Martha Stewart shares heartbreak after her beloved cat Princess Peony is accidentally killed by her four dogs

Martha Stewart is mourning the death of one of her cats after she says it was mistaken for an “interloper” by her four pet dogs.

The 80-year-old TV star and lifestyle entrepreneur shared via Instagram Sunday that her 12-year-old calico Persian cat, Princess Peony, was attacked by her own dogs.

The image, which shows three men digging up a makeshift grave for one of her many beloved cats, was captioned with the note: “​​Burying the beautiful and unusual Princess Peony. the four dogs mistook her for an interloper and killed her defenseless little self. i will miss her very badly . RIP beauty.”

It was almost a year ago that the animal enthusiast went on the Today Show to share how her pets, including the late Princess Peony, had played a large role in maintaining her mental health through the years, particularly so during the pandemic.

“I have not suffered depression … I have not gotten angry or mean. I’ve had a rather productive year,” Ms Stewart told the NBC morning program last March.

“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.”

Later in the day, Ms Stewart posted another picture to Instagram confirming the identity of the laid to rest cat, noting that “this was the Princess Peony”.

Ms Stewart, famous for the Noah’s Ark of pets that she keeps at her 153-acre farm in Bedford, New York, said last year in the same interview with the Today Show that Princess Peony was one of her three current cats (cut down from nine, which at the time she admitted was “too much”).

The late calico Persian cat was the sister to Empress Tang, who at the time the lifestyle brand entrepreneur described as “gorgeous” and “very special”.

The third cat, a greenhouse boy named Blackie, was described by Ms Stewart as being more intense than the pair of sisters, noting that “he is a hunter” and “actually kills varmints every single day”.

Though she doesn’t identify in the post which dogs were responsible for the death of her cat, as of 2020, Ms Stewart had four pet dogs, two french bulldogs, named Creme Brulee and Bete Noire, and two Chow Chows, named Emperor Han and Empress Qin.

Among the animals housed at Ms Stewart’s estate, she wrote that she’s played host to innumerable pets over the past 40 years, including: at least 20 cats, more than two dozen dogs, 10 chinchillas, canaries, parakeets, two ponies, three donkeys, 10 horses, sheep, goats, “hundreds of chickens, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, quail”, pigeons and, if you check out her Instagram, dozens of colourful peacocks have even called the upstate New York farmlands home throughout the years.