...did the Coyote have a stick of dynamite with ACME written on the side, by any chance?

No such luck. Then the cat could have simply dropped an anvil on him.

Wait. Whuh? There are coyotes in the DC area?

Yes. They've been sighted as close in as Falls Church, VA, where a coyote approached a person walking a small dog. The person scared the coyote away.

In a recent radio news story I heard, animal control experts were recommending that pets under 35 pounds not be left outside without direct supervision. Coyotes can run in excess of 40 mph and jump 8 foot fences.

That's ... incredibly freaky. I think I'd just assumed that coyotes were only in the southwest.

That's ... incredibly freaky. I think I'd just assumed that coyotes were only in the southwest.

I've read that their range covers the entire US now.

One walked into a restaurant in downtown Chicago last summer.

Aw, who's a cute widdle predator: [link]

My cat Bogey, was an indoor cat until we moved to this quite, residential neighborhood. Then I started letting him out once in a while--we have a six-foot privacy fence around the backyard. But there was a craxy cat lady down the street with a million cats that had the run of the place (her back door was always propped open and there were always at least three cats on her stoop). I suspect she had more than she could get adequate veterinary care for and Bogey would sometimes get into disagreements with these cats.

I suspect to this day that he picked up his feline leukemia from one of those cats. He didn't have it when we moved in because we had him tested for it yearly. After he started going out, he was infected and it was too late to do anything about it when we found out he had it.

Ozwald only goes out into the backyard when we're out. He doesn't seem interested in scaling the fence at all so I'm less worried. Also, craxy cat lady was evicted two years ago.

Deena, how did your babies get to be KIDS??? Oh, so adorable ones at that!

Glucose tablets work well

Yeah, but so do Tootsie Rolls, Caramels and any other easy-to-store sugary chewy candies, without the high cost of the glucose tablets.

Glucose tablets are one hell of a moneymaking scheme. "lets sell sugar to diabetics!"

Hard candies that can be crunched to speed the delivery like the lifesavers Hil mentioned work too. I have a tube of stark lozenges in my glove box. They'll keep for years...

I have learned my lesson. I Will Not Skip Meals.

OK. Now, I'm off to get dressed and go get some boring healthy regulate-blood-sugar food. Oatmeal, probably. I'm craving a blueberry scone, but I'm aware that that would be a Bad Idea. And I've got lunch plans -- Indian buffet with some friends -- so that's two meals taken care of. Which, really, is two more than I had yesterday, since lunch was half an apple and a bit of cheese.

I know not to skip meals. I'm smarter than that. And yet, if I'm not particularly hungry at the time when the meal is generally eaten, it kind of slips my mind until I'm about to faint. Need to work on that.

Deena, Kara and Aidan are adorable ... and getting so big! I can see her as a pirate queen (princess for the moment). They looked like they were having so much fun.

Kristin and ND, sorry the craxy cat rescue people turned you down. I know indoor cats have longer, healthier lives ... but a little outdoor time is good for them (good for people, too!), especially if supervised. My sister would let her late kitty out for supervised playtime - she was elderly, overweight, declawed, down to two teeth and one eye - and managed to live to a ripe old age.

Hil, glad you had something to get your blood sugar up. And, yes, there are coyotes in the area - not in your neighborhood (yet), but they've moved in. And there have been a bunch of bear sightings in the 'burbs. I once saw a possum outside my building. The eagle sounds ... unnerving for early in the morning.

On the North Shore in MA, coyotes attacked the lamb flock on the farm we go to. Suki the guard dog was put to the task; she killed the coyote who just killed a lamb.

We got our lamb shares shortly after that.