A dog killed my cat yesterday (Update p.2)

mrcol1000

YorkiePud wrote: »

The fault lies with the owner ... I have been in similar circumstances with a lady who owns an Afghan puppy that she sees fit to let roam.
It chased everything and everyone ... it actually bit two people but the police nor the RSPCA wanted to know.

(Perhaps if I'd said to the RSPCA that I had a BBC camera crew with me, they would have pulled out all the stops).

OP if you contact the Dog Warden, tell them what has happened and say a number of people are noticing this dog is loose and you are worried it will either cause an accident in the road (this seems to get them to take notice) then they usually say they will come driving round that area more often and keep an eye out for it.

The thing to do is phone them EVERY time you see it ... say, "I have just had to let you know, it's had another near miss," ... say whatever you need to, but they will eventually get tired of taking it in and may see it is being neglected and take it off the owner.
Hopefully it could end up with an owner who keeps it in and under control (ie on a lead) at all times when out ...

I kept phoning my Dog Warden and, credit to her, she came down my street daily, taking the dog in each time she saw it. Eventually, the owners got tired of going to get it back and it was rehomed. Good ending all round.

My heart goes out to you, it really does ...

If you say that the dog is in the road and about to cause an accident to the Dog Warden they will tell you to report it to the police. The Dog Warden is not an emergency service and most of the time can not come out straight away. Why should the RSPCA deal with a dog that chases people? Its a police matter. The problem is that its all very confusing and who deals with an incident depends on the angle you look at it and how busy the organisation that you contact.

RacyRed

I'm so very sorry to hear this. RIP Mitchy

YorkiePud_3

mrcol1000 wrote: »

If you say that the dog is in the road and about to cause an accident to the Dog Warden they will tell you to report it to the police. The Dog Warden is not an emergency service and most of the time can not come out straight away. Why should the RSPCA deal with a dog that chases people? Its a police matter. The problem is that its all very confusing and who deals with an incident depends on the angle you look at it and how busy the organisation that you contact.

I mentioned the RSPCA meaning to log it that the dog was out free for long stretches of time and not under control. Sometimes they look into it, or they may have records of calls made reporting neglect or abuse to the same animal.

If you say the dog is in the road, has had near misses etc, is being a nuisance because it is loose, then my local Dog Warden takes that seriously and, as I say, she said she would drive down my street more often (which she did, daily). She knows well enough what the police (in my area) are like. I was kind of hoping all Dog Wardens were the same and would take an interest.

I did not report it to my warden as an emergency and I didn't ask nor expect her to come out straightaway. I told her I was just making her aware of what was happening and she said she was grateful for that. Her #1 concern being if the dog got hit by a car or it caused an accident.

She advised me to phone every time I saw the dog out by itself ... all calls are logged ... then she said after a period of time, something could be done about it, ie steps could be taken to take it off its owners.

Trouble is, a lot of people are too idle to take their dogs out on a lead ... they just boot em out the door and expect them to come to no harm, cause no harm to others (either other dogs, cats, or cause an accident on the road) and think that's acceptable.

I do agree with what you say though .. that it's confusing who to contact. Obviously, in my area, even just to give her the heads up, it is my local Dog Warden but for others it may be different and they may be better advised to contact someone else.

YorkiePud_3

They will not get forgotten,
the cats who've shared our lives.
In subtle ways they let us know
their spirit still survives.

Old habits still make us think
we hear a meow at the door.
Or step back when we drop
a tasty morsel on the floor.

Our feet still go around the place
the food dish used to be,
And, sometimes, coming home at night,
we miss them terribly.

And although time may bring new friends
and a new food dish to fill,
That one place in our hearts
belongs to them. . . and always will.
- Linda Barnes

jha

I am very sorry to hear about your cat. :grouphug:

I cannot help with info about what action you could take against the owner as in my experience even in dog on dog attacks the authorities in my area do very little - even when one of the dogs is dead as a result. They are good with dog on human attacks though - as they should be.

You could consider keeping your other cats in untill you feel happy that the situation is resolved and also dissuade them from going into the front garden / road - i have always done this and find it is good at preventing all sorts of problems including road traffic accidents, dog attacks even kids thinking they look cute and picking them up and taking them home:eek: (this has happened to my neighbour).

