Death on the Yard!

[the.fee.fairy]

No chip - and the vet said that it was poorly nourished and had several healed injuries and signs of a bad flea infestation - so it might have been feral. It will be cremated so I won`t have to bury it.
Thanks again for your thoughts and advice :)

Sounds to me like the dog did the best thing for the cat...

Are you de-fleaing your dog now?

[Tigerhair]

And a worm treatment wouldn't go amiss!!!

[Thomzo]

I am a cat lover and would be gutted if this had happened to my cat but equally I respect the fact that the dog is only doing what comes naturally (and what he has been trained to do). I would also respect the fact that my cat had strayed into someone else's garden so I would not blame the owner or the dog at all.

Racing greyhounds are trained to rip into something small and furry. Don't destroy him just for doing what he has been taught to do all his life. It sounds as if you are a responsible owner.

Just put up a sign saying "Cats beware" and don't feel at all guilty.

Zoe

[Tigerhair]

Just put up a sign saying "Cats beware"

Zoe, can cats read?

[red]

Just put up a sign saying "Cats beware"

Zoe, can cats read?

if cats could read, they would deliberatly go in after reading the sign....

it isn't the dog's fault of course, (but I cannot agree that he did the cat a favour.. ), its a pointless waste of a life.

The whole business of greyhound racing is not one I am fond of.

Merry - taking the cat to the vet was a good thing, and cannot have been easy, so good on you. Sounds like you have experience in retired GH - I would definitely muzzle him when out at all times


Fee: there is a lot of difference between a dog killing a rat (vermin and a danger to our health ) a cat killing a bird (tragic but nature as you say) and one pet killing someone elses pet. Dogs can be trained not to chase cats.. but not unfortunately after a lifetime of being trained to chase a lure

[Thomzo]

Just put up a sign saying "Cats beware"

Zoe, can cats read?

Well mine can certainly tell the difference between the word "Whiskas" and "cheap own brand".

Zoe

[fenwoman]

We've had long dogs of various types for about 15 years- whippet x, Great dane x greyhound, whippet and currently a Saluki x.

They'll all chase anything small and furry (despite none having been worked) but all live(d) with at least one cat. In the garden, they'll chase even our own cats but in the house the cat is very definitely in charge

They were all also excellent with children- affectionate and tolerant. We have 3 children under 8 years.
I would never trust any dog 100% with children, but I would trust my long dog as much as my friends lab. As someone else said, the big difference is that long dogs are quick enough to catch when many other breeds aren't, but it doesn't mean the desire isn't there...

Hazel

I have always owned at least one long dog and not one of mine had any inclination to go against my training. I have 9 cats and until recently had free range rex rabbits and guinea pigs on my land. My current long dog would no more think of chasing one than he would of chasing my chickens.
I can say honestly, that he is 100% reliable with small furry animals, much to the disgust of his breeder who was a well known lurcher breeder/judge who hunted with her dogs.She later told me that had she known I was going to castrate him and teach him not to chase, she would never have sold him to me. He comes from a long line of impressive killing ancestors.
As much as I love him, he would get his @rse kicked if he killed a cat or any other animal on my land or off it.

I am well aware that ex racers have this tendency and get very annoyed at people who own them being in cloud cuckoo land about their having been trained to chase and kill. A couple of days ago, I went to one of the local orchards to collect windfalls for my chickens. As usual I took a dog with me. This time I took 'Twinkle' my geriatric but still lively, tiny yorkshire terrier. She scampered about among the trees as I picked up the apples. I suddenly noticed a blur out of the corner of my eye. It was a ruddy greyhound, loose in the orchard. Luckily 'Twinks' came to me as soon as I called her and I put her into the car. Way in the distance I could hear the owner calling the dog. This is the second time I have seen this dog who was with another one last time in the same area, loose with an owner callign in the distance. It makes me hopping mad. If she can't control the bloody things, keep them on a lead or muzzled. If it had killed 'Twinks' I might well have done something I would bitterly regret later on. What if a child had been walking a small dog on an extending lead or an old lady?
I'm afraid I simply don't subscribe to the idea that if the dog kills cats which come into it's garden, it is ok and fair game. That cat might be some child's pet. It might be a kitten who doesn't yet know about dangerous dogs, or tumble off the fence by accident.
Your dog might meet a cat owner who is more than a little unhinged. I can remember about 20 years ago when a rottie in a pub yard which was fully enclosed, killed a local hard nut's daughter's pet cat. The local hard nut found out, went around with a 12 bore and shot the dog!
My brother's kitten was killed in front of his 5 year old son by an ex racer. My brother went round to the dog's owners home and put his face through the glass panel of the front door!. Not all cat owners are sweet old ladies. Some of us get really really miffed at the anti cat brigade who blame cats for everything like leaving turds on the lawn for instance (when half the time it isn't cat poo but hedgehog poo, but never mind, blame cats anyway), some of us get quite aggressive when others try to harm our pets. You really need to be careful of your dog killing such an owner's cat.
I am missing a cat and even checked to see if you were near me when I read the post.

