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Original poster

My dog has bitten my neighbours rabbit

215 replies

Brookerj · 28/06/2017 14:28

My 2 year old dog got into my neighbours garden and somehow got into the rabbit run and has bitten the rabbit. My neighbour has taken the rabbit to the vet and has presented me with a bill for £1275 as the rabbit has had 2 pins put into its leg. I have been very apologetic and took chocolates round to the owner of the rabbit but I do not have this sort of money to spare - what can I do - I feel awful.

OP posts:
monkeywithacowface · 28/06/2017 14:52

Doesn't matter whose responsibility the fence is it is the OP's responsibility to contain her dog

fannydaggerz · 28/06/2017 14:53

Does the neighbour pay insurance for the rabbit? You could pay the excess.

Check your house insurance or hers to see if you are covered through that.

ClaudiaWankleman · 28/06/2017 14:53

Pay up and keep your dog under control. Why should your neighbour have to suffer your negligence?

You seem to be suggesting that the neighbour should've negotiated the procedure with you. The alternative was probably putting the poor rabbit down. Take some responsibility - you should've had insurance and you should've kept control.

monkeywithacowface · 28/06/2017 14:53

And if you can't afford pet insurance you can't afford a dog

fannydaggerz · 28/06/2017 14:53

I just read that neither of you have insurance.

This is a must for both of you.

You should be paying the bill.

mustiwearabra · 28/06/2017 14:54

I have to agree with monkeywithacowface

Eve · 28/06/2017 14:54

try public liability under your house insurance - not sure it extends to pets though.

Teddy6767 · 28/06/2017 14:54

A similar thing happened to a friend where her dog badly injured a neighbour's cat. She had no insurance so just ignored the matter and kept away from her neighbour. 2 years later and she had high court enforcement agents at her door demanding a payment of something like £5000 (the debt had massively increased due to the legal costs) or they'd seize her car and remove everything from her home like her TV and laptop to pay towards the debt.

Try and come to some sort of payment plan where you can clear the debt as quickly as possible, and also take out insurance on your dog to avoid anything like this happening again. Could you afford to pay her £200 so it's paid off in 6-7 months?

Holz657 · 28/06/2017 14:55

Of course she went through with the procedure! The rabbit could of died. You need to pay up, sorry it's your dog so it's your responsibility. And you really should have insurance.

Redsippycup · 28/06/2017 15:02

Of course she went through with the procedure - it was probably emergency surgery!

If your dog was hit by a car would you faf about talking to the driver about whether they could / would pay or would you save your dog and send them the bill later?!

You need to go over and tell her that of course you will pay but you don't have that much cash to hand, ask to arrange installments. If she hasn't paid the vet yet then talk to them about installments. If she has paid and doesn't/ can't arrange some installments for you then I am afraid you are going to have to look at credit options.

If you don't pay you are likely going to end up with court costs too.

And get pet insurance. It costs next to nothing.

RiverTam · 28/06/2017 15:03

I would think it depends who owns the boundary and if it was in good repair. If the boundary is in poor repair and its your, you pay 100%. If it's in poor repair and its hers, I'd go 50/50. If it's in good repair then it sounds like a genuine accident and I would offer what you can - it's not your fault she doesn't have insurance (though the opposite is true, of course).

I'm not speaking legally, just that's how it looks to me.

monkeywithacowface · 28/06/2017 15:09

Legally the neighbour is under no obligation to maintain the fence in order to keep the dog out. It is 100% the OP's responsibility to secure her dog even if the fences aren't her responsibility.

YellowLawn · 28/06/2017 15:11

I would think it depends who owns the boundary and if it was in good repair.

nonesense.
it's the dog's owner's responsibility to keep their dog under close control, which means they have to make sure it doesn't get out.

sorry op it's your bill to pay.

NotAPuffin · 28/06/2017 15:12

Your dog should have been under your control. You must pay the bill.

mustiwearabra · 28/06/2017 15:12

OP Google the case 'Rylands v Fletcher' and that should give you your answer

Bluebell9 · 28/06/2017 15:35

Does your house insurance cover your dog? Mine doesn't but my parents does, might be worth checking out.

dailydance · 28/06/2017 16:02

If a neighbour came around to me trying to get out of paying a vet bill (that they would be liable for) with a box of chocolates... I would be pretty insulted and be fuming that the neighbour thought chocolates would cover it.

Try to agree a payment plan with the neighbour and then get pet insurance.

I honestly can't comprehend why people don't have pet insurance... if your dog got hit by a car or got sick would you have just put it down because you can't afford a vet bill?! You can't afford to pay for the rabbit vet bill so I assume you couldn't afford to pay if your dog needed treatment.

joaner36 · 28/06/2017 16:07

Third party dog insurance from dog trust is £19 a year.

SoupDragon · 28/06/2017 16:17

Yes, you need to come to an agreement where you pay in instalments that you can afford.

The neighbour really needs to make sure her rabbit is secure though. It would make a tasty meal for a fox. I think it's negligent to have an animal like that in an environment where it is vulnerable to attack.

PoisonousSmurf · 28/06/2017 16:28

The rabbit owner has no insurance and neither do you. Your dog caused the damage. You have to pay, even if it's over a couple of years.
This should teach both of you a lesson.
GET INSURANCE!

RiverTam · 28/06/2017 16:38

Yellow I did say that's what I thought, not that it was fact - simply because if I know that it was my fence in disrepair that had allowed next-door's dog in, I would take some responsibility for that, if not all the responsibility. In my head it would be my responsibility to keep my boundary secure, particularly if there was a dog next door.

(I should say I speak neither as a dog nor rabbit owner.)

FrogsLegs31 · 28/06/2017 17:17

I think the OP needs to at least look at this from the neighbours point of view. That is their pet, for most people probably also a "family member" like your dog is for you. Your pet could have killed hers, consider it lucky that it didn't do worse.

mumnyorks · 28/06/2017 23:00

It's a rabbit! It's natural for many breeds of dog to chase and be a threat to rabbits. They are prey to many species, unfortunate for them but that's how it is. Wild or domestic pet just the same. Unreasonable to spend that amount on a vets bill. PTS and get another I'd say.

YellowLawn · 29/06/2017 07:33

munny that's out of line.
it a pet.
a well loved animal.
just as op's dog

steppemum · 29/06/2017 08:40

This happened to us, except we were the owners of the rabbit.

Our rabbit escaped and got into neighbours garden, and dog bit it.
We had pet insurance on rabbit and £1700 worth of treatment later then the rabbit keeled over and died!

I ma afraid that as it was your dog who escaped, you are responsible. In our case I didn't even tell neighbour as it was our fault the rabbit got into their garden.

If you have any pet/household insurance it should cover it. If the rabbot ownder has insurance, they may cover it.
Go and talk to them about it, but in the end, you will have to pay.

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