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Original poster

Neighbours dog killed cat :(

268 replies

spudholes · 02/05/2015 21:02

Our next door neighbour has a staffie dog. I was talking to her over the fence and a cat came into the garden and the dog flew at it and killed it Sad. I was very upset and neighbour said it was the cats fault for coming into her garden.

I have found out that the ower of said cat is away on holiday Sad Neighbour says she's not going to tell them what happened when they get back.

Should I tell them?

OP posts:
tabulahrasa · 03/05/2015 12:34

With a child...the dog owner, chasing a cat is understandable although unwanted prey drive behaviour, chasing a child isn't - that's something an owner absolutely should be training and managing for (if a dog had an issue)...and it's a lot easier to do as they should be exposed to people all the time in different situations just in normal day to day life.

Legally it's completely different as well. You're only legally not liable if your dog bites a person if that person is inside your home and was there with criminal intent.

Though I'd advise teaching children not to wander into strange gardens for all sorts of reasons, lol.

maninawomansworld · 03/05/2015 13:13

I think the owner should be informed if you know who it was - just out of courtesy and common decency.
I can see your NDN's point of view though. Shrugging shoulders and saying 'ah well stupid cat's fault' seems a bit of a harsh way to express it but it is essentially true. NDN may also be worried about cat's owners kicking up a fuss and trying to take some sort of action against her.

My dogs killed a cat in our garden (field) a while back. There wasn't much left to bury when they had finished with it so I just left it for the crows. I do agree that if you let a cat roam you should expect that something like that may happen one day. It's one of the main reasons I could never own a cat - I'd be too worried about it all the time!

Tiptops · 03/05/2015 13:32

Psipsina there's all kinds of ways around difficult gardens. Large trees can have Elizabethan collar type cat proofing attached to them so the cat can run so far up them but not high enough to climb up, over and out. Cat proofing can be attached above the gate on a wooden post, or a 'safety corridor' can be created using aviary panels. I can recommend protect a puss cat proofing - they can do a home visit to see what you need etc.

maninawomansworld Words fail me. It is beyond comprehension that after being mauled to death by your dogs, you left the poor cats remains to become bird food. Don't you think after such a brutal death the cat deserved a final bit of dignity? Did you tell the cats owners that you'd left the remains of their pet as bird food? Is it how you would treat the body of your dogs following a traumatic death? Sick, sick, sick.

DidoTheDodo · 03/05/2015 13:43

Here is my experience.
My cats have never caught or killed anything.
Next door's dog (who knows me quite well) bit me last year, the wounds taking more than 3 months to heal up.

Make of that what you like!

WeAllHaveWings · 03/05/2015 14:05

The loss of a pet in these circumstances is emotional, but the police, RSPCA etc will not be interested as the dog was under control as it was in its own garden. Dogs and cats chase prey, its in their nature and cant always be 100% trained out, neither know if that prey is wild or a beloved pet. A dog that chased a cat wont necessarily chase a child; a cat that attacks a rabbit wont necessarily attack a baby. Owning a free roaming cat comes with risks. It was an unfortunate accident.

The only issue really is NDN knowing who the cat owners are and not having the decency to inform them/keeping the body for them.

D0oinMeCleanin · 03/05/2015 14:14

Oh goody. Lots of sensible posts regarding a staffy.

I agree the dog is a danger to children and should be poisoned in a way which will cause it a long and agonising death.

It's a real shame that dogs cannot distinguish children and prey isn't it? If only we could find a way to make children look less like prey. Perhaps we could shave them, bathe them and make them walk on two legs?

It might be easier to tell them apart from cats that way. I can't tell you the number of times I've given the cat fish fingers and the children Go Cat.

RedXan · 03/05/2015 15:38

A dog who is dog aggressive is not necessarily cat/small animal aggressive.

Nor is a dog who is cat/small aggressive necessarily person/child aggressive.

The motive behind these aggressions is entirely different, dogs are very capable of knowing that a child is a human and not a dog/other animal. Dogs respond positively to humans from birth and most breeds gravitate more towards humans than their own species. There is nothing to suggest a dog who would kill a cat would be anything but a loving, sweet tempered pet to people and great with other dogs.

Prosecuting the owner of a dog, that in it's own yard, killed a trespassing cat is the same as prosecuting the owner of a cat that killed a wild mouse.

I have both dogs and a cat, my cat doesn't go out and whilst my (person/dog friendly) dogs love her, they will yap at unknown cats. Though they don't chase them. And these are big 'scary' dogs. Clearly menaces on the cusp of killing.

It's a bit Hmm to think that dogs should be above each and every one of their own basic urges, whilst cats can go about killing at will.

alibubbles · 03/05/2015 16:15

I haven't read the whole thread, but I lost my beloved Burmese girl to a dog four weeks ago, and her feline sister is bereft as are we. It is the second cat we have lost to dogs, the last one was 8 months old and the dogs entered the garden over a 6 ft fence with him and were whistled back, covered in blood. Someone knew what had happened.

