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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

neighbour's dog attacked my cat

65 replies

magicinthenight · 21/08/2017 04:35

This is a bit long but I'm a bit upset and so it's hard to be concise! Our flat has access to a very large communal garden. Our cat is elderly, very well behaved and goes out for a little patrol or a snooze in the bushes a few times a day. Usually this is supervised. The only exception is in the mornings my partner will feed her and open the back door on her way to work so the cat can go out if she wants before I wake up. There is a dog who lives upstairs and before we moved in used to be let out unsupervised. They kindly stopped this because of our cat.

Anyway cat was out in the morning before I woke up. The neighbour didn't see her so let the dog out which then chased the cat out of the bushes and went for her, before grabbing her leg and dragging her down the tree she was trying to escape up. The owner at this point pulled the dog off and shooed the cat back inside.

I (being asleep) knew absolutely none of this and so woke up, heard her bell jingle under the bed (where she often spends several hours napping or hanging out with a toy) and carried on with the day. In the evening I thought something was off so tried coaxing her out with food and treats but nothing- we had to pull the whole bed apart in the end to find that she couldn't get out because her back leg had gone limp. At this point our vet had closed and so we took care of her until we could
rush her in first thing. With her age and mysterious onset the vet had to run every test to try and identify the cause (it could have been a clot or something neurological). A day and a £550 bill later the vet found two of her lower vertebrae to be quite crushed (worsened by arthritis) and severe bruising to her leg.

Two DAYS later the owner of the dog has come round and told us what happened, after another neighbour told them our cat had been mysteriously injured. Apparently at the time they tried to say but they left it because 'nobody was home' (despite the back door being open Hmm).

I am angry about what happened because of the pain my lovely cat is in, but I realise it was an honest mistake, it's a dogs nature and with sharing a garden accidents happen. I am however LIVID that they left it almost three days to mention it, and only because someone else guilted them into it. Not only could I have taken the poor cat to the vet much earlier and gotten her out of pain quicker, we could have halved the vet bill by not having to explore every avenue. I just feel that if it had been reversed and it was my dog, I would have been round a few times that morning at least to try and let the owners know asap. AIBU? Some people I've told agree with us, but others have said we should be grateful they said anything at all. I don't know what to think and I'm up anyway so I thought I'd ask what you think.

tl;dr: neighbour's dog attacked my cat and then they took two days to tell us

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 21/08/2017 09:40

I also don't think it's their fault , and without teeth marks I reckon you'd have trouble proving anything . If they are really nice they might offer to pay some of the bill , but if it were me I would only be offering the equivalent of an insurance excess ( so about £100) , as your cat should be insured . Why didn't you take the cat to the OOH vet when it was obvious it was injured .

Dina1234 · 21/08/2017 09:47

That is very rude of them. They could have put a note under your door.

lljkk · 21/08/2017 10:01

For me, key factor is that Your cat was unsupervised, too.
The cat ran off & seemed fine at the time.
This may not be the only time they tussled, you know, but your cat was fine the other times.
Sorry, that's a lot of money, would pain me too. I have 3 cats & a Springer spaniel dog next door we always thought would kill our cats given a tiny chance, but turns out he ignores them when he has escaped into our garden (phew).

Willyoujustbequiet · 21/08/2017 10:04

I'm sorry your cat got hurt but yabu.

It's not their fault. There is no liability as it's a communal garden and your cat was unsupervised too. Get insurance.

Siwdmae · 21/08/2017 10:24

Ask them to pay the bill, they can go through their public liability insurance, I think.

Ameliablue · 21/08/2017 10:30

Yanbu, they should have checked the car for injuries rather than shooing her away and they should have contacted you to let you know.

WTAAF · 21/08/2017 10:31

Regarding the argument that the cat shold be supervised - I think it's very relevant that a cat doesn't particularly need supervising. It's not a risk to people or dogs or even other cats. The difference with the dogs is that it can do and has done damage in aggression, so requires supervision.

I speak as an owner of 4 dogs, 14 assorted rescue cats and a host of other pets. I don't feel it necessary to supervise the felines or my free range hens. They're no risk. My dogs, I keep a tighter leash on if you'll excuse the pun. They could turn on visitors or livestock.

HandsOffTheJaffaCake · 21/08/2017 10:36

I agree with WTAAF

The neighbour was wrong not to tell you at the time, but perhaps did not think the cat was injured. They should volunteer to pay this vet bill

craftsy · 21/08/2017 10:39

That's bollocks WTAAF. I guess you've never seen what happens when a cat gets in a hen house when there are nesting chicks. Carnage is an apt description. The same if it gets in a rabbit hutch with a young rabbit, near other rodent or avarian pets. I really like cats but it's total bs to say they won't kill or cause damage if roaming unsupervised.

lljkk · 21/08/2017 10:44

This article says only 15% of dog-cat owners have insurance; not all medical insurance policies will include public liability insurance.

NK493efc93X1277dd3d6d4 · 21/08/2017 11:17

Does this mean that they can never let their dog put into the shared garden in case your cat is hiding somewhere?