Fritillary

Update,

Just been down to the village and spoke to a few people down there. They all know of the dog and apparently it has attacked other cats, a dog and it has bitten a child. The owner leaves it in the garden and it jumps the fence, worryingly there are a couple of other dogs who also roam free and they seemed to have formed a pack. I also now have the address of the owner. Have rung the DW again they said as soon as I see it to phone them and they will come collect it.

My neighbour says that while I was out a pack of three dogs have been back, one of which is the Jack Russell, I am now seriously worried about my neighbours children (she has told them to stay away from it) and our cats. She is going to phone the council tomorrow. I only hope that the parent of the child it has bitten has complained to the police.

Thanks for all your lovely replies and advice it is very much appreicated.

MrsTinks

A few points for clarification in no particular order
A dog must be under control by law - A cat is seen as a free ranging animal and as such is not expected by law to be kept under control (ie leash). If a dog enters your property it is technically illigal, if a cat does then no offence has been committed.
If a child or person has been bitten then most police forces take this seriously - so long as it is not a person interfering in a fight between 2 dogs or a dog and a cat - rightly or wrongly most police forces deem that it's not a direct attack on a person if 2 animals fight and you go and stick your hand in between them. Animals don't rationalise and think "whoops that's a human hand so I must stop defending myself/attacking this evil fur thing in case I accidently chomp down on them in the heat of battle".

Killing a dog is illegal. Pure and simple. No matter how much you hate cats/dogs then killing them (unless you are a farmer and the dog is attacking your livestock on YOUR land) will leave you very open to prosecution and rightly so.

OP I'm very sorry for your loss and I hope you manage to track down the JRTs owner... it may even be worth contacting the local paper to see if they will do a piece about the free roaming pack in your area and shame them all to keep their dogs under control? And try to get them to see the point of the story that not only big nasty breeds like Rotties and so on attack children, but also small terriers like JRTs can hurt children but it never normally makes the news...

My vet incidently owns a dog that given half a chance would kill a cat - for that reason he doesn't leave the house off the lead. Ironically my Dh forgot this once when they were visiting here and the dog got to my smallest cat... she's a bit of a psyco and the end result was: cat = not a scratch, dog = several deep facial scratches as well as couple of piercings to his nose where blood was streaming out off... He gives her a wide berth now when he visits but sadly still thinks other cats are evil and should be chased...

GonzoAston

Hi,

Just wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about your cat.

Also wanted to add, do you have a secure garden? or know of a neighbour who has? Could you/they entice these dogs (once see them) into the garden, making sure that the cats are safely locked away etc, with bits of meat or anything. Then try to lock them in (if you feel you/neighbour can do it safely obviously). Then call the dog warden out to them.

Again, obviously if you/neighbour only feels safe in doing this. Just with kids around and 1 dog already bitten a child.

mrcol1000

MrsTine wrote: »

Killing a dog is illegal. Pure and simple. No matter how much you hate cats/dogs then killing them (unless you are a farmer and the dog is attacking your livestock on YOUR land) will leave you very open to prosecution and rightly so.

Killing a dog is not illegal. Its a private matter between the owner and the person whom killed the dog. Making a dog suffer is a criminal offence. Otherwise your have a lot of vets and farmers filling our jails! There was also a man who killed a neighbours dog because it constantly strayed into his garden and attacked his elderly dog. No charges were brought because they proved that there was one single blow and the dog didn't feel anything. The woman is now taking private action depsite there being a long history of her dog straying in this guys garden and attacking his dog.

MissMoneypenny

Fritillary wrote: »

I just instintivly put my hands between them, the dog let her go but my cat was still in 'attack mode' and started biting me.


I had to go to A&E, on antibiotics and my left hand is bandaged up, have to go back in 48 hrs to have the wounds cleaned and dressed again.

Sorry to hear about your cat. Just had to say please be very careful about the cat bites in your hand and make sure the wounds don't get too infected. I got bitten by a cat on my hand (just one tooth broke the skin) and the infection got so bad that I had to have 3 operations in one week to save my hand. The infection still rotted through a tendon and I needed over 50 physio sessions to try to get movement back.

The surgeon told me that cats mouths are a sewer (much worse than dogs, but cleaner than humans) so please keep a close watch on your wounds.