My cat hates dogs, neighbours have new puppy...

bitemebankers

There's a staggering level of ignorance on this thread.

Firstly, the OP does not require insurance. A cat cannot legally trespass, nor is it's owner responsible for any damage it might do.

Secondly, if you don't want cats coming in your garden, it's up to you to prevent them from coming in, in exactly the same way as you'd do with any other wild animal.

Thirdly, it is illegal to deliberately hurt or injure a cat.

NewKittenHelp

As a cat owner, I'd make sure that my garden was cat-proofed. If your cat didn't like other cats and came into my garden and attacked my cat, then I'd use whatever force was necessary to stop it. Same if I had a dog.

If I were you, and you are able to (which is sounds as if you are) then I'd confine your cat to your garden, if only to stop him being harmed by cat-hating psychopaths who wouldn't stop at just preventing injury, they'd inflict pain and death upon your pet.

Bromley86

There's a staggering level of ignorance on this thread.

Always a dangerous statement to make . It does appear, from anecdotal evidence, that cat owners can be held responsible for the actions of their animals on private property. See:

"the neighbor was forced by the local warden to contain his cat either to his house or a fenced pen because the cat repeatedly came into the other neighbors yard and killed rabbits and even bit a dog. they were held up to pay vet bills as well by the Magistrate."
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090504112458AA7RHPq

I suspect the relevant law was the Animal Act 1971, Section 2(2). But IANAL.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/22

See the section on AA71 here for confirmation that, at the least, liability can occur:
http://www.cats.org.uk/uploads/documents/cat_care_leaflets/EG10-Catsandthelaw.pdf

It's not illegal to deliberately hurt a cat if you're protecting your property on your property from attack by another person's property.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Bromley86 wrote: »

It's not illegal to deliberately hurt a cat if you're protecting your property on your property from attack by another person's property.

Animal cruelty laws say differently.

Cruelty to animals is still illegal. Even if it is an animal that has found its way into the garden.


18 weeks for this piece of **** http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8898400/Cat-killer-jailed-for-18-weeks.html

Four months for this one http://www.libdemvoice.org/lib-dem-candidate-jailed-after-killing-cat-23392.html

Up to six months in prison and a maximum £20,000 fine tells me it isn't perfectly OK to do.


Never find morally repugnant.

bitemebankers

Bromley86 wrote: »

Always a dangerous statement to make

Not on this forum :rotfl:

It's not illegal to deliberately hurt a cat if you're protecting your property on your property from attack by another person's property.

As Jo points out, the law says otherwise.

If you could prove that someone else's cat has caused you loss (unlikely in practice), you may have a civil case against them but that in no way gives you the right to break the law and cause deliberate harm to an animal. The latter is still animal cruelty and would hopefully land you in prison.

pogofish

Caroline_a wrote: »

Jenny, has your cat been neutered? I ask as I noted the scratches on his face and neutered cats normally don't scrap (as they are too damned lazy lol).

Tell that to my old tomcat then - neutered, two stone in weight and a full yard from nose to tail. And very, very territorial - He was constantly battling any cats that dared to enter his territory and displayed a ratting ability that would put most country terriers to shame!

He was not too happy about dogs either and with three dogs between the neighbouring two houses he had his work cut out and would take-on any of them. The sight of my then neighbour's two dobermans cowering before him and then hi-tailing it out of the garden as he bore down on them was quite something.

The other neighbour had a particularly stupid boxer who bore the brunt of his ire - that dog was forever trying to dig its way through the hedge, only to usually find my cat sitting waiting to excercise his claws on him as soon as he got his nose through the other side. You could always recognise the telltale yelp when the poor dog got a facefull! I think the cat looked forward to this because for a long time after the boxer died, he would patrol the hedge looking for signs of ingress and seemed saddened not to get any.

Then there was the time a pal turned-up with his German Sheperd and mog went from sound asleep/currled-up to a full-on alien-syle face-wrap in a fraction of a second. Took the two of us ages to prize him off and the dog never came-up the side of the house again. Another time I had a friend with a Rottweiler come to stay and every night, it was my cat who took-over and slept in the dog's big bed, wilst the dog slept on the hard floor! :eek:

My current neighbours now have five dogs between them but my current two cats are a bit more laid back about it and prefer just to tantalise the dogs from places just out of reach - tops of high walls, sheds and overhanging branches!