Witsender · 21/08/2017 11:18

Do you have insurance?

JacquesHammer · 21/08/2017 11:33

Regarding the argument that the cat shold be supervised - I think it's very relevant that a cat doesn't particularly need supervising

Except in this case you could argue it does need supervising - neighbour has already been very accomodating in that they're checking the garden before they let their dog out. In a shared garden the compromise has to work both ways.

stormytherabbit · 21/08/2017 11:39

They supervise their dog, you don't supervise your cat.

Your problem.

stormytherabbit · 21/08/2017 11:42

If you want to ensure your cat doesn't get injuried by this dog or any other animal, don't let it out unsupervised or be prepared to take responsibility for it.

LadyMaryCrawley1922 · 21/08/2017 11:45

Half?! They should pay the whole thing obviously. The injury was entirely due to their negligence

The bill was entirely due to a lack of insurance though, which was OP's decision.

ElizabethShaw · 21/08/2017 11:48

The attack wasn't their fault, if anything it was yours as they were supervising their pet, you took the risk of not supervising yours.

However, they should have made more of an effort to contact you quickly afterwards.

It would be nice of them to offer something towards your vet bill but I don't think they're obliged to, especially if you have chosen not to have insurance.

Beerwench · 21/08/2017 12:05

By your own admission the dog is supervised and was at the time as the owner pulled the dog off. I think you both share the garden, are aware of each others pets and therefore share the responsibility of ensuring the cat and dog don't meet and something like this happen.
If the dogs owners have made steps towards that responsibility then they don't sound like the awkward type to me, and this is one of those things - the owner couldn't see the cat when they checked the garden, and let the dog out, of course the dog found the cat wherever she was hiding because dogs have better senses.
It's awful your poor cat has been injured, and yes had you known earlier then treatment would have been more targeted and the tests wouldn't be necessary. However if you own a cat, you accept they wander, and you wouldn't have known if she'd wandered further or into neighbouring gardens and been attacked there. I agree that your neighbour maybe could have tried a bit harder to let you know what happened, but as you didn't feel the need to go to an emergency vet as soon as you found out, then I can't see you can expect any payment from them regarding this.
Hope your cat recovers well, it's awful when they're in pain.

Original poster
magicinthenight · 21/08/2017 12:25

Hi everyone thanks for all the replies

I don't think they owe us anything for the vet bill, as I said accidents happen and with a shared garden it couldn't be helped. I don't think it is their fault at all, and would never ask them to pay or contribute. My complaint is that it took them so long to tell us, which I don't think is okay.

Luckily we are insured, I mentioned the bill as if we had known the cause earlier we could have avoided running up the bill by so much. Due to our cats age her insurance is not great and we have a lower annual condition limit than you would have for a younger cat. The money was a huge upfront cost for us but hopefully we will get a good chunk back and again- I don't think the accident was the neighbours fault, I think it was an accident. I do think that they should have to have tried much harder to let us know earlier, I was home that entire day and night. That's what I would have done.

OP posts:
Original poster
magicinthenight · 21/08/2017 12:30

Regarding the emergency vet, we rang them and discussed the situation. As her breathing was not in distress and she was alert they advised us that it might perhaps be better to wait until our vet five minutes from us opened rather than taking her nearly an hour on public transport to the emergency vet. I would have taken her if they had asked us to bring her in of course.

OP posts:
Original poster
magicinthenight · 21/08/2017 12:35

Hi @beerwench

I don't expect any payment, it was about not being told until much later. Cat doesn't wander- she can't get up the walls.

OP posts:
Beerwench · 21/08/2017 12:47

That's fair enough magic, though my point was really that if the cat was outside and you weren't there to see then she could have been attacked by another cat, a dog wandering or even a wild animal, or shockingly a person (I've had this happen which is why I mentioned it) in the garden and the result would have been the same with injury and you not knowing what happened and therefore having to investigate further - that's a risk you take with a cat I think, that they do go out unsupervised (not saying they shouldn't BTW) and something like that could happen if you see what I mean?
If I'd been the dog owner I'd maybe have put a note through your door but as a pp said, the cat running off may have given them the impression she wasn't injured and they didn't realise until speaking with another neighbour and finding out and then told you what happened.
I realise how upsetting this is, I have a poorly pet too ATM and it's horrible. Best wishes to you and cat.

Original poster
magicinthenight · 21/08/2017 12:52

@beerwench Yeah I get you, that's true. Best wishes to your poorly pet Flowers

Thanks to everyone who wished cat well, she is currently curled up next to me demanding pats. It's not nice to see her wobbling around but we have been very lucky and she's dealing with it really well. Don't worry, she will not be taking anymore unsupervised trips outside! Smile

OP posts:
mummag · 21/08/2017 12:56

Poor cat. Yes they should have let you know.

SuburbanRhonda · 21/08/2017 12:58

The same if it gets in a rabbit hutch with a young rabbit

How does a cat get into a rabbit hutch unless it's left open though?

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