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Original poster

Neighbours dogs have killed my cat. Distraught.

296 replies

MissingKittyCat · 19/04/2015 13:52

I've name changed as this will totally out me.

On Thursday night, my darling 5 year old cat went out. she was the most timid cat, I rescued her as a kitten from an abisive household. It took her months to trust me but for the past 5 years, she has been my shadow. Scared of everything, she took huge comfort in me.

She didn't come back on Friday, I knew then that she was never coming home. I kept the faith and asked all my neighbours to keep an eye out. She had never been missing for this long. She hardly ever left the garden, if she did I knew her hiding place and she used to pop out when she heard my voice. She wasn't in the hiding spot.

Saturday morning, I started a social networking missing cat campaign. I was still half hoping she was in somebody's house (very unlikely as she was so timid) but I assed she had been hit by a car or something and just wanted to know. Tried the local vet, neighbours again. People on social networks were so helpful.

I went searching. It transpired one of our neighbours, who erected a 12ft fence lately (with spikes on top) has three dogs. Two Staffordshire bull terriers and an enormous bull mastiff. He welled up as he told me he had found my beautiful cat in his garden on Friday morning. He had taken her to the vet who were going to keep her for a few days to see if an owner enquired. She was dead. I asked if his pack of dogs had savaged her, he said not. I told him she had no chance of escape, that his fence was too high, he was visibly upset, profusely apologetic. He told me 3 times what he'd done, said he thought he was doing the right thing when he erected the fence. He took my number and said he'd get the vet to call me when they open tomorrow.

I am heartbroken. My cat was a nervous wreck, scared of her own shadow. I can't understand why she's end up in a garden with three dogs. She barely left the house, she followed me around like a lamb. I'm so upset, I feel her trauma, she must have been so frightened.

I know it's not the dogs fault but I cant help but hate them for it. I don't want to live near them anymore. My other cat (who is very old and frail) looks so lonely and keeps crying at the door for her.

It's unbelievably tragic. I'm utterly heartbroken. She wasn't just a cat, she was my friend, she was my therapy. And I miss her.

OP posts:
GraysAnalogy · 19/04/2015 16:16

Deer need 8ft at most, and that is a fact

Funny that, a quick google said some can reach 15 :)

GraysAnalogy · 19/04/2015 16:17

Well since I'm a HCP and not a groundworker, you wouldn't come to me anyway. And I'm not saying he should have built it. I'm explaining his reasoning behind it.

And how it is not to blame for the cats death no matter how many people want a scapegoat.

Floggingmolly · 19/04/2015 16:17

Why can't you take steps to keep your cats in your own garden? If the guy's dogs were on private land behind a 12ft fence; he has certainly done all he can to keep most things safe from them??
An easy way to cat proof your fence is to secure about two feet of wire netting horizontally to the top of the fence. The cats run up the fence; realise something's preventing their heads going any further and jump down.
Cheap and simple.

PlanningMyFuture · 19/04/2015 16:17

The OP has already explained that the neighbour was a victim of robbery

Can you just explain to me factually Grays why the neighbour was the victim of armed robbery?

Where exactly?

SingingHinnies · 19/04/2015 16:18

Regardless he obviously has a reason for erecting the fence on his property which probably cost a lot of money, it doesnt change the fact the cat was somehow in his garden, if he wants a 12ft fence on his property thats up to him. Hia dogs were not on your property, your cat was on hia

SingingHinnies · 19/04/2015 16:18

His

debricassartcleary · 19/04/2015 16:18

Ok fair enough but you can't put up 12 ft fences and this is one of the reasons why - it causes problems. The cat could have most likely escaped from the garden with a 6ft fence.

debricassartcleary · 19/04/2015 16:19

It's not up to him singing unless he has planning permission.

Floggingmolly · 19/04/2015 16:20

It got in to a garden with a 12ft fence, debric, getting out is just doing exactly that in reverse...

GahBuggerit · 19/04/2015 16:21

i feel for the neighbour. i feel desperately sad for you op, but now it just seems you are intent on blaming him. dont get me wrong if hes lied about how he found the cat then by all means have at it, but from what youve said nothing wrong has actually happened. it IS possible he didnt hear you calling, and by thd same token one could wonder why you didnt ask him if hed seen thd cat when you asked your other neighbours, why you didnt ring ALL the local vets again on Saturday etc. all just going round in circles blaming everything when its nearly certainly just a tragic misadventure

SoupDragon · 19/04/2015 16:21

He didn't build the fence to keep them in, they could jump the wrought iron gates at the front, he built it to stop children climbing over his wall, using it as a thoroughfare or because he was armed robbed. Heard 2 tales, both from him!

