My dog killed a cat this afternoon. What now?

[HarrietSchulenberg]

Out with dog this afternoon. Dog off lead in seemingly empty field. Cat jumped up from long grass in front of him and he pounced. Cat didn't really have a chance. It was still alive when I managed to get dog off so wrapped it up and took it to vet who lives locally. Vet just rang to say cat died. Owners on holiday till Tuesday but have been told.

First step is dog is staying on lead at all times. Next step is training classes, will ring when I get home tomorrow eve. What else?

Dog is insured so should be covered for vet costs for cat. Will have bill for him too as he was injured, but still waiting to know how much. Will offer to meet with cat owners, if they want to. Do I need to muzzle him if he's on a lead?

Really shocked at the mo and prob not thinking straight. I've always had cats until recently so I really feel for the owners.

Will be bwck in a while, need to get kids to bed.

[Scuttlebutter]

Even high prey drive dogs can distinguish between a child and a small furry.

OP, I would strongly recommend that you contact DogLaw as a matter of urgency, particularly before the cat owners return from holiday and you will be speaking to them again. Trevor Cooper will give you expert and up to date advice - this is a very specialist area of law which has recently changed.

Unfortunately, there have been prosecutions by the RSPCA of a greyhound owner whose dog killed a cat in very similar circumstances, under the Animal Welfare Act. With prosecution a possibility, you need to ensure you are doing the right thing.

It's possible your insurance may help with legal costs.

[Wolfiefan]

Dogs do have to be kept under control though. It's a legal requirement.
Cats are a law unto themselves. Unless they are locked in a house 24/7 their owners can't control them.
Lurchers are sight hounds? So bred to chase small furry things that run?
(I heard a horrid case of a sight hound that lived with cats. He weed on a plant in his garden, cat shot out and he grabbed it. Bloody awful but how could it be prevented?)

[VivaLeBeaver]

It cant be 'Dangerously out of Control' contrary to s.3 DDA 1991, because 'Dangerously out of control' is defined as being 'on any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person'.

Not cats.

[VivaLeBeaver]

www.theargus.co.uk/news/10569305.___No_crime____say_Sussex_Police_as_kitten_is_killed_by_dog_in_Shoreham/?ref=rc

[VivaLeBeaver]

Actually here it does say that a dog can be considered to be dangerously out of control if it hurts an animal.

www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/overview

[Trillions]

Are you fucking serious? You should have the dog put to sleep or ideally torn to pieces by a lion

If this had been one of my cats, I'd be coming for you.

[Lovelydiscusfish]

Am not trying to be unhelpful, as I can imagine how awful this must be, OP, but is keeping the dog on a lead at all times really viable? How will it get appropriate exercise? Are there any places you could walk it which are likely to be cat-free - woodlands, national parks etc? Otherwise I think your dog is only likely to become more frustrated and aggressive.
Another issue is small dogs - is it dog-aggressive at all? My friend's rescue greyhound killed a toy breed dog in similar circ.s - nightmare all round. I really feel for you OP

[Scuttlebutter]

DDA is not the only law that applies here though. AWA also applies, but like I said upthread, OP needs expert advice on this.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Do you know what OP even though its an awful thing which happened at least you took it to a vet.

Quite a few people might have left it to die in the field for fear of the owner "coming for you".

I have cats, I have a dog. I'm not on the dogs side. I feel sorry for the cat. I'd be upset if it happened to my cat but I'd think that these things happen.

[ravenAK]

I'm a cat lover with very little interest in dogs, but I'd still be accepting this as 'one of those things'. There's no more sense in blaming the dog than there would be in getting angry if the cat had been hit by a car.

The dog behaved as you'd expect when something small & furry leapt up under his nose. One of my cats is a bugger for breaking the wings of pigeons, which is an unattractive trait - but again, she's just being a cat.

It's one of the reasons that I'm not a dog fan, though. Given that any domesticated carnivore is quite capable of unexpectedly taking a chunk out of something that startles it, I'd rather feel guilty about pigeons than my neighbours' pets...

[Canidae]

Lurchers are bred to chase small and furry things. All dogs have prey drives (chasing a rolling ball for example) but some breeds will have a higher drive than others.

This does not mean that because they chase cats, rabbits or rodents that they would kill a child. Prey drive is natural in carnivores, including cats. But aggression towards people is not and should never be tolerated.

I doubt that legally the cat owners could do anything. Harriet was responsible in her actions and will prevent it from happening again which will be in her favour.

[mswibble]

OP - how nice of you to take the cat to the Vets, I doubt many others would have bothered. I think you've done exactly what any responsible dog owner should do.
All this about your dog being dangerous and 'what if it was a child?' doesnt wash with me. There is a huge difference between a snarling cat which was probably clawing at your dog and a child.

As you can probably tell im a dog person. Though I wouldnt wish ill harm on a cat it does annoy me how they seem to be allowed free run of the place and allowed to do as they please. Off on a tangent but my neighbours cat saw fit to crap all over my back doorstep - constantly. If I had complained im sure I would have been met with 'well thats what cats do'. Well dogs will instinctly attack when faced with a small fluff ball.

