just a branch or something...

Yesterday I wanted to plant some seeds in and remembered about the weird thing so asked my husband to check. Which he did.. he went really quiet and said it really was a cats paw. I felt so awful. How did it get there? Is it definitely a cat? Is it all of a cat? Who did it? It feels so sinister 😥
He did a bit more digging and said he found another paw but the kids were around so he stopped.
He rang the RSPCA but they couldn't do anything and said to contact local environmental health
Thry said to put it in a bag and they will collect it

I am too scared to dig it up and I think my husband is too. We just put a patio slab ontop for now
WTF is going on?! Do you think someone climbed over our fence and buried a cat? We live in a seaside town....I joked maybe s seagull had done it

OP posts:

JorisBonson · 28/04/2020 22:30

What area are you in OP?

JorisBonson · 28/04/2020 22:34

That doesn't sound right at all and I'm wondering if it should be reported to the organisation that's looking at the cat killer

Snowflakes1122 · 28/04/2020 22:36

Maybe there was an accident when you had your garden refurbished - Lots of earth being moved around and a curious cat that went unseen in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or the previous owner buried a cat there? Those are my two guesses.

user1473878824 · 28/04/2020 22:47

In the nicest possible way, what on earth did you expect the RSPCA to do about a dead cat?

tenlittlecygnets · 28/04/2020 22:50

Sounds like the previous owner buried their cat there...

I wouldn't worry about it.

UterusUterusGhali · 28/04/2020 22:52

I don’t know how long fur takes to decompose, but I’d guess buried pet that had been moved my the earthworks/moles or maybe an urban fox.

I assume the ground was not freshly dug when you were tending to it?

Dyrne · 28/04/2020 22:52

Is it actually in the new soil that you deposited yourself? Otherwise I’d just have assumed the previous owners buried their cat there.

Mummyshark2019 · 28/04/2020 22:53

But wouldn't the cats law have decomposed if it was the previous owners? I think it may be something more sinister. Sounds very strange indeed.

Smidge001 · 28/04/2020 22:53

Is it a skeleton or is it still furry?

Floofboopsnootandbork · 28/04/2020 22:53

Sounds like the previous owner buried their cat there

My first thought too

BestZebbie · 28/04/2020 22:53

Could it have either been already dead in the soil you had delivered to build the raised bed or as someone suggested, got buried as you tipped the soil in, having been hiding in the base of the bed from the reversing lorry?

ThrowingGoodAfterBad · 28/04/2020 22:55

So the beds were newly created, and so previous owner could definitely not have buried one there, is that right? Where did the soil for them come from?

JacobReesMogadishu · 28/04/2020 22:56

Was it from a freshly dead cat or skeletal?

Lasagnainmyhair · 28/04/2020 22:57

If you don’t think it’s been there long are you able to contact a vet to see if it’s chipped and has an owner?

EmmaC78 · 28/04/2020 22:58

For those saying the previous owner buried it there, it seems unlikely as the OP said in her post they had the garden done since they moved in and the raised beds were put in then.

Fluffybutter · 28/04/2020 22:58

Oh this is horrible :(

Lasagnainmyhair · 28/04/2020 22:59

I mean if it’s not already decomposed ofc. I’d hate the thought of my cat being missing and someone finding her buried in their garden and I’d never know.

LittleMissCantBeWrong2 · 28/04/2020 22:59

grim

Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese · 28/04/2020 22:59

So it has been found the paws the raised beds you've had put in since you moved in?
How long ago did you have them put in and in what state are the paws?

IAmReportingYouForBBQing · 28/04/2020 23:00

I buried a pet snake in our garden , it was as fat as a potato all the way around abs about 5ft abs 3-4 kg. 14 months later there was nothing left but skeleton.

This is bizarre. I understand your feeling unsettled by it all.

covetingthepreciousthings · 28/04/2020 23:03

This sounds really strange, I would think in 17 months the cat would be quite skeletal?

If it's not badly decomposed that makes it even more sinister.

Thurmanmurman · 28/04/2020 23:05

How did you forget about it. My first thought was buried pet from previous owner.

Samtsirch · 28/04/2020 23:05

Most gardens are full of dead pets buried by previous owners.
It is very probably nothing sinister.

EmmaC78 · 28/04/2020 23:07

They put the raised beds in when they moved though so how could a previous owner have buried it there?

SarahAndQuack · 28/04/2020 23:09

After 17 months, no, a cat wouldn't necessarily have decomposed that much. It depends on the soil around it, and what else it was buried in.

If you've dug down to below the level of the raised bed, you've probably dug into the grave of someone's pet.

If it's above the level of the raised beds, I'd wonder where the earth for them came from. Did you or the people who did the work re-use earth from elsewhere? If so, especially if they had any kind of earth-moving apparatus, the could easily have chunked up a kitty grave as they levelled out an unsightly mound of earth and reused it for your veg bed.

It is grim and I wouldn't fancy digging it up in a semi-decomposed state either.

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