[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by su2009

Thank you for your kind words. My experience with seeing coyotes on this golf course twice - once before I lost Teo, and once after - should have forewarned me of trouble to come, and I regret terribly that I did not perceive the danger.

I saw three coyotes, one large and two slightly smaller, walk down the golf course, about forty feet in from the boundary of the course, at about 8 p.m. on November 14, 2014, two months before I lost Teo. Unfortunately, I did not realize those coyotes might be a threat to a cat on a screened-in room, and after Teo disappeared January, I felt it was due to my fault in not checking to make sure the screen door had been tightly latched before I went to bed.

On August 3, 2015, about 1 p.m., my neighbor two houses up called to let me know that a coyote was making its way down the back yards of the houses on the golf course side of Bramble Terrace. As we spoke, the coyote arrived in our back yard. From the body shape, it looked like it might be a young female, as it was slender and not very heavily muscled. This coyote came up onto our patio in the daylight, stared briefly into our lanai, then moved off and sniffed carefully through the bushes in the back and next to the side of our house before moving down to the bushes in back of the house next door. It was drizzling, but coyotes have a very oily coat and she did not look even slightly wet – her ears were up and her bushy tail was full and not bedraggled at all. I called for my husband and he walked over and stared out the window at her, but she either did not see him or did not care. After a few minutes, she then left and went further down the golf course. Then she went between the sides of two houses, and I lost sight of her.

While standing on our patio, that coyote did not paw at the screen or latch or make any other effort to get into our lanai, and again, even though I had already lost Teo by then, I failed to perceive that there might be a danger to a cat on the lanai if the door was latched and all screens intact. That's the reason I wanted to let other pet owners know what just happened. It's too late for me, but at least others might have a better chance of keeping their beloved pets safe. If I'd read about animals tearing big holes in lanais to get at cats, I never would have let either cat go on the lanai without me.

I don't think you can fault yourself for not making a connection between seeing a coyote in November, and a potential danger to kitty on a screened in lanai in January. As an attorney, you would object "Assumes facts not in evidence"
We have/had a 16 year old black cat that has never left our yard all her life (about an acre of property) She loved being outside except when there was 5 feet of snow on the ground. She disappeared about 10 days ago, no idea of how or where. I searched the entire property and house, even the gutter of the road in case she was hit by a motorist with no sense of morality, but nothing. She has identification on her collar, but with Halloween approaching, you never know if someone wanted a black cat. I saw a red fox in our backyard about 6 months ago, but I never would have kept her inside just because I saw one, I think the situation is similar to yours. I'd like to keep hoping she'll come back, but that hope is fading. So you see I am sincerely in my sorrow for your loss