Dog Attacks Cat In Dogs Own Yard

[mumof4girls]

I find this amazing.. cat is in your yard but your at fault? I thought cats had to be kept in an enclosure or inside due to the wildlife?? Sad for the cat but gee whiz..

[melzawelza]

Please note that my statement that cats are able to roam applies to NSW only - I don't know the legislation in other states. I know that some Council's in VIC have cat curfews and the cat can't wander onto someone's property more than twice (I think?) so the laws may be different elsewhere too. But in NSW - there is technically no such thing as a stray cat and cats can wander wherever they like.

Doesn't mean we can't make the choice to protect our cats by keeping them inside and/or in an enclosure. Mine are never outside unsupervised.

[Whippetsmum]

The clause about unreasonable aggression.....wouldn't that just that be dragged out if for example, a child jumped the fence and got mauled, rather than if a cat made a poor judgement? The dog was being a dog.

Where do you draw the line, what if a rabbit wanders in to say hello, or a guinea pig or pet rat? My dog caught a budgie and killed it, but the budgie like the cat in question shouldn't have been in the dog's yard.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Whippetsmum

[MavericksMission]

As a cat owner, I feel that it is my responsibility to keep them safe and contained at all times.

I would be devastated if that happened to one of my cats, but I wouldn't blame the dog for doing something they do by instinct, on their own property.

We have a stray cat who comes and sits on our back fence every night and teases the dogs.

Maverick get VERY upset that this cat comes by every night.

The cat doesn't have a collar, I am thinking of possibly setting a cat trap so I can take him to the pound as unfortunately I do know what Maverick would do if managed to catch him..

Edited April 17, 2012 by MavericksMission

[Lady Flying Furball]

I was confused by the OP as to who called the council.. was it her friend or the dogs owner?? If I was in the OP's friends shoes I would be over the mooon that they just showed concern towards the cat. I wouldnt as I didn't expect the dogs owner to foot the bills.

It was a member of the dog owners family (my friend) who phoned to check. The dog owner feels awful about it and has morally done all the right things but is now concerned after her relative (my friend) said she could be in deep poo. I guess they are now just worried about the legal ramifications so I said I'd ask the DOL folk.The neighbours didn't see the attack but the dog owners were home when it happened and rushed the cat straight over where the owners were home and took the cat straight to the vet. So at this point they don't know if the cat made it or not.

Look, no one has made a complaint yet, right? The cat owner would be the one who needs to put in a complaint. Frankly who ever phoned the council from the dog owners side is scaremongering I would say and should chill. It would be a harsh council indeed to take steps against a dog properly fenced attacking a cat going into the yard. Gawd, when I was growing up our dacshund killed so many of the neighbours cats through them coming into our yard... Sad but they should have not come in, what are you as the dog owner meant to do???

[mantis]

Who has phoned the council? Your friend or the dog owner?

Many years ago I owned a beautiful white persian cat. She was just gorgeous. One day I got a call at work from the people across the road to say that their dog (I don't know what breed) had attacked her & she was in a bad way. They got my number from her tag - I'd never spoken to these people in my life.

I rush the half hour home from work & find my poor little cat mauled almost to death & completely drenched from where they had to put the hose on the dog to get it off my cat. They hadn't even put a towel or anything over her to try and keep her warm & calm. They didnt give a sh*t. No apology.. nothing.

Despite me spending hundreds on my little one having her jaw rewired & puncture wounds repaired I had to make the horrible decision to PTS as she wasn't recovering.

I was devastated but what made it worse was the fact that I heard nothing from the people across the road again. They didn't pop round to ask after her or even put a note in my letterbox... nothing. It was a heartbreaking experience & I haven't thought about it in a long long time.

Sorry to sound harsh but perhaps if you'd kept your cat contained instead of letting it wander it wouldn't be dead. Whilst most people would apologise and feel terrible their dog had done this to someone else's pet they're not actually at fault in any way and probably get pissed off with roaming cats entering their yard all the time.

Exactly, we have to keep our dogs contained on our property, so should cat owners. What if someone runs over a cat, are they going to want the driver charged?

Kenny unfortunately killed a cat in our backyard, it had no bite wounds, just a broken neck. He obviously thought it was one of his toys, that he used to throw in the air & shake them.

I rang the ranger next day to ask what I should do & if Kenny could be in trouble, he said if the cat had no identification, just bury it & that it was the cat owners fault, for letting the cat roam.

