Liz,
Do you know the little boy did this out of spite? Knowing cats and how they are around garage doors, Shizu could easily have tried to dart out of the garage at the last moment as the door was coming down and not made it through in time. Garage doors have sensors to go up if it hits something, but it has to hit something like a car bumper or board or something that can take a certain amount of pressure before it goes back up. Newer doors have an electric eye to reverse the door if something small passes through the beam, but in my door's case, we rigged the eye so that the two sensors are next to each other on the mechanism itself (because we didn't have small children or animals that would be likely to be in the garage when the door was closed.
Although Shizu's situation sickens me too, I honestly believe it was an accident and not a deliberate act. Even the most attentive mothers have to rely on their children doing what they're told to do at some point. The children need them to do that so they can continue to grow and mature instead of winding up in high school and never being given the opportunity to take on a responsibility. What happened to Shizu will stay with the little boy for life - maybe even more so than with the Mom and other siblings. He's going to know that the kitten died because he wasn't careful enough or got outright careless. He was young and probably didn't expect her to try to run out at the last second. Hopefully, they learned to keep future cats inside when not on a leash or in a cat safe enclosure so this will never happen again.
I had a friend who ran over her cat several years ago. She adored the cat but had forgotten (in the haste of the moment of needing to run out for something suddenly - for a medical emergency if I remember right) that she'd let her cat go outside to play, and didn't see him sleeping behind one of the passenger side wheels of the car. She approached the car quickly from the driver's side, fired it up and took off - unfortunately the cat was one who was always slow to wake up if he was in a sound sleep (he'd raise his head, think about where he was and what woke him up for a minute or two, then get up and move). She took off so fast, he didn't have time to get out of the way. It was a tragic accident, but in no way a reflection on her love (or lack of concern) for the cat. She forgot he was outside. Even if she hadn't forgotten, he was young and healthy and she would've assumed he was hanging out in the bushes around the house so! mewhere. The cat she has now never goes outside without my friend being at the end of a 6 foot leash because of that accident. She still has flashbacks to that horrible day and has never fully forgiven herself. I suspect that the boy and his mom will have a similar reaction about Shizu's passing.
Try not to assume everyone who has something tragic happen had it happen because someone was being mean or cruel. Assumptions like that do nothing but alienate the person the accident happened to and eats you alive inside. Accidents can, and do, happen. Even to the best and most responsible guardians.
Kathy
Where there's life there's hope.
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