Just been told my staffy has killed a cat

My staff and my harrier escaped today and I assumd that they had headed for the park and the lake. As they werent there I called the dog warden who had just gone to collect them from a local school. When I met up with him, I was told that Pickle had killed a cat. Neither Pickle or the harrier have ever shown any interest in catching wildlife or shown extreme aggression to other animals. We live in the countryside so there is plenty of everything here.
On checking Pic over there was no sign of blood or fur and the warden said that he knew nothing about the attack only that it had been reported to him by a teacher at the school. Ive tried to call the school but got no reply. The warden gave me the cat owner's details so that I could get in touch with him. I am having a really hard time getting my head around the fact he has killed something as it is out of his nature. In fact I am devastated. I am dreading having to go and see the cat owner (knowing how I would feel if someone came to tell me that my pet had been killed). It has left me in a real state. The dog warden says that his input is finished and doubts the police would bring a case against me as I have no record of keeping out of control dogs and the dogs show no evidence to him that they are aggressive or badly treated. Does anyone know where I stand and does anyone have any tips for dealing with an aggrieved and bereaved cat owner.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Does anyone have any proof that your dog killed the cat?

If not I wouldn't bother with visiting the bereaved owner.

Hi &

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He's a terrier it's not out of his nature, he just hasn't displayed it so far.

My two have now had a couple of squirrels, a duck and a pigeon. Chance would kill a cat if he ever caught it.

Don't worry about it, it's not nice but it's not the end of the world.

As Kathy said, if there's no evidence then I wouldn't bother!

Its tough one, it happened to one of the mods on here not so long back, but its part of nature so don't worry about it on that level.

As for the cats owners, I really don't know what I would do in that situation.

Hi and welcome from me and Moo.

Hi & welcome.

Is there any proof that it was your dogs that killed the cat? Any witnesses? If not, then I wouldn't even consider visiting the cat's owners.

Legally, a cat is considered a wild animal & as such your dog hasn't broken any laws by killing it. The only thing you could be responsible for is having two dogs out of control in a public place.

I wonder if anyone did see Pickle kill the cat.. or if they just 'presumed' that Pickle did because he/she is a staffy!

as kathy said if there is no solid proof that it was your dog that killed the cat there no need to even make yourself known to the cat owner i know it may sound calis but if not 100%definate no point putting yourself in the position of hastle from a greiving cat owner.
and put your mind at rest even if its proved it was your dog it dont mean you have an aggresive dog as accident happen when playing ruff and the police would have no intrest in the matter

Where was the cat when it was found, was it in someone's garden or wandering around loose ????

hello and welcome to the forum, was there anyone who saw this

Find where he got out and make sure it doesn't happen again

hi and welcome , agree with all the above, if he did do it then it is just on natural instinct and doesn't mean he's dangerous, our friend's staff killed the kids bunny rabbit a few months ago, I just thought they should have not let them get so close unsupervised (they were both in the conservatory whilst they were out at work and the dog managed to get into the hutch/pen. And without any proof you don't really know what the story is anyway

So far as I am aware Lynne the only witness was the cat owner. Kathy - again I have no idea where the cat was as the warden has no info.
Dave - I think I would have called that an accident waiting to happen! Hope the kids didnt see the damage when your pals got home.

Well, I sadly have experience. My boy Frosty got the neighbor's cat. It was something we were sure happened. I don't know about your laws over there, but I called my neighbor and I also took care of the animal disposal. It was very very hard to do, but the owner actually responded alright. I stuck to what I knew, it was something I didn't witness and I told him we could conjecture all we want but I was really sorry that it happened. It was a weeknight and was really hard to do, but I felt better dealing with it. However, in your situation, you didn't see it and don't have anything to go on. From where I stand it isn't something that can be proved anyhow as the owner is the one who is making accusations but doesn't sound like they reported it. I reinforced my fencing in the "trouble spot." Nothing more came of it and we still say hello on the street. I hope it can work out for you! I am just very careful not to let mine get close to furry little critters that might be someone's pet.

BTW, welcome!

i would forget about the cat i be more worried about him getting out..

linzeelostit wrote:So far as I am aware Lynne the only witness was the cat owner. Kathy - again I have no idea where the cat was as the warden has no info.
Dave - I think I would have called that an accident waiting to happen! Hope the kids didnt see the damage when your pals got home.

Unfortunately the little girl did they just walked into blood and fur everywhere. She's a tough little cookie though

What an awful experience for you. I was wondering if there were any signs on your dog, for example scrach marks on the face etc? I would think that a cat would fight like hell, but then again I suppose it depends. I think that personally, I would approach the cat owner even if it is just to get clarity on what allegedly happened.

