Dog attacked our cat

[LeftInTheDust]

A dog from the neighbourhood attacked and badly injured our beloved pet cat.

Our cat is a healthy, 9 year old neutered male who is a lovely cat. In recent weeks he had been a target for something, three weeks ago he was taken to the emergency vets as he had been injured (he had a cut to his neck and he was fine) then last week he came home and half his whiskers had been cut off (we think by drunk people as it was over the bank holiday weekend). This afternoon it got taken to a new level (whilst we don’t think they are the same people we do think the whiskers impacted this event as it affected his decision making).

It was just me and my 16 year old sister in the house and she started screaming for me to come down and when I did she told me to look out the window. What I saw will stay with me for the rest of my life, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get it out of my mind. This dog that was easily half the size of me (I’m 5”7) and it had our cat in his teeth mauling him like a ragdoll. I genuinely thought that he was going to tear our boy limb from limb.

The owner eventually prized away our cat who ran up the tree. The event was witnessed by us and some neighbours over our road and they helped us coax him down. We were in shock and it was the neighbours who helped us (neither of us can drive and both my parents were at work) so they took the cat and me to the vet. They also managed to speak to the owner as I was in such a state whilst my sister tried to contact our parents.

The cat has serious injuries, that apparently were quite rare. He has a dislocated sternum and liquid in his abdomen. At one point we thought the cat was going to be put down but we were sent to a specialist who has given us a better prognosis, although if he survives it’s going to be life altering injuries.

We are now going to have to keep him inside (we have other cats so this is gonna be a nightmare) and he’s going to have to have more surgery to try and put a plate in his sternum. Oh and he has kidney damage. This will all be covered by the insurance.

The issue we have is reporting it. We have the owners contact details and we will be contacting him but we have also logged a police report. Obviously we will try with compensation but the main issue is that the owner is blaming our cat.

We live opposite woods and the owners claim that our cat went into the woods and antagonised the dog and she went chasing after our cat. However, we have eye witnesses that dispute this claim (we don’t really know these neighbours so it’s not like they are lying for us) that our cat was actually sunbathing on our drive and this dog appeared out of the woods and ran up and attacked him. But of course the dog owner says it was our cat that made the first move.

Do you think it’s worth reporting it to the RSPCA? According to other neighbours (who all came out after hearing our “bloodcurdling” screams) said that their dogs (if not the same one) have attacked and killed foxes and then the same dog attacked another dog in the road. Now I don’t think it’s fair for the dog to be destroyed but the big fear is what’s next? A child? Does anyone have any advice on what todo about contacting the RSPCA? We’ve already stated on the police report we want the dog on the lead and muzzled the whole time, but it’s unlikely that the dog owners will do that as she was roaming freely around the area. It’s unlikely that the claim will be taken anywhere but something needs to change because we don’t want other families to go through the same thing as it was traumatic so does anyone have any advice as to what to-do/ who to contact?

Yes it was on our property and then it moved to a neighbours property. The dog shouldn’t have been off the lead in the first place.

I understand what you are saying about cats attacking other animals but this dog shouldn’t have been off the lead according to the regulations in our area.

My point is would you get rid of your cat if it killed a bird on the off chance that it may then go for a small child ? No because cats are ‘allowed’ to kill birds mice because it’s nature , in the same way a dog that chases and kills a cat is doing it because it’s nature and it doesn’t mean it will chase and injure a child .

Unfortunately cats are not covered under the same laws as dogs because they roam. The best you can hope for is the dog warden having a chat and recommending the dog stays on a lead at all times.

If it was on your property then definitely report and sue , I didn’t get that from your post I must have read it wrong .

No but our cats aren’t vicious and they don’t scratch or bite. If that were the case we would make sure we have measures in place so that the contact with humans are limited. The cat is known around the close for being lovely. We are following the vets recommendations anyway and we are reporting it.

I think you’re doing the right thing as the owners clearly had no control over their dog and should have had it on a lead.

I think even if nothing comes of it, you’ll all feel better reporting it.

Your poor cat, I'm glad he's home and will hopefully make a good recovery.
You talk about keeping him in and still letting the others out, i would be very cautious about letting any cat out when there is a dog like that around. I'd also warn any neighbours in the area to keep their cats in. I don't know what can be done about the dog, but I'd speak to the dog warden and police and see if there's anything that can be done. I'd also be invoicing the dog's owner for the insurance excess.

I'm not a great fan of cats but if yours was basking in the sun on your drive and was attacked by a dog off the lead it's pretty obvious where the blame lies.

I would definitely be reporting it and also push for the dog to be destroyed I'm afraid. The attack was both savage and unpredictable. Combine that with an irresponsible dog owner and you have a dangerous animal. Very sad for the dog as it may well have been trained for his behaviour.

Hope your cat continues to recover well.

Your poor cat!
I'm a massive cat lover, have several.
Wishing for a speedy recovery.

Loch. If the dog was on a lead then an attack on this poor cat might not have happened. It doesnt matter if the cat was on the drive or in the woods. It was clearly off lead and the owners did not have control of it.

www.gov.uk/control-dog-public

Hammy But dogs don't have to be on lead all the time ( save for specific areas, PSPOs etc). My dog goes offlead in woods/parks all the time. Am I suppose to keep him on just in case there's a cat about?

As it stands, there is no law in the UK protecting cats from dog attacks. The 'out of control' portion is very very unlikely to apply as a dog attacking a cat will be deemed to be a natural instinct.

It is a civil matter rather than criminal. The Op could (and should) take the dogs owner to a small claims court, to get the vets bills paid.
She may also take her own action under the Dogs Act 1871 to get an order for the dog to put on lead and muzzled in public. The police could do this, but probably won't.