[ChloeEastwood]

My council legally requires cats restricted to their property and if they are found trespassing on another property more than once it may be seized and impounded, issued an order to stop trespassing and if they don't comply receive a fine. Given any chance majority of dogs will defend their territory even to the demise of another living creature, it's a natural instinct. Poor kitty though, if only it's owner(s) were more responsible (shame on you.)

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I don't think cats are allowed to roam in NSW but perhaps I'm wrong. I grew up with cats but have terriers now so it's definitely not possible but if I ever have a cat in the future, it will be coontained in some sort of run, I couldn't cope with not knowing what happened to the cat if it didn't come home one day.

Some of the laws are quite ridiculous though - I wasn't allowed to rescue a very small dog from the pound last year as it had been declared a "dangerous dog". It had killed a guinea pig, I'll never forget the poor little mite. I like all animals but someone gave the dog access to the guinea pig - ie the a---hole owners who then got their dog a death sentence rather than allowing it a chance at life. So very wrong.

[coogie]

In our Council area you can get a dangerous dog declaration if your dog kills a cat on your property. The Friday before Good Friday the GSD in the yard over our back fence killed the side neighbours cat, the cat was not dead when the neighbour found the GSD with him but died en route to the vet. I had heard the commotion (it was early hours of the morning) but assumed it was a possum or bat the dog had bailed up.The neighbour over the back was unsure where the cat lived as it roamed the entire area constantly.

On the Saturday morning the side neighbour called us and asked if we had seen the cat, we had not but it made me think about the incident the previous morning and I offered to ask the back neighbour, he confirmed it was her cat that the dog had caught and that it was dead. He also said the GSD had a tooth embedded in his muzzle and he would be seeking money for his vet bills - up until that point the side neighbour; whilst very upset had acknowledged it was her fault for not containing the cat. When she heard he was looking to her to pay his vet bills for the dog she said if he did this she would report the dog to the council. He said she did not stand a chance as the cat was on his property, the dog is properly contained and has never escaped.

Turns out he is wrong -on checking with the Council (anonymously) he was informed if there is a formal complaint they will declare his dog dangerous. The Council's rationale for their decisions on these things " other pet owners in the area have the right to know what might happen if their pets stray into his yard". Nothing was said regarding the side neighbour's obligations or otherwise to contain her cats. She has others and they also roam, I have asked both her and our other side neighbour repeatedly to please keep their cats out of our property to no avail.

The responsible dog owner will have to bear the brunt of her lack of care of her cat. He will be asked to build an additional enclosure inside his yard for the dog, despite the fact the dog has never escaped and there is no suitable area due to the fact they have extensive landscaping and a pool. He will have to put signage on his fence and pay a much higher annual registration, he is totally (and understandably) enraged,basically the Council said he should pay his own vet bills, apologise to the cat owner and hope she does not complain.

Whilst I think he could have been more empathetic with how he approached the vet bill issue when he could plainly see how upset the cat owner was, I don't think what the Council will do if she complains is right. The dog was contained,the back neighbour tried to get the cat to the vet for care and was visibly upset by the whole incident. Whilst chatting with other residents of the street I have been asking a few questions and every dog owner in the street (including us) has tales of cats roaming in their properties night and day - I have no idea what can be done but it makes me very nervous as I cannot be sure my girl would not kill a cat if she managed to catch one in "her" yard.

[Bisart Dobes]

Several points:

A cat is vermin to a dog (unless they live with them and ours would always chase an unknown cat).

All council residents are responsible for containing their animals - here cats cannot roam (not sure about NSW).

Quite simply - the cat shouldn't have been in their yard so surely the dog can't be declared.

Though being a wonderful council they probably will and slap the cat owner with a fine for the animal being at large.

[ChloeEastwood]

Who has phoned the council? Your friend or the dog owner?

Many years ago I owned a beautiful white persian cat. She was just gorgeous. One day I got a call at work from the people across the road to say that their dog (I don't know what breed) had attacked her & she was in a bad way. They got my number from her tag - I'd never spoken to these people in my life.

I rush the half hour home from work & find my poor little cat mauled almost to death & completely drenched from where they had to put the hose on the dog to get it off my cat. They hadn't even put a towel or anything over her to try and keep her warm & calm. They didnt give a sh*t. No apology.. nothing.

Despite me spending hundreds on my little one having her jaw rewired & puncture wounds repaired I had to make the horrible decision to PTS as she wasn't recovering.

I was devastated but what made it worse was the fact that I heard nothing from the people across the road again. They didn't pop round to ask after her or even put a note in my letterbox... nothing. It was a heartbreaking experience & I haven't thought about it in a long long time.

