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.

Viva I am actually very very fond of the RGT and have supported them financially in the past.

I honestly, honestly had no idea that however well-trained and domesticated a dog is, they might at any moment savage a small animal to death, and that that's nothing more than an unfortunate aspect of owning a dog.

I sound snide: I don't mean to. In all my years of dogness (as it were) I have never encountered this.

In some ways I have obviously been naive: I'm glad this thread has educated me as I might well experience this myself one day and now I feel a little more prepared, I guess.

Anyway main thing is rotten for the OP and the cat owner and I hope things are being dealt with as well as possible.

"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."

As it is a calculated risk I take (and these owners take) when I choose to allow my 2 cats to roam free, rather than confining them to the house and/or completely cat-proofing the garden to keep them in (don't think this is actually possible!). If this were one of my cats, I'd be devastated, but it's the risk I have chosen to take to give the cats what I perceive as the best life for them. They are far more likely to be killed by a car than a dog but both are risks inherent in allowing a cat to roam free.

For those saying put a muzzle on and leash at all times do you expect the OP to do that when her dog is in its own back garden ? Its ridiculous ,my terrier would kill a cat ( he hasn't yet) ,he has had a go at our neighbours cat in my garden but fortunately I was there and stepped in , I have repeatedly before this incident warned my neighbour but apart from keeping her cat indoors there is no answer ,its a risk that she is prepared to take but there is no way I'm muzzling my dog in his own garden .

I agree that chocolates would feel very wrong. This would be a bereavement for me, and I would be really upset, so I feel a donation to charity (Cats Protection League, or a no-kill rescue home perhaps) and a card would be appropriate. Anything else would feel like it was trivialising my loss (I know that the OP has only the best intentions). I wouldn't blame the OP or the dog, by the way.

Gosh, do all these outraged cat owners have cats with no instinct to chase and kill small furry things?

My cat was awful for torturing mice, pigeons, small birds, anything he could get his wicked little paws on.

If you want to let your cat roam completely unsupervised, killing things, you can't complain too much when they encounter a bigger predator.

I was walking our dogs a little while ago along a back road near our house. Up ahead, I saw a small cat sitting at the corner of the road. My dogs hadn't seen her, so I did that sort of shooing motion with my hands in the hope that she would move before we got to the corner (my dogs would bark at a cat and I didn't want them to do so).
Anyway, the cat did move out of the way. All good.
We get to corner of the road and from the height of a bin the cat comes flying down at us, screeching.
I honestly thought I was going to have a heart attack. Both dogs were momentarily completely thrown and then, of course, started barking like mad.
Cat in the mean time has landed a safe distance from us and calmly walked to the other side of the road.
I admit I may have let out a few swear words.

Now, I love cats. I love pretty much all animals. But they are animals. Our cat (when we had one) used to bring home all manner of half-dead furry and feathered things. The fields around where we live are full of mice and suchlike, which get hunted by cats, dogs, foxes etc.

I think that if your dog breaks into someone else's garden and causes any sort of damage there, then it is clearly not under control. Walking out in the fields and having a cat/mouse/rabbit etc jump out at you is not the same thing at all imo.

I agree with all the posters who've said this was a very sad accident that was not realistically preventable.

Fragglerock have you really never come across the idea that dogs chase cats?

Dogs who kill cats and other small animals aren't to be trusted generally. A well trained dog knows not to do this.

Kitchen it was not an "accident". The dog killed a cat deliberately. I love ALL animals including dogs but none of my dogs have ever killed a cat or even chased one. Sure they show interest but they'd never run after one and slaughter it.

You'd struggle to train a prey drive out of most greyhounds and lurchers, almost as much as you'd struggle to train it out of cats.

It was an accident because the dog encountered the cat in an open field which both animals had the right to be in.
It was neither negligent nor deliberate (on the part of the OP).

Would it make a difference of it was a rabbit? There are loads and loads of rabbits in the fields where we live. Neither of my dogs has shown any interest in them, but what if they did catch and kill one? Would that be different to a cat?

Fraggle it's not a case of a dog savaging a small animal to death "at any moment"; that is the point you seem to be missing.

This was a comparatively rare set of circumstances, which probably explains why you, and many other lifelong dog owners, have not personally encountered it. It was a combination of dog with high prey drive + environment where it was apparently safe for dog to be off-lead + unsuspected small furry springing up under dog's nose. The dog was surprised and instinct took over, just as your instinct if something suddenly jumped out at you would probably be to scream and/or bat it away. That doesn't mean you wander round screaming and lashing out at random.