That's exactly what I have been thinking Ty. My dog had no sign of injury or evidence on his coat or teeth that there has been any altercation. I also wonder why my other dog didnt involve himself as he is very much the pack leader. Like you, I would expect a cat to defend itself to the extreme - I have friends whose dogs are terrified of their cats and even their chickens

My dogs have killed a few cats, chickens, rats, mice, birds...ya know the usual

There will be no trace of it left on them, so for arguments sake assume your dog did kill it. As Steve said, i would just move on and make sure they dont get out again. If you really want to start a whole thing (and with some cat owners it really will) you can call them. It would be nice. But you must be prepared for the backlash and you may be investigated if they report you for having an "illegal, vicious, out of control" dog even though none of that is true.

Fact is dogs kill cats, thats the food chain. And if a staffy is the one doing the killing the cat has no chance and it is over quickly.

Looks like a couple of my replies have gone Awol.
Thanks to everyone for your support and making us feel not so alone with this problem. You all have some gorgeous looking staffys out there!
All that seems to have been said by the teacher at the school to the warden is that the "brown one" did it. The harrier is a tri colour so he is also partially brown.
The warden has now stepped away leaving it with me to contact the cat owner.
There are only a handful of staffs, a couple of EBT's where we live and a lovely soft Ambul. People tend to either dive off the pavement or hold onto their kids with their life when they see us about. Bo the harrier is actually more likely to bite than Pickle. All the shop keepers know us and the dogs are welcome on the whole in all our local shops. There are however plenty of snappy Jacks around here but I believe that it called 'character' in them. My neighbour freely admits that her elderly border terrier is a nightmare to wildlife off the lead but its always the bull breeds that get the backlash.

Did the cat owner have her cat on a leash?
Then in my mind its fair game

From a cat owner and dog owners point of view, i persoanlly would go too the person and apoligise if you know it was your dog for deffinant, as i would want the owner of the dog too come and atleast apoligise about whats happened and i would do this if my dogs ever did such a thing.

Unfortantly your dogs did escape and the cat wasnt on your property from what i gather. i would deffinantly get too work on ensuring your dog does not escape again so this dosnt happen again.

Welcome too the forum. Michelle & the gang

Steve wrote:i would forget about the cat i be more worried about him getting out..

I tend to agree with that, as callous as it seems. You have to be sure that neither dog gets away from your property on their own again!

i had a problem like this once. i was babysitting my uncles Staffy-Pit cross. she was lovely, her name was Gypsy. she killed the nextdoors chuauahwa. it had managed to get into our back yard and Gyps must have just grabbed it and shoot it. there was no blood no nothing. it wasnt a very good exsperiance when i had to take the dog back to the owners.... they threatened me that if they ever saw the dog loose they would kill her and then while i was fixing the place where the chuauahwa had gotten in from the owner leaned over my fence telling me that she was going to take a shovel and kill the dog. When my uncle came back she didnt say anything to him or try anything stupid... he's a 6'3 construction worker

The kind of reaction you received is exactly what I am expecting. At least the cat lived about 10 min walk away from us. I cannot believe that the warden didnt go and see the cat owner and ask exactly what happened.

I had a pit at one time, she was a beauty and really gentle. I bet the chiahuahua was a lot more aggressive than Gypsy ever was

sorry but if owners of cats just let them out and forget about them while they get on with things, then problems are bound to arise, foxes kill more cats than dogs do. when i lived in derby at least 1 or 2 cats went missing every week because of foxes. but i think that if you let any pet out to roam free, don't be shocked if it doesn't come home alive or at all, i have nothing against cats but they kill, they get killed, simple fact of life

I must say Steve that I have noticed an alarming number of 'missing' posters for cats both in Derby and the village where I live. I never thought about foxes carrying off cats as I always thought cats would fight tooth and nail to get away

Do you not think the owner of the cat has a right to no its dead. When I was a kid we had a cat and it went missing I was all around the neighbourhood door knocking, I did the same for mum when hers went missing, she found it in the bin store after it was hit by a car, I went with mum to have her put down

It may not have been your fault but they need to no that there cat is dead.

some do, I've seen it when foxes have taken them, heard an almighty scream,run out the house and there's a fox with a cat in it's jaws, looks at me then runs off with the cat. it's not nice but it happens a lot more than people think and some cats are unlucky and just eat birds or vermin that have ate poison

janey wrote:


Do you not think the owner of the cat has a right to no its dead. When I was a kid we had a cat and it went missing I was all around the neighbourhood door knocking, I did the same for mum when hers went missing, she found it in the bin store after it was hit by a car, I went with mum to have her put down

It may not have been your fault but they need to no that there cat is dead.

As a cat owner I have to agree with Janey, I would want to know what had happened to my cats as I also have 2 children that would be waiting for them to come home at least I could then explain "they've gone to heaven"

Maz also got a cat in my garden that was attacking one of my cats, she didnt kill it but did a lot of damage, I tried everything to find the owner and tell them (the cat got away) I never did find the owner but I tried, Maz has been brought up with cats since she was 5weeks always slept with them, ate from same bowl I never thought she would do this but she is a dog

I would tell the owner, if the RSPCA had no issues then I expect little would come of it. Then even if the owner did contact police then you have already made an attempt to resolve the issue and have improved security to stop your dogs from getting out again in which case I doubt that it would go anywhere

I had a cat owner apologise for the behaviour of his cat towards Ledger the other night, it had been sat under my car and as I walked up to put Ledger in the boot the cat just came out, strutted up and squared up to him. Ledger was more than a little confused as cats have always run away from him before but when he stepped closer the cat took a swipe at him. Apparently it wont tolerate any other cats being near it but will approach all dogs!

well that has answered my question I was wondering..if foxes would attack a cat.. ..me and Tony were wondering about that the other night....we get heaps of foxes here , but we don't have a cat ..