As per the OP, the fence is irrelevant WRT the dogs.

GraysAnalogy · 19/04/2015 16:21

planning

What are you talking about? Who said anything about armed robbery, why should I explain anything, and what do you mean why he was the victim.

You're trying to divert from the issue anyway. This isn't about his fence or the reasoning behind the fence.

This is about a small fact of life that if you have a free roaming cat there are dangers and you cannot blame anyone else for them. If they enter a dogs home then there is a chance the dog will attack. This is nature. This is not down the bad ownership or evil dogs. It's nature. Just as a cat would go for a mouse.

People expect this dog owner to make the fence cat safe (how exactly) yet there's not responsibility on the cat owner to prevent her cat from going to the dogs?

LunaMay · 19/04/2015 16:21

I'm sorry to hear about your cat, it's a horrible way to lose a pet. I'm going to be honest though and say the blame lies with you and not your neighbour, why let your cat roam? Build a run next time you get a cat to keep them and native animals safe. We actually have a curfew in place for cats in my town

SoupDragon · 19/04/2015 16:22

It got in to a garden with a 12ft fence, debric, getting out is just doing exactly that in reverse...

No it isn't. My cocker spaniel got into a garden with a 5ft fence but couldn't get out. However, only one side had a convenient structure to use as a step.

SingingHinnies · 19/04/2015 16:24

The fence wasn't an issue though till the cat was killed so to start complaining now about the fence seems stupid to me, the cat got in so should have been able to get out

ragged · 19/04/2015 16:27

Sorry for your loss, OP. I'm sure your cat had a fab life with you until the very last moment. Nobody could have asked for better. Please celebrate all you gave to her. Flowers

GraysAnalogy · 19/04/2015 16:27

If my rabbit escaped and went into next doors garden and was attacked by her cats then I'd be gutted.

But I'd accept it's no-ones fault except perhaps my own for not securing it properly.
I wouldn't try to blame NDN for one of the following

  1. not having a secure enough garden
  2. having multiple cats
  3. having a garden without an escape route for my rabbit
PtolemysNeedle · 19/04/2015 16:30

The fence is completely irrelevant.

The cat was in a garden that doesn't belong to it's owner and that has dogs in it. If the cat got in, the cat could have got out. Even if it couldn't, this is just the risk you take when you choose to allow your pet into other people's gardens. It's sad that the cat has died, but the neighbour is not at fault in any way.

Original poster
MissingKittyCat · 19/04/2015 16:30

Oh my god!! gah WHERE have I blamed him??? I don't BLAME him! I don't BLAME his dogs. I don't like them. But I don't BLAME them!

I think the 12ft fence is the ultimate in paranoia but I didn't blame him, did I.

Curiosity killed the cat.

You need to learn the difference between speculation and blame.

OP posts:
MetallicBeige · 19/04/2015 16:31

My old rabbit used to beat up passing cats, he was a brute bless him.

MissingKittyCat · 19/04/2015 16:31

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

parsnipbob · 19/04/2015 16:31

I agree with pp, it's not the dog's fault. Nor the owners.

It's not a breed thing either. I've known Labradors and springers to go for cats. It's the instinct of some dogs. Again, like pp have said, just as cats go for mice and other small furries.

LIZS · 19/04/2015 16:32

But singing it depends on the type of fence. If it was slatted vertically on that side it would be difficult for any animal other than say a squirrel to clamber that height. With a 6 ft fence, as permitted by law, a cat would have stood a greater chance of getting one foot hold and leaping to safety. Whether the scaling of the fence and perhaps fall that killed it or the dogs once it was trapped should be clear to the vet. Tbh there is something about the neighbour's story which doesn't add up. A violent burglary would have been known locally, for example.

Fleecyleesy · 19/04/2015 16:32

If the dogs are kept in such a carefully fenced area, they are presumably supervised when they are taken out. The cat must have entered the neighbours' garden through a tiny gap or climbed a gate which is lower than the rest of the fence etc. Sorry for your loss Sad. Are you able to make your garden secure for your other cat?

parsnipbob · 19/04/2015 16:32

Luna, a curfew for cats?! Wtf?!

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