I would want my cat back, no matter what state she was in, I got my cat back from the person who found her, all packed up in a box, but the vet wouldn't let me see her or stroke her.

Please tell the owner, they'd rather know than not know what happened to their cat.

Sparklingbrook · 03/05/2015 16:53

ali I wouldn't read the thread if I were you. I am really sorry to hear what happened to your cats. Flowers

GentlyBenevolent · 03/05/2015 17:01

Does anyone genuinely believe that to not inform the cat's owners is not disgusting behaviour???

D0oinMeCleanin · 03/05/2015 17:05

Of course the owner should be informed and the neighbour is being unreasonable in that respect but the posts suggesting that the dog is danger to children or people and should be destroyed are equally unreasonable.

The dog was being a dog. The neighbour is a twat, but that is not the dog's fault.

lostindubai · 03/05/2015 17:46

Awful behaviour by the dog owner to keep quiet about this. As a pet owner he/she should empathise more than most how it might feel to lose one and never know why.

OP you have truth on your side. Thank you for speaking up. So sorry you had to witness this but at least the owners will have an answer thanks to you. I wonder if the sister might be able to negotiate retrieval of the cat's body as it would be a terrible thing for the poor owners to have to do on return from their holiday.

So sad Sad

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 03/05/2015 18:01

Does anyone genuinely believe that to not inform the cat's owners is not disgusting behaviour???

Does anyone believe that it's fine for a cat to kill various small things that c come in its garden/territory, but not a dog?

I think the dog owner should tell the cat owner, yes. But the cat owner could have prevented this by keeping its cat indoors.

JulyKit · 03/05/2015 19:48

Does anyone believe that it's fine for a cat to kill various small things that c come in its garden/territory, but not a dog?

You mean 'it's OK for cats to kill things but not for dogs to do the same', right? (Not: 'it's OK for cats to kill any other animals apart from dogs'?)

I think that the perceived 'difference' is that cats' massacres are easier to ignore cats are less likely to demolish someone else's 'pet'. Therefore, the 'logic' goes, cats are harmless whereas cat-bashing dogs are 'dangerous'.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/05/2015 19:55

Is it currently considered safe for a cat to wear a collar with a bell on it? That would give the wildlife more of a chance to get away.

blushingbooty · 03/05/2015 19:58

Glad you will be telling the Cat owners OP, shame on the dog owner for being so cowardly and uncaring. At least this way the cat owners won't be searching, worried and stressed- they'll know the cat is dead, however horrible that is at least they know.

blushingbooty · 03/05/2015 19:59

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius Yes collars are fine as long as they are the kind which will give if the cat was to accidentally catch it and almost strangle itself.

JulyKit · 03/05/2015 20:02

Lots of cats just learn to hunt even more skilfully with those collars on, I'm told. They learn to stalk without letting the bell toll, clever little sods. Grin

Sparklingbrook · 03/05/2015 20:12

Half the battle is getting the collars to stay on, they just lose them all over the place.

Sparklingcat doesn't bring much back, the odd teeny tiny vole or a slow worm very occasionally. Some cats don't hunt or kill at all just as some dogs don't kill cats presumably.

JulyKit · 03/05/2015 20:18

Some cats don't hunt or kill at all just as some dogs don't kill cats presumably.

Really?

I understand that some cats don't go out and hunt because they are too old or unhealthy, or aren't allowed outside, but are there really 'free', healthy cats who never hunt?

I thought that cats are natural hunters, just as dogs are natural scavengers, and therefore, a healthy cat who has the opportunity to do so will hunt and kill little creatures. Is it not in fact so?

Sparklingbrook · 03/05/2015 20:25

Yes there are loads of completely healthy young cats that don't bother going off to kill stuff. Really.

I know some people think that cats are out there killing everything 24/7 but they actually sleep between 16/20 hours a day. Cats are quite lazy.

JulyKit · 03/05/2015 20:30

IIRC it wasn't during the day that my beautiful mongrel moggy used to fetch the 6-8 rodents whose little innards I'd find on the doormat each morning... but yeah, she looked very cute curled up on a window sill during the daylight hours.

Do you know what your cats get up to during the other 4-8 hours, Sparkling, or would you rather not know? Grin

Sparklingbrook · 03/05/2015 20:34

Sparklingcat lazes on the front drive/the porch/the bench in the garden/shed roof and if the weather is bad lolls about inside July. Grin

She has a mad half an hour every evening running up and down the stairs and from room to room.

Today she is getting the full 20 hours sleep in by the looks of it.

NoNameDame · 03/05/2015 20:36

Report the dog as dangerous

JulyKit · 03/05/2015 20:38

Sparklingcat sounds very, er, seemly...