[fenwoman]

No chip - and the vet said that it was poorly nourished and had several healed injuries and signs of a bad flea infestation - so it might have been feral. It will be cremated so I won`t have to bury it.
Thanks again for your thoughts and advice :)

Sounds to me like the dog did the best thing for the cat...

Are you de-fleaing your dog now?

I find this post highly offensive. I for one am a cat lover. I don't particularly like certain people, but to imply that I would be happy if they were killed would be offensive to any right minded person. As a site admin' you should be a little more tactful. If you don't like cats, fine, just bite your tongue on the subject.
If you have a child and it was bitten by a dog and I said good job too because I don't like children, I have no doubt you would be feeling as enraged as I am now at your unfeeling and frankly, bloody insulting comment.

[fenwoman]

I am a cat lover and would be gutted if this had happened to my cat but equally I respect the fact that the dog is only doing what comes naturally (and what he has been trained to do). I would also respect the fact that my cat had strayed into someone else's garden so I would not blame the owner or the dog at all.

You are way more forgiving than I am. I would want to shoot the dog or put the owners windows in but then, I am rather fond of my cats and have a terrible temper when roused (the full red mist, not being aware of what I'm doing etc).

Racing greyhounds are trained to rip into something small and furry. Don't destroy him just for doing what he has been taught to do all his life. It sounds as if you are a responsible owner.

Just put up a sign saying "Cats beware" and don't feel at all guilty.

Zoe

I think he should feel guilty owning a dog which had the tendency to kill other living things. I doubt the death was quick or painless.

[Thomzo]

You are way more forgiving than I am.

Obviously!

I think he should feel guilty owning a dog which had the tendency to kill other living things. I doubt the death was quick or painless.

The point here is that Merry has rehomed a dog that someone else has trained. It wasn't Merry that trained this dog to do these things or tolerated it happening in the past.

It has already been suggested that, with a bit of hard work the dog can be retrained. Just because a greyhound attacks a cat doesn't mean that it would attack a child. Merry has already stated that the dog is muzzled when out and about.

You have dogs. Would you put one of yours down if he did this to a stray, and obviously ill, cat? If the cat was poorly then I expect it was a quick kill and, from the sound of it, it wasn't anybody's pet and it wasn't loved if it was.


Zoe

[fenwoman]

You are way more forgiving than I am.

Obviously!

I think he should feel guilty owning a dog which had the tendency to kill other living things. I doubt the death was quick or painless.

The point here is that Merry has rehomed a dog that someone else has trained. It wasn't Merry that trained this dog to do these things or tolerated it happening in the past.

It has already been suggested that, with a bit of hard work the dog can be retrained. Just because a greyhound attacks a cat doesn't mean that it would attack a child. Merry has already stated that the dog is muzzled when out and about.

You have dogs. Would you put one of yours down if he did this to a stray, and obviously ill, cat? If the cat was poorly then I expect it was a quick kill and, from the sound of it, it wasn't anybody's pet and it wasn't loved if it was.

