My neighbour's dog killed our lovely cat.

[manyhands]

Well the title says it all. They called the police as we said they had a dangerous dog. They said the dog jumped over a six foot wall ( a greyhound) and escaped and well it's a hunting dog anyway! Needless to say the kids are heartbroken. Is there anyone else I should report the incident too.

id say the police are your first port of call but id call the council and the RSPCA too for advice.
in all honesty, it will depend on the police officer you get to deal with it as to weather or not anything comes of it - its all so hit and miss as i am learning - call RSPCA as this is their bread and butter.

oh i am so sorry to hear this. Poor cat.

Thank you, the police seemed move concerned that there would be no ongoing tensions. I'll ring the RSPCA.

What a terrible situation for you all.

im a police officer - its an issue that would be close to my heart but not for some im afraid - RSPCA will be your best bet for any prospect of a prosecution i would say.

I honestly don't think there's a lot you can do about this. When a cat killed my budgie, it was just one of those things cats do. I'd have felt stupid calling the police.

Thank you, I'd not thought of the RSPCA.

Greyhounds can have a very high prey drive and your neighbours must do something about securing their fence or have the dog permanently muzzled outside. You said the neighbours called the police - what's been their attitude towards what's happened?

Poor you and dcs, must be horrible

a bit different backinthebox - a cat is seen differently in law to a dog - but RSPCA will advise.

If you report it to the police they'll refer it to the RSPCA anyhoo (well they should do).
The police will put it down as criminal damage & unless you/someone saw the dog kill your cat it's unlikely it will go any further (if it did they're likely to sieze & destroy the dog, haven't known many owners get charged for dangerous but not illegal dog that 'only' killed a cat), however at least you've let someone know & if the dog goes on to attack another animal/person they've got evidence of the animal behaving badly in the past.

Hope your children are ok (and really hope they didn't find cat). :(

The neighbours attitude is that it is natural for a greyhound! They were horrified that we said there dog was dangerous. I'm assuming it was defensiveness on there part.

The children didn't find the cat and think she's in heaven.

speaking as a police officer its unlikely (it wont happen) their dog will be seized. it wont. dont kid yourself.

not all police officers would think to refer this to the RSPCA - so do it yourself.

Several people say the dog kill our cat it was another neighbour who told us whose dog it was.

It must be a defensive mechanism. They must be concerned that their dog may be destroyed.

I'm not a cat owner but I hate the idea of any animal suffering.

Even though they are animals and it's instinctive to hunt its still hurtful

those people will need to be willing to go on record and say what they saw.

what outcome do you want OP?

It is natural for some greyhounds - high prey drive to chase and kill small animals. It doesn't mean that the dog is dangerous to people/kids if thats what you meant by it being dangerous.

However thats not much comfort to you when you've had your cat killed. They do need to realise now that they need to make the fence taller and muzzle it when outside. Your neighbours probably didn't think it would get over a 6ft fence. RGT say to have a 6ft fence/wall for greyhounds which suggests to me that even they think thats sufficient.

Your neighbours don't sound very remoresful. My neighbours dog got in my garden and chased my chickens away, though we did finally find them. They were round with wine, chocolate, in tears.

Honestly I dont know the outcome I want and it's a good question! I don't want another cat to be attacked by this dog but I think they will much more vigilant as others have pointed out they don't want their dog to be destroyed.

Oh Dear. How sad. I don't know what to say about this, OP. Some dogs do have a very high prey drive and killing small, furry things would be just part of their genetics. However, it's socially unacceptable (and a horrible loss for your family) to allow a dog to be in this situation. I'm sure the owners thought a 6 foot fence would be enough to contain their dog; although if I knew my large, agile dog had a penchant for cats, I'd install an 8 foot one...jumping a 6 foot fence is pretty extreme (even for horses!). Do you think they are being 100% forthcoming about that?

A friend has two rescue GH, both with high prey drives that have to be muzzled on walks, they have before killed rabbits when not wearing them. However, in every other regard they are very gentle and lazy dogs, they certainly wouldn't see a small child as prey.

I suggest one of the outcomes you want is a visit by the RSPCA or Dog Warden to your neighbours, with the insistence they increase the height of the fence (if the council permits it), or grow some kind of plant barrier (a spite-bush) or muzzle their dog whenever it is outside. I don't know how much power they would have to enforce this though, but it seems wrong just to let it go as 'one of those things', especially as without any action it could happen again.

I have to say I don't think my greyhound could get over a 6ft fence. She's not very agile. Very fast on the flat but not made for jumping fences.

The neighbours are probably mortified and can't face you OP. Have they got DC's? Is this dog a child's pet? Do you really really want this dog to be killed? Please think about this hard before you report them to anyone.

I am sorry about your cat. I can't see how a greyhound can get over a 6 ft fence though, even when cats taunt mine on the top of a fence they can't get over, and mine have a high prey drive (have caught and eaten rabbits). And then it must have jumped back again if you didn't catch it in your garden?

What an awful thing to happen manyhands and worse that your neighbours seem so blase about it.
I'm sure it was just shock that made them sound so uncaring, hopefully they'll be back to reassure you they've taken steps to ensure this can never happen again.
I don't think you have any chance of getting this dog taken away/pts etc. The notoriously rubbish bit of legislation which i the dangerous dogs act does now have a body of sensible case law behind it which mitigates against vengeful prosecutions.

Six-foot fencing would definitely count as a reasonable precaution and I agree with other posters that it is unlikely a dog would jump that without significant motivation.
Either the dog was chasing your poor cat out of it's own garden, or, more likely, got out through the fencing not being secured.

Either way, a prosecution is not really on the cards but if your neighbours continue to behave in such a cavalier way, I would definitely alert the council.

If you know which rescue your neighbours got their dog from, I would also call and let them know what has happened. Most reputable charities would be concerned to hear that the dog had escaped and troubled by its owners' attitude to your loss.

Hope your neighbours come good and that the DCs are not too upset.