Maybe if you find it hard to confront the owners of the cat, you could write them a little note, so at least they know their cat is dead and they are not hanging up missing cat posters!

Am I missing something? I thought the owner of the cat "witnessed" the ordeal. If so, wouldn't you think it would be better to just let them be? If they had a beef, wouldn't they have already complained to the authorities? The warden didn't seem to care much so maybe the owner didn't either. Best though if you do what you can to make sure they can't escape. Just thinking while typing... Either way it's kinda a hard one. At least in my case I knew mine did it. I washed a lot of blood off him...

i still stand by my original post and if it not 100%clear its your dog that done it i would not be going round to see the cat owner .
yes i agree the owner needs informing but at the end of the day the cats owners details have been past on to yourself by the warden so they could easy do it.

we've lost a cat to a fox before too, so i'm not shocked. and yeah, that happy little thing was always trying to get at Gypsy, it was pretty nasty little dog, they also had a kelpie cross, that was why i was fixing the fence, i knew gyps would kill that one too if they got in. but those dogs would run up and down that fence day in and day out barking all the time, for god sakes it was a 6 foot corrugated iron fence, so the little thing pushed though a overlay and got in, cause there was no way that gypsy could push back and pull it because of the way the fence overlapped.

You should tell them, i know when my cat went missing i was panicked for days looking for him. i took days off work and couldn't sleep or eat right. but then again, i like my pets more then i like some of my family

Personnally, if there was no evidence it was your dog I wouldnt go round to see the cat owner. Maybe write a letter as suggested if you feel the need to do something. As said, if it was the cat owner that whitnessed it then he already knows what has hppened to his cat.

I had a cat owner turn up on my doorstep once demanding silly amounts of money as I had apparently run over his cat and killed it. I hadn't, I saw the car that did, but because my car was so distinctive it was mine that stuck in other people's minds. I saw the cat get hit, and drove back to see if it was ok, but there were already people stopped with it so I didn't stop. The other car driver kept going. I felt bad for the owner, but if you let your cat outside then you run the risk of it being killed or going missing, that is why there are now so many house cats. I was always brought up with cats, and they have been hit by cars, poisened, trapped in snares and just gone missing, unfortunatly it is a risk you take with outdoor cats.

If your dog did kill this cat whilst the cat is out and about doing what cats do, dogs are not suppose too be free roaming, if your dog did kill the cat and there is evidence you should atleast apoligise too the owners imo your dog was in the wrong if it was out and not supervised which you have already admitted sorry but you are fualt imo.
If the cat was in your garden on your property thats another matter.
This is if your dog did actually killl the cat.

I agree with people saying if you have an outdoor cat you accept the fact that it won't come home eventually. Maybe give them a call and say you found the cat and gave them a call and that the dog warden picked it up but you thought you would call to make sure they knew. Dont mention your own dog at all.

Cats go for dogs and try and stratch the eyes chances are if he was in a fight there would be signs of a irritated eye or stratches somewhere.

Hope you're ok, it's not nice for anyone hearing that:(

The cat owner informed the school where my two were apprehended that "the brown dog" had killed his cat. Given that staffys arent exactly a rare breed, I would have thought that he would have said "the staff killed my cat" (given that my hound is partly brown too). The teacher who was confronted by the cat owner took down his details and the warden merely passed them to me. I was a little surprised 'that the warden didnt go and get the entire story of events from the owner but there you go. The police told the owner to get in touch with the dog warden as there was nothing they could do.
My partner is of the opinion that we should leave it - there is nothing to say it was definitely Pickle - merely a brown dog. He also wonders whether something had happened to the cat and he is using a loose staffy to justify it - did the owner run it over himself (or even someone from the school). There is no evidence on Pickle of any injury (two days on now) and no one at the school or the warden reported any sight blood or fur on him and he was apprehended almost immediately.
I feel terrible for the cat owner (I hate anything happening to animals). I expect a knock on the door sometime over this weekend as I am sure that the warden may have passed on my details but what can I say aside from "sorry" and "describe the dog who did it".
The garden fencing is now as secure as a prison much to the boys' chargrin.

Sounds good. I'd just wait and see. Not fun, but really nothing more to be done.

i wouldn't worry too much as to most a brownish dog covers a multitude of breeds and it's just circumstantial evidence that your dogs were out at that time, i wouldn't worry about it

like you say a brown dog is such a vague description.... honestly it could have been any stray dog !
I would just wait and see too..