If this happened in my area, I might push for a community Remedy by the police, or if there are people willing to give statements that prove this dog has attacked before, I may have enough evidence to issue a CPN

It's not just about cats, dogs off leads can frighten people, children, other animals and yes I think they should be kept on leads at all times especially in parks where there are other people around. I have known people who have to muzzle their dogs as they snap, bark, growl and generally scare anyone in their vicinity in our high street, the worse was a jack russell. I hope that the poor cat makes a full recovery, poor little thing. Maybe people don't understand how upsetting it is.

The owner stood their watching until we started shouting it our window to get him to stop.

This is very odd and would concern me greatly. Perhaps the dog is used for fighting.

We have just gotten back from his pain relief appointment. The person has admitted blame to the vets and is going to pay. Again, the vet told us about how she has seen many things but she’s not seen an attack of this severity. We have filled a police report to get a restriction in place for the dog to be kept a lead when she’s out.

We also spoke to the vets about letting him out. They have said that whilst he has to stay in for the next two or three weeks she’s told us that it isn’t fair on our cat to remain inside long terms as it can cause him to become distressed and may give him other issues so it’s not going to be viable to keep him in long term. We want this dog to be kept on a lead to stop this happenjng

At least they are paying , it could be that the owner was just horrified and froze - my terrier has been attacked by other dogs a couple of times and on both occasions the other owners just stood there like spare parts whilst I was trying to get my dog out of the jaws . Wishing your cat a speedy recovery OP , would it be possible to build him some kind of run in the garden as a temporary outdoor retreat .

Well the owner has come around to our house and the owner of the dog is refusing to put the dog on a lead. He claims that the dog isn’t dangerous and that he’s a rescue dog that doesn’t have a hunting instinct.... At a loss as to what todo. The owner is being a complete nightmare when it comes to the dog 🙃

Report this and let the police and warden talk to him. If he comes round again record the conversation and film the dog if you see it off lead.

They are also very worried about the dog involved because he’s been trained they think and they have said that they are worried that the dog will attack a child

How ridiculous.
There is absolutely no correlation whatsoever between aggression to other animals and people.

Aggression towards children is almost always fear based, aggression to cats the complete opposite.
A dog attacking a cat is a predatory animal taking great enjoyment in hunting and killing prey.
No different to a cat torturing a mouse.
Do you fear for children's safety around mouse killing cats?
Of course not.
Absolute nonsense.

The dog owner has broken the law as the dog is 'out of control in a public place' but the chances of a cat attacking dog going on to attack a child is so so slim.

It is in a dogs nature to hunt small animals and unfortunately, but thankfully rarely as cats usually get out the way quickly, cats can be victims.

You are very unlikely to get a muzzle order for a dog on cat incident alone.

I'm so sorry about your poor cat and I hope he gets better very soon. Surely the police would get involved with this? The dog was off lead and caused life-threatening injuries to your cat on your property and now the owners are refusing to put it on a lead - unbelievable!!! :-(

That’s what the vet told us. None of our family are vets or animal behaviourist and we don’t know anyone who is. The extent of the knowledge we have in regards to our cat is following what our vet says. This wasn’t just one vet, this is both vets we’ve seen. We’ve got a diagnosis as to what the cat has and it’s very rare and the specialist hasn’t ever seen this in real life. The damage this dog has done to our cat is life limiting and seeing it was traumatic and we don’t want anyone to witness what we did. Everyone involved is traumatised.

This isn’t the first instance. We have had a number of people come up and say that they would go on record saying that the same dog has attacked their dog or they’ve seen them attack and kill foxes. If this was an isolated instance we wouldn’t be nearly as concerned.

@LeftInTheDust I can't believe they said your cat made the first move! It's a cat! Your poor cat! 100% report it to all the relevant authorities because like you said, if the dog can do that to a cat it can also do that to a child! Good luck!

Do you fear for children's safety around mouse killing cats?

You know how big/strong most cats are compared to most dogs, right? Unless you are talking about something like a lynx of course.

Even my last cat who was huge would have been capable of doing less damage than, say, a terrier.

Your vets have no right to spout incorrect information on subjects they don't understand.
Any professional trainer or behaviourist will tell you high prey drive dogs are highly, highly unlikely to carry out the same behaviour on people.

Hunting behaviour, maiming and killing cats, foxes, squirrels etc is instinct for high prey dogs, they are happy and excited and derive great enjoyment from it.

Human aggression by dogs on the other hand is almost always the result of fear, sometimes as a result of bad experiences, sometimes poor socialisation.

A happy, stable, confident dog who happens to have a high prey drive poses very, very little risk to humans.
Just as a high prey drive cat who loves to torture mice poses very, very little risk to humans.

Predatory aggression and human aggression are two very different behaviours with different emotions and motives behind them.

The severity of injury is irrelevant when questioning risk to people here.
Some highly prey driven animals kill straight away with minimal harm, others relish shaking, chasing, capture then let go then capture again etc.
Your cat was badly injured because unfortunately the dog was a lot bigger and stronger and instead of killing her immediately chose to 'play' with its prey.

On attacking other dogs, either the dog is also very fearful towards other dogs and if so, again, there is no link between dog aggression and human aggression or, if the other dog was very small the attacking dog mistook it for a prey animal.

And soupdragon my point is a high prey dog is highly unlikely to pose a risk to humans.
Just as a cat is highly unlikely to pose a risk to humans.
The two motives behind the two types of aggression are very different.
An otherwise happy confident dog who loves to torture small animals very very rarely poses a safety risk to people.