Zoe

For a start none of my dogs would dream of killing a cat, stray or otherwise. We cannot make assumptions that the cat was sick or a stray. I once took in a cat who was thin, very bad, alive with fleas. I had it 24 hours and a frantic owner came to collect it. I was about to blast him for the state of the cat when he told me it was 18 years old, had been missing for 3 days, had diabetes and had been without insulin for the 3 days it was gone and yes it had fleas, it was allergic to flea meds so they used a flea comb daily on it and treated the home to keep it under control but obviously the 3 days it was missing had given them a foothold. The chap was an elderly man who thought the world of his pet , enough to spend a vast part of his pension of vet fees, special diet, give it insulin injections daily. Sure the cat probably didn't have much life left, but the old chap loved it. Old and sick doesn't negate the fact that a living creature was killed by a pet dog.
If any of my dogs went haywire and killed a pet cat then I'm afraid I would give them a bloody good hiding and start retraining. I will not have my dogs killing anything unless I tell them to (rats perhaps), likewise I do not expect my small furry pets be they my cats or my small dogs, to be attacked by ex racing dogs. I am rather unforgiving and have twice had dogs put to sleep in the past for killing other dogs. Once a killer always a killer.

[Tigerhair]

Fenwoman, I have to disagree with you and what appears to be slightly odd logic.

I can guarantee that your dogs would dream of killing another animal if they had a chance - have you ever watched them dream? I can also guarantee that the dreams are not of love and sweetness they are of chasing and killing! Do they chase sticks or balls? If so, then they are utilising their "chase" instinct which is very strong in ALL of them. Why chase, if not to kill?

And how is it better to "give them a bloody good hiding" (!!!!) which if you know anything about them would just confuse them completely (and hurt them and lose trust between you and them)... as would allowing them to kill a rat but nothing else! How are they to distinguish killing one animal from another!? Honestly, that is an absurd assumption!

Dogs are wolves not monkeys and do not think like us.

I truely believe that if the cat had been in the best of health, it wouldn't have been killed. Also, the death would have been fast - a quick shake to brake the neck ensures that the dog isn't wounded in a fight.

I understand that this is an emotive subject but I hope we can discuss this calmly, as there are obviously a lot of opinions out there.

[Tigerhair]

As to cats.... aren't they killers also!?

[hmk]

My brother went round to the dog's owners home and put his face through the glass panel of the front door!. Not all cat owners are sweet old ladies.

Charming!

I don't think that anybody was suggesting either that it was ok to kill the cat just because it was a cat or because the owner wouldn't be able to kneecap the dog owner

A couple of posts implied it may have put the cat out of its misery, but I haven't seen any suggestion that it was less than sad.

With regards to your brothers behaviour, and your own temper of which you seem to be quite proud ("red mists" etc), it would seem you expect better behaviour and control from your dogs than from yourselves.

If you're dogs are so well behaved then you are to be credited, but I hope that it is not entirely because they are terrified of being beaten. That is an out of date and cruel way of training. I am suprised that you admit that you give your dog 'a hiding' on a public forum- there are laws about animal treatment.

I appreciate things get misconstrued in internet debates, but may I suggest that before you accuse anybody of anything- especially when your own posts implicate you through their contradiction- you take a couple of deep breaths first? There is no need to be offensive, no matter how strongly you hold your opinion.

Hazel

[the.fee.fairy]

No chip - and the vet said that it was poorly nourished and had several healed injuries and signs of a bad flea infestation - so it might have been feral. It will be cremated so I won`t have to bury it.
Thanks again for your thoughts and advice :)

Sounds to me like the dog did the best thing for the cat...

Are you de-fleaing your dog now?

I find this post highly offensive. I for one am a cat lover. I don't particularly like certain people, but to imply that I would be happy if they were killed would be offensive to any right minded person. As a site admin' you should be a little more tactful. If you don't like cats, fine, just bite your tongue on the subject.
If you have a child and it was bitten by a dog and I said good job too because I don't like children, I have no doubt you would be feeling as enraged as I am now at your unfeeling and frankly, bloody insulting comment.

You've obviously taken the comment the wrong way.

The cat was malnourished, and infested with fleas and therefore uncomfortable, probably nearing the end of its life.
Death by dog is usually pretty quick and painless. Therefore, i believe that they dog did the cat a favour by killing it quickly rather than leaving it to die slowly and painfully.

As admin, i do tend to watch what i say. There are a few emotive subjects, and i get emotionally involved as much as anyone else does. Admin are people too, and we have thoughts and opinions that may or may not agree with others (or with each other sometimes!). It would be wrong to stop someone voicing their own thoughts and opinions because they are in a different position. When i joined SSish, i was a forum member the same as you are. i have argued, and possibly offended, i have ranted and raved too. I respect anyone's opinion no matter who they are and what they do. i would ask that others do the same.