Killed a cat...

Hi Guys!!

We have two staffies who are very friendly and, as you know, quite energetic!

I have recently started working away from home which is an adjustment for the whole family; including our two four-paw children.

The male loves to chase birds and have caught a few...we'll I haven't seen him, I just find the feathers and assune its him, but it might be our little girl. Although I've never seen her chase them...

When I came home today I found our good neighbours cat dead on the lawn. Completely stiff; therefore she must have died earlier in the day.

I cannot say for certain (it was dark when I found her(, but it did not seem as if she had many scratches - there is no blood on the grass.

Naturally the neighbours are upset with loosing their cat. The woman was besides herself with rage although her husband was very calm saying its not our fault.

I feel horrible about the whole incedent. I don't know how to act around my dogs as I never expected them to kill a cat. They killed a cat and that upsets me. Our cat is also in shock - she is acting quite rattled and nervous. She is sleeping now; hopefully she will feel better tommorow.

Has anyone gone through this? Any thoughts...why would they kill the cat? They love our cat! Were they playing with the cat? Would they have torn her to pieces if they wanted to catch/kill her?

I hope to feel better after reading your replies!

Annette

How old was the cat? Could it of died of shock?

Since getting Ledger I don't get cats in my yard anymore (apart from one that came in to poop last week) and for sure they are on their heels and fast out of the park when we do see them. Apart from the odd couple that stalk and attack dogs. Was proud of Ledger this evening when one appeared when he was off lead and he listened to me and didn't bolt after it!

Can't be much help but it's just going to be a natural prey drive for small furries/birds.

Oh.. I guess there must be huge suspicion ! If there were no signs of injury to the cat then I would think it was something other than your guys that were responsible. Since I've had my Flo, cats are very rarely seen in the garden. Cats are pretty shrewd and know when to take a wide berth.

Without any obvious injury you really can't beat yourselves up about this. Was it an older cat ?

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The cat doesn't have to have a single wound, all it takes is it to of been shook which will rupture the organs and the cat will bleed out internally.
Just because you own a cat doesn't mean they will accept every other cat.
Question why were they left outside unsupervised?
Personally i would now take precautions about keeping other animals out of your gardens before you end with a law suit on your hands (their not likely to win but it'll cost you an arm and leg in fee's) plus these days cops and judges will do anything to prove these dogs are killers and may make an example out of you and yours.

Unless the owners of the cat have some irrefutable proof that your dogs are responsible for the act of killing it I wouldn't worry too much about any repercussion.

Having said that it's still not very nice coming home to a dead pet.

Do your dogs have free run of the garden while there is no one at your home ? I certainly wouldn't leave Rocky out in the garden all day on his own, someone may try to steal him I'm sure.

Hi guys!

Thanks for your responses.
We live in South Africa; I come to notice that things are a bit more relaxed here than in first world countries. People don't really steal pets, we have big back yards were there is plenty of room to run around (they go for regular walks though) and people don't really sue other people for pet related issues as, sadly, our justice system is very poorly enforced when it comes to pets.
I am therefore not worried about legalities.

I am upset that my loveable, cute, happy dogs killed a cat.

Our house and yard is of such a nature that there is no doubt that they killed her. Unless someone threw her over the fence after they killed her which is also doubtful.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has has a similar situation. I kind of feel as if I found out my kids are doing drugs or stole something...I don't know how to behave around them.

There us nothing one can do; you can't explain to them what they did, you can't ask what happened!

Im just upset and now I seem to be wallowing...

I will send them some flowers and a basket to pay my respects for the loss of their cat. Hopefully (probably pie in the sky) we can stilk be friends...holding thumbs!

Hiya,

Just to clarify, how can you be sure that one of your dogs killed her if there were no wounds and nobody saw them do it?

I haven't been in this situation, but a friend has, and I know that if my dog was loose around any small animals she would chase them for sure, not sure if she would know what to do when she reached them.. But she has a very high prey drive and I monitor her whenever she is out of the house.

