Who's responsible legally for vet fees

[atomsandphysics]

Dog is in its garden. Six foot fencing.
Cat jumps into garden meaning dog chases cat. Cat grabs dog. Dog grabs cat.

Who is responsible for the cats vet fees legally and can anything be down about the dog.

[AppleSetsSail]

Cats and dogs often don't like each other. I would expect each respective owner to pay their own fees.

I gather you're a cat owner. If your cat attacked a dog in its own garden, you wouldn't offer to pay the vet bill, just as a neighbourly gesture?

[2016Blyton]

I am a lawyer.
The cat "trespassed" despite the dog owner's effort (6 foot high fencing). Dog damaged cat in a natural way on dog owner's land.

Dog owner does not have to pay cat owner's vet's bill.

What about house cats next time? Less risk. Or vet insurance?

[Lottielou7]

What company was that, shovetheholly?

Unless you can come up with thousands at a moment's notice I think it's very unwise not to have pet insurance. My one year old cat ate some cotton recently and it made her very poorly. The investigations required to find out what had happened and why she was miserable and not eating cost about £2000!

[Lottielou7]

Saving a bit of money here and there wouldn't have helped me in that situation.

[CatNip2]

No I wouldn't.

My cats have lived next door to 2 German Shepherds for 11 years/ The dogs potter on the shared drive, the cats go into next door neighbours gardens.

They generally tolerate each other, but on a number of occasions the dogs have got a swiped and bloody nose because they got too close to the cats.

Cats roam. Cats don't legally have to be kept inside.

A cat would not usually go up to a dog and attack it, it would defend itself from being chased/attacked/inspected.

So whilst the cat may have ventured into the dogs domain, I highly doubt it launched itself at the dog but defended itself.

Six of one.

[Jessesbitch]

Check you dog for puncture wounds if the cat has bitten it. Might need antibiotics.

[KoalaDownUnder]

It's not 'six of one' at all.

If your animal comes onto my property without permission and causes expensive damage to something (in this case, my dog), the decent thing to do is reimburse me.

[AppleSetsSail]

If your animal comes onto my property without permission and causes expensive damage to something (in this case, my dog), the decent thing to do is reimburse me.

Yes.

[BarbaraofSeville]

I have pet insurance and can't see why an insurer wouldn't pay all but the excess for treatment following a cat being shot. I've been very happy with payouts from my insurers for illnesses and injuries suffered by my cats.

However, it has gone up a lot over the years and as I now have 5 cats, I am considering self insurance and just paying vets fees myself, rather than paying several hundred pounds per year for insurance for them all.

[MiddleClassProblem]

Op, is someone asking for money or are you thinking of asking?

[murmuration]

lottie - nice to hear someone say that! I'm from the US and the special rights of cats here I found very odd. I was never anywhere they weren't allowed outside, but they were meant to be collared/tagged and registered if you did let them out (and you had to pay fees which went up hugely if they were not spayed/neutered), otherwise they could be picked up by animal control (and potentially put down if you didn't find out in time). An uncollared cat on the wander was assumed to be feral. Although by now I wonder if it's microchipping? That was just coming in as I left (over a decade ago, now).

I personally prefer my cats to be indoors for their own safety and for the preservation of wildlife, and they've all been perfectly happy. I tend to let them out with me, and when I lived in the country would even go for walks with them (there's a little squeak you can use that cats use to communicate with each other that helps keep them with you).

[Floralnomad]

There is no way the dangerous dog out of control on its own property would be actionable in a case where a dog hurt a cat on its own land , it's nature and it doesn't make the dog a dangerous dog . My terrier would happily kill a cat/ squirrel / rabbit / bird in the garden , he is not a dangerous dog .

[Sara107]

The cat is likely to be fine and any injuries are the responsibility of its owner. My cat, when younger used to regularly come home with cat bites which always went septic we have been to the vet many times! I did get a bit annoyed that some brute was picking on my poor girl, until the vet told me that given the location of bites she was the aggressor!! About a year ago she came home with blood pouring out of her tail, maybe dog bite. You just go to the vet and get it looked after, I can't imagine anybody coming around trying to hold your parents responsible. Also, it is pretty much impossible to know where a cat has been or what it's been up to when it arrives home battered! Keep an eye on dog though for the next few days, cat bites can be hard to see because the teeth are like needles but they wil nearlyl always go septic.