Sorry to sound harsh but perhaps if you'd kept your cat contained instead of letting it wander it wouldn't be dead. Whilst most people would apologise and feel terrible their dog had done this to someone else's pet they're not actually at fault in any way and probably get pissed off with roaming cats entering their yard all the time.

I never said that their dog was at fault & never implied that they should have paid the vet bills. You think after 13 years I haven't beaten myself up enough over this? I really don't need pointing out that if the cat was kept indoors it would never have happened.

I was confused by the OP as to who called the council.. was it her friend or the dogs owner?? If I was in the OP's friends shoes I would be over the mooon that they just showed concern towards the cat. I wouldnt as I didn't expect the dogs owner to foot the bills.

It's always hard to lose a loved companion, but if they didn't give a s*** like you state in your post would they have taken the initiative to contact you? I mean there are those out there who would've kept quiet, contained the situation and dispose of the evidence for whatever reasoning. You would've gone on with just another missing cat.

Still very sad for both parties. I couldn't bear witness to another animal fatality, 10 yrs ago my sister's dog killed a beloved pet parrot and the images still haunt me.

[tdierikx]

Not long after I moved into my current address, the back neighbour's cat decided to come into my yard - it did not survive the experience. The cat owner made a complaint to council to try to have my dogs declared dangerous.

The council ranger came to my house and asked to see my dogs... no problem, come on out back and meet them. What he found was a well enclosed back yard - 6 foot colourbond fencing all around, AND a dog run with 7 foot chain link fencing with my 3 Rotties inside. He asked me where the cat attack happened, and I pointed to inside the dog run. He asked if he could go inside the run with the dogs, and I said sure, go ahead... he let himself in and got the usual Rotti tonguing and bum wiggle in greeting. He then proceeded to sit himself on the ground and smooch with my "vicious" cuddlebums for a good half hour... I thought he'd never leave... lol!

Upshot was no declaration on my obviously well contained and totally friendly dogs.

Didn't stop the neighbour going out of her way to call council for any number of "issues" she had with my dogs - and when all those failed, she actually resorted to throwing baits over the fence which resulted in one dead dog and another hospitalised before she was satisfied and had her payback.

What I learned from the whole thing was that if a cat ever got into my yard again and was attacked by my dog/s, I'd dispose of the evidence rather than contacting the owner and offering to pay all vet bills for their roaming animal.

T.

[megan_]

My dog would not happily great a stranger tn her yard t - but she is well contained. Should she be declared dangerous then by the standard you describe?

[Missymoo]

I worry about this happening most days..we have a black cat (not sure whose) around here with a death wish...

[Dame Aussie]

I cannot believe some councils. What a complete joke.

I don't blame people for disposing of the evidence. How else can we keep our dogs away from people and other animals than having them securely in their yards?

Edited April 18, 2012 by Aussie3

[Sylvie]

Before we had our dogs, we used to have neighbours cats, from both side, sun baking in our garden regularly or coming between my legs when I was hanging the clothes. Since we got the 2 Jack Russell they just stay outside the garden, out of reach. They just seemed to have learnt very quickly it is not their place to be anymore.

I always thought (and hope) cats were smart (and quick) enough not to get cought by dogs: like stay on the top of the fence just to tease the dog, but out of reach, and watch the dogs getting mad :D

Edited April 18, 2012 by Sylvie

[RubyStar]

Who has phoned the council? Your friend or the dog owner?

Many years ago I owned a beautiful white persian cat. She was just gorgeous. One day I got a call at work from the people across the road to say that their dog (I don't know what breed) had attacked her & she was in a bad way. They got my number from her tag - I'd never spoken to these people in my life.

I rush the half hour home from work & find my poor little cat mauled almost to death & completely drenched from where they had to put the hose on the dog to get it off my cat. They hadn't even put a towel or anything over her to try and keep her warm & calm. They didnt give a sh*t. No apology.. nothing.

Despite me spending hundreds on my little one having her jaw rewired & puncture wounds repaired I had to make the horrible decision to PTS as she wasn't recovering.

I was devastated but what made it worse was the fact that I heard nothing from the people across the road again. They didn't pop round to ask after her or even put a note in my letterbox... nothing. It was a heartbreaking experience & I haven't thought about it in a long long time.

Sorry to sound harsh but perhaps if you'd kept your cat contained instead of letting it wander it wouldn't be dead. Whilst most people would apologise and feel terrible their dog had done this to someone else's pet they're not actually at fault in any way and probably get pissed off with roaming cats entering their yard all the time.

Agree. When will cat owners realise they can't just let their animals roam in other people's properties!!!

I got home from work one day to find 2 cats in my back yard, and after I shooed them out, another jumped the fence and in! Lucky my dogs were at my parents that day! My dogs have not been raised with cats and go berserk when they see one, so if one jumps in my yard and isn't quick enough to get away, I'm pretty sure they'd be a goner. Doesn't mean my dogs are unreasonably aggressive, it's just what dogs do who haven't been raised with cats. I'd feel terrible if they killed a cat, but I can't see it as my fault. I keep them indoors now anyway so the chances are slim, but I can't keep them contained in the house 24/7. I used to own cats, but wouldn't again, because I think they need to be contained in a cat run and not to be left roaming.

[gsdog2]

My neighbours reported my dogs to the council because they were barking. Unfortunately for them they didn't look to see what they were barking at - their cat in OUR yard! The council were great and supplied a trap to us (free of charge) and we caught the cat and handed it in to the council. This happened a number of times (same cat) before our neighbours rehomed the cat. Fortunately the cat wasn't harmed (luckily) considering I had 2 gsd's and a Goldie at the time. If the owners were responsible and kept their cat inside they'd still have it today

Edited April 18, 2012 by gsdog2

[Maxiewolf]

When we moved into our current house, before Id had the fences fixed and had Brutus... the neighbors cat (A Bengal - Thing shouldn't be allowed to roam free outside anyway IMO.) used to come into our yard - rip our fly screens to pieces, let itself in the house if a door was open, steal our cats food, try to attack our cat through the windows and doors.

Can you Imagine If us dog owners let our dogs do that? My Cat is fully indoors, and only goes outside on a Leash and harness. The one time she did escape after she learned to open the back fly screen door she got into a massive blue with the neighbours cat (at 3am in the morning when the owner decided to let her cat out.) - Our ran home and took us ages to realise she had even left the house cos the door had latched itself after her coming back. - all CSI like we found sticky seeds in her coat and realised she had indeed been outside.

Brutus loves HER, licks her on the face, sits with her, tries to play with her etc... BUT - He considers any other cat in our yard fair game. I told the neighbour we where having a dog and that he didn't like cats he didn't know. (I don't think he would 'kill' one, but he may injure through falling over onto it and squishing it as he tried to chase it... Or cat might die of shock by being barked at and chased.) - Brutus is a Clumsy footed Clod, most cats unless extreemly fat and slow would have the advantage anyway. Not like when we had Dachshunds.

I think if you don't care enough about your cat to know where it is 100% of the time if its outside your house then you shouldn't expect to declare someone else's dog dangerous/responsible for defending his own territory against your invading cat, same as neighbours who make complaints that their dogs BARK when their cats sit on the fences and stare at the dogs while staying out of reach.

If my cat was attacked on MY property by someone else's Roaming Dog, or even killed on public property by a Roaming dog... then yes Id expect some action/compensation.

[ChloeEastwood]

When we moved into our current house, before Id had the fences fixed and had Brutus... the neighbors cat (A Bengal - Thing shouldn't be allowed to roam free outside anyway IMO.) used to come into our yard - rip our fly screens to pieces, let itself in the house if a door was open, steal our cats food, try to attack our cat through the windows and doors.

Can you Imagine If us dog owners let our dogs do that? My Cat is fully indoors, and only goes outside on a Leash and harness. The one time she did escape after she learned to open the back fly screen door she got into a massive blue with the neighbours cat (at 3am in the morning when the owner decided to let her cat out.) - Our ran home and took us ages to realise she had even left the house cos the door had latched itself after her coming back. - all CSI like we found sticky seeds in her coat and realised she had indeed been outside.

Brutus loves HER, licks her on the face, sits with her, tries to play with her etc... BUT - He considers any other cat in our yard fair game. I told the neighbour we where having a dog and that he didn't like cats he didn't know. (I don't think he would 'kill' one, but he may injure through falling over onto it and squishing it as he tried to chase it... Or cat might die of shock by being barked at and chased.) - Brutus is a Clumsy footed Clod, most cats unless extreemly fat and slow would have the advantage anyway. Not like when we had Dachshunds.

I think if you don't care enough about your cat to know where it is 100% of the time if its outside your house then you shouldn't expect to declare someone else's dog dangerous/responsible for defending his own territory against your invading cat, same as neighbours who make complaints that their dogs BARK when their cats sit on the fences and stare at the dogs while staying out of reach.

If my cat was attacked on MY property by someone else's Roaming Dog, or even killed on public property by a Roaming dog... then yes Id expect some action/compensation.

How rude! Trespassing, vandalism, theft (cat burglar) and terrorizing your household. The nerve of that cat.