AIBU to think neighbours should have warned me about their dog?

[CaraMP01]

My cat has been killed by a neighbour's dog in their garden. We are a row of 11 houses and the cat roames, helping to keep the rodent population down and generally being sweet and lovely. They've had the dog for 2 months..it's a lurcher and has a high prey drive. They are infirm and fairly elderly. The dog needs massive amounts of exercise and although it has a sizeable garden ( 50ft ) I think they struggle to exercise it sufficiently. AIBU for thinking that they ought to have warned me, and I could have made an informed decision about letting her out, and getting such a dog, knowing that there are lovely neighbourhood cats around that may be seen as prey?.. i am very upset..

Lurchers have a very high prey instinct. Your neighbours must have known this and should have warned all neighbours incase they had cats.

Why? I bet the neighbours got a dog because they were fed up of cat shit in their flower beds.

Can we just get the rules clear? Cats are allowed anywhere and allowed to kill anything. Dog owners should let the neighbourhood know they have a dog and muzzle them in their own gardens in case a neighbouring cat fancies shitting there. Is that right?

I think it is a perfectly reasonable question to ask, particularly since the OP is grousing that her neighbours didn't afford her the courtesy of letting her know about their new pet. Sauce for the goose and all that.

I am sorry for your loss but I think this is the risk that you take when letting your cat roam. They may not even known that you had a cat.

There are a number of cats that roam into my garden. Honestly I have not a clue who they belong to and I honestly would not be going around knocking on doors to tell my neighbours that I got a dog.

Oh come off it, it was a mean and nasty comment not a genuine question!
and actually if you are on good terms with your neighbours and they know you have a cat I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say fyi we now have a dog just so you know. No-one in their right mind would expect someone to lock up or muzzle the dog to protect the cat as some people have suggested but a friendly heads up so an animal doesn’t get hurt and killed isn’t a lot to ask.
A lot of posters across mumsnet simply post arsehole, sarcastic comments on sensitive threads just to be spiteful and that poster was one of them.

No, it was a genuine question. Sorry that it came across as blunt.
Why do cat owners think other people want them in their gardens? I don't.

A risk you run with an outdoor cat, which is also terrible for native birds, mice, Shrews, voles etc..
Very sad for you and your cat but your neighbours arent in the wrong

It wasn’t blunt it was just plain mean and you know it . Regardless of your feelings towards cats the OP is grieving as her cat was mauled to death - even if you hate cats beyond all words maybe next time don’t say anything at all if you can’t say something sympathetic and kind.

I felt that a dog such as a lurcher let out only in an albeit largish garden is not managing them. Many dogs need an awful lot of exercise. That often people are unable to do. My elderly neighbours have two dogs that they cannot manage. There is no recall, the dogs only go out into the garden. They don’t get enough exercise.

I'm sorry at the loss of your cat but most dogs can catch a cat if they wish.

Lurchers also don't need a high amount of exercise compared to many other breeds. They are built for speed not hours upon hours of running.

Unfortunately with a outdoor cat you have to accept the risks be it dogs, a road with traffic or them going wondering and disappearing.

Sorry about your cat. I have cats. So I know how you feel.
Unfortunately when cats are outdoor cats and they roam, this sort of thing can happen. Same as getting hit by a car etc.
My cats are house cats for this reason. They have access to the outside garden at the back with us on nice days. But its enclosed and we supervise them. A friend of mine had a catio in her garden for her cat.

I don’t think @YeOldeGreyhound’s comment was mean. If you want mean go on one of the (many) anti dog threads.

I love cats. I’d be devastated if my dog killed one in my garden. It wouldn’t be mine or my dogs fault but I’d have to live with it. Is that fair?

I will agree that there was a detectable underlying antipathy, but maintain that it was a valid question.

And a subsidiary, hypothetical question or two for you, and all the other cat people who seem to think that the OP deserved a heads-up that her neighbours now have a dog.

If you live next door to me and have a cat. Do you at the moment attempt to keep it out of my garden, so that it is not digging up my flowers, chasing away the birds I feed, shitting on my lawn? If not, why not?

And if, tomorrow, I tell.you I've now got a dog. What are you (you, not me) going to do to keep your cat safe from my dog? If there is anything you can do to keep your cat out of my garden tomorrow, WHY AREN'T YOU DOING IT TODAY?

My thoughts are also with the new dog owners, who had the.trauma of witnessing the cat getting mauled to death.

That’s horrible for the cat and for you. I’m sure if the dog wasn’t there and they’d complained your cat had pooed in their garden you would have attributed it to the nature of the cat. Cats aren’t very safe outside on their own.

Sorry for being blunt. That is part of my autism. I wish most people would get to the point and not add lots of fluff that just confuses the hell out of people.

It is awful that OPs cat was killed. But that is the risk you take when you have a free roaming cat.

I do not hate cats. I used to have them. If my neighbour gets a new cat, then should they have to tell me they are expecting their cat to shit in my garden? Because no one has ever told me they are getting a cat, and yet they come and shit in my garden. My dog would have ragged them if caught.

My beloved grey never mauled a cat, but she would have if she caught them.
It would have been awful for me to see. I am not sure how I would have dealt with it if it had happened.

I didn’t read it that they never walk the dog and only let it out in the garden though. Just that the op has decided to over egg the whole saga and wants to. imply that the neighbours have a dangerous dog that isn’t being looked after. It’s also massively irrelevant to what happened. A well exercised and trained lurcher is still highly likely to kill a cat if he gets a chance.

To give you the other side of this. A cat came into our house through a open back door a few weeks ago. My high prey drive dog went after it, got it and killed it pretty immediately. It was a neighbours cat. I felt terrible and ive been upset over it for a few weeks. However there was nothing I can do. Cats generally avoid the garden and any that dont learn pretty quickly. Im not going to muzzle my dog in his own garden. He is muzzled on walks.

I would imagine your neighbours feel awful but unfortunately they dont need to tell you they have a dog or a high Prey dog.

I am sorry for your loss though.

That is awful.

I know if that was me, my neighbours would be having a witch hunt and make my life hell.

What would you have done if they had warned you about their dog? Chances are, unless you kept it indoors, it would have gone into the garden and the end result would have been the same.

by the way, lurchers are generally a very lazy breed and don’t need a shed load of exercise (they are half greyhound). But do have a high prey drive, as a lot of breeds do, and even a very well trained dog would have gone after a cat in their own back garden unless they’ve grown up with cats.

It has been there two months. How much mire warning do you think would gave made a difference?

Neither you, the neighbours, the dog or the cat are at fault. This is an occurrence with no blame in any direction.

Nature is red in tooth and claw.