[SawdustInMyHair]

I'd say they are each responsible for their own vet bills

You know when you have a cat it could wander and get involved in a fight with another animal (cat, dog, fox etc), and it is one of the risks of cat ownership. 9 times out of 10 you would never even know who the fight had been with.

I don't think the cat owner should pay the dog's bills, as it was a mutual event, as it were. If the cat had just savaged the dog, unprovoked, I might feel differently, but it was a mutual fight.

[atomsandphysics]

My dog has three bite marks on her face and a scratched eyes. Will get her checked.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Cat owner pays for cat, dog owner for dog. If it was my cat there's no way I would be paying the dog's vet fees and I wouldn't expect mine to be paid either. Both animals should be insured.

There's no way I could keep my cat indoors all the time, he would go mad as we live in a maisonette so it's just not big enough for him to be indoors all the time.

[Jayne266]

Both would be responsible for eachs own. But tbh unless someone claims responsibility and signs the consent form to pay for treatment, it will be the person taking the animal to the vet who signs and has given consent for treatment that would pay.

[shovetheholly]

It was with PetPlan and they were crap!

I paid in for years and years at a cost of something like £20 a month (I might be misremembering, this was a few years ago). So that's £250 a year (roughly). After five years, that's £1000. And I was paying in for longer!

They basically nitpicked over every damn single condition in the policy to try to reduce the bill, which was about £800 in total. They ended up paying about £400 of it. At the time, I was going through a divorce and having my cat shot was traumatic enough anyway. They added considerably to the stress, and the total of insurance + costs I ended up paying was way higher than the cost of just paying the damn bill.

For another cat insured at the same time, they would only pay part of the cost of chronic medication that was needed.

I expected the entire bill to be paid, in both cases.

[atomsandphysics]

They haven't asked for money yet. I've tried to look for the cat to check its ok but I'm not sure who's it is. My parents are elderly and I am now home so was trying to check incase a whole heap of crap landed at their door because of it.

[blindsider]

Pinksparklypussy cat

If it was my cat there's no way I would be paying the dog's vet fees

How bizarre, I bet if a dog came into your garden and savaged your cat you would reckon the dog owner should pay. Frankly if I had a neighbour with an attitude like yours kitty cat would meet .22 when next venturing into my garden.

[BarbaraofSeville]

shove. That is not my experience of Petplan at all and I find that really surprising.

They've always paid my vet direct without quibbling over a penny for all sorts of illnesses and injures.

They've even waived the excess on occasion when you wouldn't expect it (cat having 2 separate fight injuries, due to a feral tom cat that I've now had neutered, a few weeks apart).

On two occasions they've even continued to cover chronic conditions for cats that have changed ownership (cat chose to move house by mutual agreement of both sets of owners).

[NarcyCow]

If one of my cats mauled a dog, I'd be offering to pay the vet's fees. It must be a very rambunctious cat, though - mine would taunt a dog form the top of a wall but wouldn't dream of going into a garden with one.

[Evilstepmum01]

Dog leaves house. Owner must pick up its poop, legally keep it leashed. Dog lauded as dangerous and nuisance
Cat leaves house. Owner has no responsibility when it craps in my flowers, attempts to kill my pet furries, scratches my fence, rips holes in my caravan cover, sprays on door, shrieks at night, kills all local wildlife, interbreeds with god knows what and is generally an arsehole. Owner says 'its a free-roaming animal' and cat is lauded as independent.

I see. Just so you know then if it comes into my garden or approaches my property, I will throw something/chase/release hound/throw a bucket of water on it.
Nowt you can do about that, its a free-roaming animal remember? So if it accidentally injures itself whilst free-roaming, suck it up.

[Coffeethrowtrampbitch]

I wouldn't worry too much about your parents op, cats roam about lots. I've had a cat come home with burned paws (walking on tar we think!) and another with an infected bite, and we have had no idea where they got injured because they came straight home afterwards.

I do think it would be unreasonable for anyone to claim vets bills. The cat roamed about, because cats can't understand the concept of property ownership, and the dog went for it because it can't understand the difference between a rabbit and a cat. It is to be hoped they both learned something so it won't happen again, but there is very little either pet owner could have done to prevent the incident.