To be pissed off at this cat for repeatedly attacking my dog?!

[squashedalmondcroissant]

I have to just start by saying that technically DDog is not mine he is my DP’s dog but we’ve been living together for the last 5yrs and I look after him as if he’s my own.

So for the past 3 days DDog and I have gone out on our evening walk after work and gone our usual route. We live on an estate with lots of parked cars along the streets and obviously lots of houses and pets all around including multiple cats. DDog is an elderly greyhound and soft as a bag of marshmallows, never barks or growls, never attacks anything or acts remotely aggressively. He just walks right past any cat he sees and pays them no attention.

For some reason there is one particular cat that has taken exception to our walking along the pavement and has made it its mission to attack DDog every time we walk past. First day it hissed & swiped at him then actively chased us down the street and tried to claw at him again. Second day it was stalking us down the road from a distance and then today it jumped out from under a parked car and swiped at us again.

I’m starting to get really pissed off as DDog is quite distressed and makes no attempt to defend himself and I’m worried he is going to get hurt and I’ll feel so guilty explaining to DP. What can I do about this cat? All of our walking routes go past the same place out of the estate where we start seeing the cat so I can’t change our route! Aibu to be pissed off at this cat? The first time it chased us was genuinely scary as it was so aggressive and pursued us, and then today it jumped out from under a car so we couldn’t even see it to avoid it!

They definitely do this too

It’s difficult to understand how you can’t get anywhere without walking past this little fucker.

Anyway, yes, water bottle with a sports lid or water pistol should resolve it.

For anyone in doubt, Google 'cat jumps out of a tree at bear' 😂 they are well known for launching kamikaze attacks at larger animals including big dogs!

Our beloved cat we had when I was growing up was incredibly territorial even after being neutered and he despised dogs. He hadn't had a bad experience with dogs. But at the end of the day they are mini lions & unpredictable!
Shout out to the day he jumped off the fence onto a staffy's head and it didn't fight back even though it literally could have swallowed him, it just wailed and tried to shake him off! Cue profuse apology to neighbours who were thankfully very understanding 🙈
I wouldn't have been offended had someone used a water gun/spray bottle so go for that!

I'm a cat owner and a cat lover and I know they can be little horrors. As pp have said, a water pistol is your best bet, or anything noisy such as those inflatable plastic sticks spectators bang together (no idea what they're called). Mine hate it if I bang a rolled up newspaper on my hand, so you could try that. It will soon learn that attacking your dog earns itself a nasty surprise.