So my money is on the cat, every time. Let them sort out their own pecking order and once the dog learns who is boss, all should be fine!

Bromley86

As Jo points out, the law says otherwise.

Are you seriously taking the position that you would not be allowed to use reasonable force to break up two animals fighting, especially if it's on your own property.

I haven't looked into that, but I'd be amazed if that was the case. From an animal cruelty perspective, it's surely worse to stand back and let one animal kill the other rather than to, for example, strike one or both with minimal reasonable force.

bitemebankers

Bromley86 wrote: »

Are you seriously taking the position that you would not be allowed to use reasonable force to break up two animals fighting

Sly change of position there. You originally said:

"It's not illegal to deliberately hurt a cat if you're protecting your property on your property from attack by another person's property."

...in which you mention nothing about a fight between two animals.

Even then, the law does not give you permission to deliberately hurt an animal. You *may* be let off the hook under a "reasonable force" defence if you *accidentally* injured an animal when attempting to separate two fighting animals but that's completely different to what you were originally claiming.

Notsosharp

Bromley86 wrote: »

Are you seriously taking the position that you would not be allowed to use reasonable force to break up two animals fighting, especially if it's on your own property.

I haven't looked into that, but I'd be amazed if that was the case. From an animal cruelty perspective, it's surely worse to stand back and let one animal kill the other rather than to, for example, strike one or both with minimal reasonable force.

You didn't mention "reasonable force" originally though did you and neither did any of the OP's. I mean saying you'd throttle any cat that attacked your dog isn't exactly use reasonable force.

And yes, if my cat is attacking your dog (unlikely) then fine, use reasonable force to stop them doing it but not to the extent you kill them! Why is the fact a cat is s***ing in your garden any excuse to harm/kill it. Are you going to kill EVERY creature that messes in your garden?

Don't use your anger at cat owners not taking responsibility for their animals behaviour to be deliberately cruel/cause harm to cats. It is after all, not their fault. It is not cat's fault there is no responsibility legally to stop cats wondering, but people forget that they also have less protection under the law as a result. For example you don't have to report hitting a cat with a car whereas with a dog you do. Ultimately: dogs, cows, horses Etc are more controlled because they have the potential to cause more damage, even blinking badgers are being culled because of TB!

Also, deers and horses roam wild, no ones calling for them to be penned up because of damage they cause are they? People who own these herds can be held liable for the damage they cause, same as dog owners and to some extent cat owners too.

If I went round saying I was going to throttle any dog that misbehaved whether in my garden or out of it you'd all be squawking "oh well thats not the dog's fault is it, it's the owners".

I detest being placed in the same camp as these cat owners who genuinely don't give a monkeys what their cat is up to! After all, no dog owner likes being crammed into the same camp as irresponsible dog owners do they?

I follow RSPB advice, my cats are always in at night and early in the morning to limit the damage they do to the local wildlife; but if you could be bothered checking their website they specifically state there is NO PROOF scientifically they're damaging the local bird population. They also quite clearly state it is a criminal offence to cause harm/suffering to a cat. Also, I don't hear anyone mentioning the rats/mice/squirrels cats catch, after all, a lot of farms have cats specifically for this, if cats weren't allowed to roam then I'm fairly sure there would be a bigger population of these animals then there actually is. My cats have never caught a bird between any of them, they have however caught rats/mice etc.

I have told all my neighbours if they don't want my cats in their garden then they can scare them out using any means they wish (providing it doesn't do them harm) and as for causing harm to pet rabbits etc I would have thought it's the owners of these pets responsibility to ensure these animals come to no harm? After all, cats aren't the only animals that predate them, they could just as easily be harmed/killed by a fox/hawk/dog that wonders into their garden. Most of the neighbourhood cats were terrified of my rabbit, she was a horror! She would even chase my mum's terrier round the garden!

Not everything can be blamed on cats; it's just pointless hysteria used as an excuse to harm them!

~Chameleon~

I was reminded of this thread this afternoon - whilst busy weeding in the back garden, a neighbour's dog from a few doors up suddenly appeared in my garden. The back door was open so she decided to take a nosy inside, only to be met with the full force of my very elderly cat who chased her out and back under the hedge from where she came :rotfl: