Advice when a dog attacks a cat please

[DCLane]

Across the road the neighbours have 2 greyhounds. They've got loose this afternoon and attacked one of our cats.

Is there any legal position here? i.e. should they have been 'in control'?

Also, there's a vets bill since the cat's been bitten in a number of places. He's at the vet atm with my wife and son (it's his cat) so don't know the cost. He's insured though.

Are they liable at all?

 

[Rob3rt]

Yes. To all questions at least to some degree. Their dog did damage to your cat, presumably your cat was not in their garden at the time?

But then again, your cat is an outdoor cat (?) and could quite easily plonk itself into someone elses garden or get into a fight with their dog/cat or kill a small pet of theirs.

Hard one with regards outdoor cats, technically they are not under your control are they.

I would suggest coming to a mutual agreement with them if you can, maybe split the costs?

 

[ufkacbln]

We used to have two cats who would torment the Alsatian next door.

One would sit on a fence and attract the dog's attention.... the other would then sneak up behind it and attack it, then runaway

They would then change places.

The dog never worked it out

 

[Andy_R]

From DEFRA's website:

"If your dog injures another person’s
animal, or an owner of an animal
reasonably believes that they could be
injured if they intervened to protect their
animal from your dog, then an offence may
be committed."

 

[simmi]

Two of my neighbour had a similar incident.

Sadly the cat was killed, but the dog, a greyhound as well also nearly died.

The cat had bitten the dog in self defence it had given the dog blood poisoning and the dogs owners ended up with a vets bill for about £2000.

The dogs owner was almost ostracised by most of the neighbours and moved house in the end.

 

[compo]

My lurcher killed a neighbour's cat.
In the dog's defence the cat was in our garden, I couldn't abide the neighbour and had warned her about her cat and my dog, and I can't stand cats. The neighbour tried to involve the RSPCA, the council, the police, but no-one wanted to know.

 

[Arjimlad]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/22/section/2

As the dogs had escaped from control you may have a shout for a civil claim. Worth having a polite word first though, of course.

 

[BSRU]

My lurcher killed a neighbour's cat.
In the dog's defence the cat was in our garden, I couldn't abide the neighbour and had warned her about her cat and my dog, and I can't stand cats. The neighbour tried to involve the RSPCA, the council, the police, but no-one wanted to know.

There is no real protection from being attacked by a dog in the dog owners back garden/property.
There was recently a you boy in Swindon mauled to death by the boys fathers dog in their back garden and the Police could do nothing about it.

 

[CopperCyclist]

If the dogs were in their own property, no go on criminal or civil matter.

If the dogs were on public or your property without you permission, civilly you have a case to 'sue' for costs.

It's only a criminal matter if (as a poster above said) a human feared for their safety, at the time, due to the dogs behaviour.

 

[RWright]

There was recently a you boy in Swindon mauled to death by the boys fathers dog in their back garden and the Police could do nothing about it.

A couple of years ago in my state a woman shot a pit bull she had been keeping for a friend for about a month after it bit her 2 year old daughter's face. She immediately took the dog outside and shot it with a shotgun. The mauling required reconstructive facial surgery for the child.

The woman called animal control to come get the dog the next day, she did not realize it was still alive when they got there. It was alive but soon died. The SPCA or some other similar group heard about it and went into action. She was charged with felony animal cruelty.

She eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of failing to tether an animal and paid about $200 in fines and court cost.

 

[oldfatfool]

Sorry to hear about your cat DC.

Unfortunately it is nature and greyhounds have a much stronger prey drive than other dogs particularly if they are ex-racers. Yes your neighbour should ensure they are secure for everyones benefit, including the hounds.

Wether he should morally pay your expenses I would honestly say it is down to the circumstances. If for instance they left the gate open
then they are at fault, if someone else had deliberately let the dogs out to see what happens then not really. If the cat has been tormenting the dogs and they have cleared a gate to get to the cat out of frustration then not really.

In the past we have had kids deliberately open our gate to let the dogs out to 'see them run mister' (our gate is now permanently bolted) and one of my hounds (RIP not related) did once kill a cat after it sat on the gate tormenting him for about half a hour until the hound rammed the gate and the cat fell the wrong side. (Fortunately the neighbours where well aware of the cats penchant for this)

Whilst I appreciate your son will be very upset and from a practical side vets bills are horendous, at the end of the day if the cat was off your property then unfortunately it is no different to the cat getting run over or attacked by a fox, in the same way that the cat will bring home dead birds/mice etc etc :dons flame suit:

 

[Saluki]

Sorry to hear about your cat DC. Is there any news from the vet yet?

We know a bit about this, our Saluki Lurcher killed a cat while we were out walking. The dog was on a lead, the cat ran out under him and he just grabbed it and shook it. It took us a moment or two to get him to let go. He's an ex working Lurcher from Ireland and we all know how they are trained!

The cat people came out and yelled a lot at us. I said that I would give them a call to see how they got on at the vet. They seemed a bit confused by this as they didn't appear to actually have a vet and asked which vet they should ring. I told them they should call their own vet. The number they gave me was non existent and just went beeeeeeep when I rang it a couple of hours later.

They went to the papers and all sorts and then came round our house and threw bricks etc, yelling and screaming. They took us to court where we were told to pay about £50 of their costs. We were scandalised by their behaviour. They had kept that cat alive for over 48 hours at the emergency vets despite a catalogue of injuries. The court saw the vet report stating that the vet advised euthanasia but the owners insisted that the cat was 'fixed'.

For coridal neighbourly relations, if the cat in question is insured, asking for the vet bill nicely could be the way to go, after all they had 'got out' of their home and were not under control. Even if they just agree to pay the insurance excess. Most Greyhound owners I know are very responsible as their owners know of their high prey drive. 4000 years of breeding makes them a little interesting around small furries.

 

[fossyant]

If the dog is not in its owners property, then yes they are liable. Hope the cat is ok.

 

[BimblingBee]

Tbh, your cat is insured and nobody can go back and change events. Obviously its early days but its probably not worth falling out with the neighbors for the sake of a 50 quid excess.

They may well offer to pay but its a risk you take being a cat owner, it could just as easily have been a car (for which there is no duty to report etc)

 

[fossyant]

The excesses are about £100 !