Martha Stewart is mourning the death of her cat, Princess Peony.
On Sunday, the TV personality shared the heartbreaking news that her pet had been killed by four of her dogs.
In an Instagram post featuring men digging a hole in the ground to prepare for her cat’s grave, Stewart, 80, wrote in the caption, “burying the beautiful and unusual Princess Peony.”
“The four dogs mistook her for an interloper and killed her defenseless little self,” she explained. “I will miss her very badly. RIP beauty.”
Stewart also posted a sweet picture of her cat to remember her furry friend, telling her followers, “This was the Princess Peony.”
According to her website, Princess Peony and her sister, Empress Tang, were born on May 11, 2009, and moved in with Stewart precisely four months later. Both cats are considered to be of the dominant calico Persian breed.
As a self-proclaimed animal lover, Stewart once claimed to own “at least 20 cats, 25 dogs, 10 chinchillas, scores of canaries and parakeets, two ponies, three donkeys, 10 horses, many sheep and goats, hundreds of chickens, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, quail, peacocks, and homing pigeons.”
Last year, during an interview with the TODAY show, she spoke about the most important members of her farm family, Peony, Tang, and her recent adoptee, Blackie. Stewart described the siblings as “gorgeous,” “very special,” and “players.”
During the pandemic, she shared that she turned to her animals for comfort.
“There are waiting lists for pets because people really did figure out that house pets are a great comfort, a great addition to the household,” Stewart said. “They are wonderful for your children to have a responsibility of taking some taking care of something else. All of that is, to me, just endemic in this pandemic. It’s a wonderful thing that pets have become more beloved.”