[Floralnomad]

Some of the responses on here are just ridiculous ,the dog was being a dog and it is an unfortunate accident . I agree that the OP should seek advice and if it were me I would ring the insurance company and see what they say ,as many policies make a point of saying that you should not admit liability .

[Martorana]

My dd has a pony that she has owned and loved for 7 years. They have a fantastic bond, and pony is a gorgeous, intelligent, sensitive creature. This afternoon something happened- too complicated to go into details - and pony panicked. She was, for about 10 minutes, completely uncontrollable. Dd said "she looked straight through me like a wild pony- she didn't know who I was. She had gone back to primal horse" Dd was incredibly shaken and upset. But because a horse is not a predator, she is still alive and unhurt. I dread to think what would have happened if that had been a dog. Nobody should ever trust a pet absolutely. Scratch the surface and there's a wild animal. I didn't understand that until this afternoon, when I saw that pony.

[Stayingundertheduvet]

I live in Scotland and there was a case recently where a dog killed a cat that had gone into the garden where the dog lived. The dog was ordered to be put down.
I think this was very harsh and worrying as our dog is allowed into our garden whenever she wants.

[ravenAK]

I doubt it was snarling or clawing. From the OP's description it bolted out of the long grass.

I agree that OP acted responsibly in taking the cat to the vet, but I'd be horrified to think that anyone 'wouldn't bother' to seek help for an injured, distressed animal .

In fact, even if you were essentially pretty callous about the cat's suffering, you'd be aware that it was someone's pet; so you'd take it to the vet, because otherwise it'd crawl away & die, & someone somewhere would be searching for their cat.

Any decent dog owner would 'bother' as they'd hope someone coming across their dog gravely injured would bother, surely?

[Canidae]

Any injured animal should be taken to a vets. It would be illegal to leave a animal suffering plus morally very cruel.

To those claiming the dog should be killed, what do you think should happen if a cat is run over by a car?

A friend's neighbour has had a pet rabbit killed by a cat while it was in run in the garden. She saw it happen from an window upstairs but the rabbit was dead very quickly. The cat's owner didn't care and was quite aggressive when approached.

There will always be a risk when animals are let to roam or off lead.

[MexicanSpringtime]

I am the proud owner of five cats, but even though I would be very upset if they were attacked by a dog, I know your response to the incident would completely disarm me.

They are animals with basic instincts, cats of mine have killed many small birds and much as I hate it, they are animals, not humans (and to tell the truth at the level of international politics, humans come out really bad).

[Martorana]

"OP - how nice of you to take the cat to the Vets, I doubt many others would have bothered"

Bloody hell- no wonder dog owners get a bad name...........

[matildasquared]

If I were the cat's owner I'm afraid I'd be very angry to receive chocolates and whatnot from you. This wasn't "one of those things," or some unforeseeable accident. It was a calculated risk you decided to take.

A dog is supposed to be under your control at all times. That's the law. If it got away from you to that extent it's not under "voice-control," which you already knew. Therefore it should have been on a lead.

Even a non-aggressive dog will chase and bound, we all know that.

So what an incredible sense of entitlement you had when you came across an empty field and decided to take your dog off-leash so he could bound away. It's like you're saying, "Now we'll take over this field, sod the fact that it's still lambing/foaling season, sod the fact that there might be other people walking who don't want a dog rushing them, sod the fact that there might be a family pet around."

No, I don't think your poor animal should be PTS but don't kid yourself that it's "one of those things."

[TheCunnyFunt]

The dog should be killed? Really? FFS it's a dog being a dog. Would you have your cat PTS if it killed a bird/rabbit/small rodent? What if the bird/rabbit/small rodent was someones pet? Would you have your cat PTS if it killed someones pet? Somehow I highly doubt it.

My dog killed my rabbit last year, she had escaped her hutch and I didn't know. Let the dog out for the toilet and all this terrible squealing suddenly started. I've never screamed and shouted at my dog so loud before, he dropped her immediately when I started bellowing at him. Since then he has never shown the slightest inclination to chase and kill our toddler. Fwiw he's a greyhound. It's been bred into him for the past 3000 or so years that he's to chase and kill. No amount of training is going to change that.

[TheCunnyFunt]

Matilda the OP hasn't stated what kind of field it was. For all we know it could've been a fully enclosed field especially for exercising dogs.

[matildasquared]

I'll eat my hat if it's a "fully enclosed field especially for exercising dogs." If it were, she'd have said.

[FrontForward]

I find it really odd that cat owners think their cats should be free to poo in neighbours gardens, kill neighbours small animals yet think walking a dog in a field irresponsible. Dogs run...they need fields to run. Letting them run through your garden or the park with children on swings is irresponsible. A field is responsible. Thousands get pleasure from dogs and cats. If you accept that a cat is a wild animal and it must be allowed to roam free to poo in a child's sandpit next door then dogs must get walked off lead. If you don't agree with one, then don't agree with either.