Ultimately, they're not evil or horrible.. They're dogs. It's nature.. We just don't expect to see it in our pets as they've been so heavily domesticated and people often see them as little hairy people. His temperament won't have changed, he's still the same pet! But I would suggest monitoring him in the garden and exercising him on a long line rather than off lead if he does chase other animals.

Thanks Rachel!

Your doggy in your profile pic is gorgeous by the way!

There is no way any other dog can get into our garden and my cat is fine, so they didn't fight.

Im not sure if the cat had any noticible injuries. It was dark (with only a porch light shining) when I found her. There is no blood any where in the yard; therefore I assume they didn't want to kill her and perhaps just wanted to play.

Staffies can brutally attack a chewy toy; Im guessing there would have been no trace of the cat if they wanted to kill her; they would have eaten her (togue in cheek comment) like they do with the birds if they wanted to. Instead you could see that they licked her all over her little body.

Im startig to feel a bit better. Thanks guys! It is lovely to experience such love for these wonderful dogs from others.

Annette

I am upset that my loveable, cute, happy dogs killed a cat.

I'm not convinced your guys did kill it, if they killed it there would be injuries, don't be too quick to accept they did it, without proof I'd say they didn't. It could have been anything, my cat died a couple of years ago, he was running up the garden to my mum and all of a sudden just dropped dead... it happens. I would look at the other side of things in that there was a dead cat in your garden and your dogs didn't even try to play with it, it had no marks or scratches you could see and there was no blood. Well done to your guys for not messing with the dead body!

Do you think perhaps it could have had a heart attack?

Ps. Everyones pics are so cute! I keep scrolling up to look at all the pups!

Very possibly! The more I think about it the more I would say it wasn't your dogs that did it, surely they would leave a mess behind if they did?

I'm with Debs on this one, not convinced it was your dogs and they are still your loveable fur babies x

Debs01 wrote:

I am upset that my loveable, cute, happy dogs killed a cat.

I'm not convinced your guys did kill it, if they killed it there would be injuries, don't be too quick to accept they did it, without proof I'd say they didn't.  It could have been anything, my cat died a couple of years ago, he was running up the garden to my mum and all of a sudden just dropped dead...  it happens.  I would look at the other side of things in that there was a dead cat in your garden and your dogs didn't even try to play with it, it had no marks or scratches you could see and there was no blood.  Well done to your guys for not messing with the dead body!

This isn't always the case it depends whether the dogs wanted to kill it or destroy it, there is a difference, aggressive dogs tend to rip and shred while more dominant dogs who just want to control their environment will simply give a shake to kill causing organ to detach and the cats bleeds out internally, no wounds are seen on the outside.

I am unsure whether your dogs have killed this cat. I have 2 Staffs and 4 cats and know about their behaviour. 2 dogs would normally tear the carcass apart and you said there was no damage. It is sad that it has died but I'm not convinced it was your dogs   

I'm also unsure if your dogs killed it. My staffy has had a fight with a car twice and both times my dog had injurys as cats give a fair fight, there's nothing worse than seeing that so I understand how you feel if you think your dog has killed it but it could have died from many reasons

im with every one else on this one,with out injuries to the cat you cant say it was your dogs,sash hates cats and will always chase them out of our garden,i would'nt like to think what she would do if she ever caught one.

We have a cat and he can be a right bugger with Lula but she is pretty good with him and moves out of his way. Lula learned he maybe smaller than her but a swipe of that paw hurts.
Having said all that Lula does not seem to like other cats and will chase next doors cat out of are garden.
I don`t know if your two dogs killed the neighbours cat but its just one of those things that unfortunately has happened.

My cat died at 5years old . It was a hot day and he got heart attack so I know it can happen. Years ago my gsd killed 8 kittens before anybody could stop her she jumped into a bush and seconds after came back covered with blood . It was horrible.
You'll never know for sure but I think it's highly unlikely that they killed them as grown up cats are more than able to defend themselves. Just let it go and enjoy your lovely dogs.

Do you have foxes over there? There have been a few cats round here killed by foxes but again as with a dog attack I would expect it to be quite messy (for want of a better word) and echo as others have said the cat would fight and it would be unlikely that your dogs would come away without a scratch