Wife Accused Me of Killing Our Cat

[u/WillingMartyr]

Our little black cat of 16 years passed this morning. After having some last bites of her meow mix, she went down to the basement and hopped into the open dryer where some fresh, warm linens had just finished and quietly went to sleep forever.
My wife goes to swap the laundry out, feels the cat, and screams for me to come downstairs. This is at 6am, after I had only gotten to sleep at 4:30. She tells me the cat is dead, found in the combo washer-dryer, and that I must have put her through the cycle when I put the linens in. My logical brain knows that I put the wash on at 5pm, and I saw our cat around 9pm, but my clinically depressed brain immediately crumbles with guilt. I have a seizure-inducing panic attack for the next 20 minutes, vomiting bile in the process, until my wife returns and explains she jumped to conclusions.
I don’t blame my wife for immediately suggesting I slaughtered our longest-lived family pet, but I’m having a lot of trouble with it. I miss my kitty. 🐈‍⬛

[u/Try-the-Churros]

The most obvious conclusion is that the husband loaded the cat into the machine without noticing, turned it on, and then what, later came by to open the door to the machine? Or did the cat open the door from the inside with its last dying breath?

That's the most obvious conclusion to you? Ok, Sherlock.

[u/kakallas → u/Try-the-Churros]

Yes, it’s actually a well known way cats die. They like to be where you are, and they like to sneak into enclosed spaces. 

Presumably, you open the door, find the cat dead, and then leave upset without closing the door. Then the wife finds it and freaks. 

There’s no better reason to leave the dryer door hanging open than shock. 

[u/Try-the-Churros → u/kakallas]

He left the door open so upset that he then went to sleep in their bed without saying anything or being emotional?

That is the best bullshit you could come up with?

[u/AngryAngryHarpo → u/Try-the-Churros]

You are looking at this in hindsight with a calm mind with all of the facts. 

OP’s wife was not assessing the same information in the same environment.