Missing Mylo
I hope by publishing Jackie's words, her family can move towards finding closure after the death of their cat, Mylo.
Earlier this month we were told our family cat, Nelly, would not be coming home from the vet with us. My daughter had taken Nelly in because, “Nelly wasn’t herself.” She was lethargic and hadn’t been eating. And, we all knew Nelly, who was nearly 20 years old, had kidney issues that come with an aging cat.
As we sat in a room designated for such occasions, my daughter and I phoned her siblings. Two were able to join us including a daughter whose supervisor immediately instructed a co-worker to drive her from Niagara to our vet in Oakville.
Two hours later, the four of us were saying our goodbyes and petting Nelly as she left this world.
I know not everyone is able to be present when their pet passes away and that can make moving forward even harder. That’s why this last column for the year was written by my neighbour, Jackie Bell.
I hope by publishing Jackie’s words, her family can move towards finding closure after the death of their much loved cat, Mylo.
Mylo was never without his signature red bow tie collar Credit: Facebook
We are a cat loving family. Over the years we have loved Midnight (20 years), Coco (15 years), Dally (13 years) and Mylo (4 years). Mylo was extra special because he was the son of my daughter’s cat, Crush.
With the exception of Mylo, our family was able to say goodbye and have our cats interned in urns.
On Saturday, October 19, Mylo did not come home. Several neighbours spotted Mylo in the neighbourhood that morning. Then, nothing.
My family put posters up throughout the neighbourhood and my husband and granddaughter went door to door asking folks if they had seen Mylo. Most were more than happy to take our contact information in case they spotted our beloved cat.
Then, I got a phone call telling me a neighbour had a picture of a cat. It turned out to be Mylo floating in an uncovered above ground pool. The photo was dated Saturday, October 19 at 11:33 am.
Accidents like this do happen. However, there is only one house in the Walker’s Glen neighbourhood with an above ground pool and the owner of the house had assured my husband and granddaughter that no one in the house had seen Mylo.
A day later, another family member went back to the same house and told the young woman who answered the door that we had a tip Mylo was seen on their property. When she denied Mylo had been in their yard she was shaking and looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Mylo’s death has hit my four-generation family really hard especially because six family members have died in the past six months. Mylo is the seventh death.
It’s also hard because the pool where Mylo died has such a contentious history. When the pool was originally installed, only two sides of the yard were fenced and there were no gates. When the pool began to shift on its gravel base, a concerned neighbour called the city only to be told there was no pool at that address.
Turns out not only was there no permit for the pool, the yard was not big enough for an above ground pool unless the pool was partially submerged creating enough clearance between the pool and property line.
The owner of the home did dig a hole and then left it sitting for a season or two still without full fencing and gates. Needless to say, the hole filled with water and posed a hazard to children and pets.
The city did inspect the pool once it was submerged and the missing gates and fencing installed. However, Burlington does not have a by-law enforcing the use of pool covers and this pool owner chooses not to cover their pool. Which is really ironic, because Mylo lived next door to an in-ground pool that was routinely covered for his entire short life.
I’m also disappointed that when Burlington Animal Control was contacted on that fateful Saturday morning, they refused to collect Mylo’s body until either the person making the call or the folks with the pool paid the $62.46 fee for body retrieval.
Had Burlington Animal Control retrieved Mylo’s body they could have scanned his chip, found us and we would have been able to say goodbye.
We will never know how Mylo ended up in the partially drained uncovered pool, but it’s really hurtful to think that Mylo’s remains are in the city dump and the folks who put him there cannot admit that they should have done more than lie to us.
Thank you for making the time to read today’s article. With your continued support, a little Nicoll can make a lot of change!