In most environments where pet cats tend to be prevalent, i.e. streets and gardens, dogs being walked tend to be on leads. 99 times out of a 100, a small furry springing up in front of an off-lead dog will be far enough away to escape, or to give the owner time to grab the dog and get training to override instinct once more, or the dog's prey drive won't be high enough for it to want to give chase. It was just very unfortunate that in this instance, the factors above combined with a tragic outcome.

Kitchen no it wouldn't be different if it were a rabbit. If people want to keep animals as domestic pets then they MUST train them well enough to avoid this type of thing.

Select has ex

I would be very upset indeed if a dog killed one of my 3 cats, but it is dog behaviour. Our neighbour's dog has killed 2 of our guinea pigs on separate forays. We were upset, of course, but it's just a dog behaving in its own way. Just as my cats have killed most of the birdlife in a half mile radius and my biggest cat brings home a baby rabbit daily at this time of year. They're all just being themselves.

I'd offer to pay vet fees or costs of a new cat though if it were me.

Sorry.
Select has explained it perfectly. This is instinct. It was a freak situation.
I really feel for the cat. But the OP seems to have left the thread and given some of the replies I'm not surprised.
The dog is a danger to children? Really? I know one particular dog that is completely not to be trusted with cats. (Owner takes precautions to ensure safe walking.) However this dog will sit and watch my two kids playing and loved people. (Not that I leave them alone tho.) At the end of the day it is still a dog.

Op my cat was once killed like this. Really I think it is just one of the very shit but real risks for outdoor cats. There would be too much irony in declaring it unnatural when cats naturally kills vast numbers of smaller feathered and furry critters too.

I think you have been Entirely reasonable and would be cordial and thank you. It was an accident and my cat would prefer time outside to a longer life of indoor living.

Actually I would let your dog off lead, maybe take up more training and maybe muzzle depending on where you are but lots of dogs would do this. I think lots have who never tell the owners too.

But does that count for cats too? Because they are domestic pets, who most certainly kill quite a lot of small furry and feathered animals.

Btw, I'm not advocating going out with your dog, letting them off lead and saying "go! kill!". I just think that it's unrealistic to expect them to not be, well, dogs. In the same way the cats are being cats.

It would be interesting to hear from more dog owners living out in the country. Our vets recommend regular worming because of the mice and rats etc that dogs might eat - so I'm guessing it's quite a regular occurance.

Dogs are animals and act on instinct. Even as a little puppy our terrier loved to hunt and pounce on his toys, he then shakes the 'rat' he has caught. You cannot train out pure instinct, it is ingrained into him. The only time he is unsupervised is when he is in our garden, he is let off his lead in certain areas where walking and if he was put into this situation he would have done the same. He is very well trained with children and when I took our baby nephew out for a walk with him he chose to stay by the pushchair and protect rather than explore and sniff when he was off lead. But despite this we would never ever leave him alone with young children. As it is unfair to put an animal into this position and a responsible owner should recognise that no matter how well trained and docile a dog may be it can attack when the circumstances stack up.

What happened here is just an unfortunate set of circumstances and no one is to blame.

I also think that if OP was saying her dog had killed another dog then people's reaction would be very different. But if her dog will kill a cat then he may also kill a small dog.

So MrsWinnibago - you've specifically trained your dogs not to react in that exact set of circumstances?

Because if not, your dogs aren't trained not to do it either...you just happen to have low prey drive dogs.

I disagree *MrsWinnebago" our dog will chase cats, the neighbourhood cats love sitting on the fence and taunting him which drives him berserk! He does not confuse small dogs for cats, on the contrary if a small dog is bounding around looking wary as a bigger dog he will often adopt a non-threatening stance so they will come up and have a mutual sniff. Dog behaviour with other dogs is different to prey.

If the OP's dog had killed a small dog in the exact same circumstances as he killed this cat, I'd be saying exactly the same thing.

Of course he may kill a small dog, in the event that small dog appears out of long grass right under his nose. The whole point about instinct is that it is an inbuilt, automatic reaction - it doesn't stop to process "is this a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a rat, a ball? Is this something which human society says I am 'allowed' to chase?" Instinct = "small furry...chase!"

It's quite clear the OP is already taking steps to minimise the chances of anything of this nature happening again. If you are still reading, OP, I would suggest muzzling the dog off-lead - lurchers need to run - rather than keeping him on-lead 100% of the time. If he is on a short lead under close control and you are averagely vigilant, he probably wouldn't need muzzling while on-lead, but if in doubt then muzzling while he is off your property would give you a certain amount of peace of mind.

This is why my cats are locked up in a cattery when we go on holiday.
Interesting reading as we're hoping to get a dog one day.

Mrs Winnebago - no it wouldn't be different if it were a rabbit. If people want to keep animals as domestic pets then they MUST train them well enough to avoid this type of thing.

What about cats?