Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 49 total)
  • Cat owners liability – cat possibly sends dog to vets…
  • BigEaredBiker
    Free Member

    So the cat decides to follow family kids to a local park and is sitting in the general area the kids are playing and had been happily letting them stroke her etc.

    A dog owner walks past, doing nothing wrong with Rover on a lead. The dog owner stops for a chat with some one else about 10 feet from where the cat is now sat in the sun. Moggy obviously doesn’t like this and starts hissing, then out of no where attacks the dog, poor thing.

    Dog owners kicks cat away and after a couple of return attempts the cat gives up after being chased off. Poor Rover now has spots of blood on top of his head, doesn’t look too serious.

    Cat owner is rather bemused by this bizarre turn of events and clearly isn’t sure what to do about the cat. The dog owner is obviously furious and wondering if the dog should be taken to the vets to have the cuts cleaned properly – would antibiotics be needed?

    And the poor kids who witnessed the assault are all in tears…

    In this scenario should;

    1) The dog be taken to the vets, do cats carry anything nasty for dogs?
    2) Is the cats owner legally obliged to do anything?
    3) Is the cat owner morally obliged to do anything e.g. pay for vets bills if there are any?

    Finally what would you do with a cat like that, assuming there is no previous history for this kind of thing?

    If the cat was a dog and this had happened before I’d be inclined to want to have the dog destroyed. Are cats equal to dogs in this regards, or was the cat acting in a way expected for cats (even if the dog was 3 x the size)?

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I think (worth checking) that the owner is responsible for the dogs actions, the cat owner isn’t. All back to the fact you own a dog, a cat just chooses to stay with you for a bit.

    yossarian
    Free Member

    1-0 to the cat.

    Law of the jungle innit. Offer to get the dog some self-defence classes if the owner kicks up. And maybe a little tiara.

    What would I do with the cat? Wait til you are alone with it and nod approvingly.

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    beej
    Full Member

    Was it a real dog or one of those rat on a lead things?

    docrobster
    Free Member

    Haha. Poor dog owner will have to suck it up I expect.
    Our moggie regularly used to get injured by a neughbour’s viscious Bengal cat.
    Sone cats are pretty tasty in a fight it seems.
    Did the dog look at it funny?

    BigEaredBiker
    Free Member

    Was it a real dog or one of those rat on a lead things?

    No, it was a proper medium sized family doc. Easily big enough to have killed the cat if it was so inclined.

    The cat is scared of a neighbours yappy rat-on-a-lead.

    nuke
    Full Member

    ^ yossarian had it right imo 😆

    If my dog was attacked by a cat, id be pee-ed off but don’t feel i could blame the owner…its not like you can really train a cat

    yossarian
    Free Member

    Is the cat now strutting around the house like a big shot?

    suburbanreuben
    Free Member

    If the cat was a dog and this had happened before I’d be inclined to want to have the dog destroyed.

    FFS. 🙄

    By the same token you really should be doing the decent thing and taking the cat to the vet on Monday morning. It’s obviously not to be trusted and could turn on your kiddies at any time. Cats show no respect to the natural order of things, and one that will attack a dog could turn nasty when your nippers are teasing it with a ball of wool.
    Is it a British Blue? I hear they’re the worst. I mean, look at them.
    Look at them!
    (But not in a funny way).

    BigEaredBiker
    Free Member

    If the cat was a dog and this had happened before I’d be inclined to want to have the dog destroyed.

    Yeah, I didn’t phrase that right. I agree, what I wrote sounds daft. I meant if I owned a dog that repeatedly attacked and sent other dogs to the vets – even small dogs can do a lot more damage that a cat.

    BigEaredBiker
    Free Member

    Is the cat now strutting around the house like a big shot?

    Sat in the doorway, guarding the threshold and all puffed up 🙂

    dannybgoode
    Full Member

    Cats are legally feral as far as I recall and no liability attaches to the ‘owner’.

    Dogs are classed as domesticated so liability does attach.

    That said if you have pet insurance speak to them, if not legal expenses on your home insurance they may be able to advise.

    mrsfry
    Free Member

    The cat owner is responsible. The cat attacked, the cat owner failed to keep it’s animal under control.

    Just becuase it is a cat, does not give it’s owner to not be responsible for it.

    Talk to C.A.B

    andyl
    Free Member

    jaw strength of a dog is typically a lot higher than a domestic cat (not talking Jaguars here) so yes a dog will be able to do a lot of damage if it was so inclined. But cats do have bloody sharp claws that can inflict nasty superficial wounds as well as take out eyes.

    Dog owner are responsible for their dogs.

    Cat owners less so IIRC due to cats having “a right to roam” (like Scottish mountain bikers 😉 ) . For once the law is quite sensible IMO. Not fully absolved though but more towards things like having excess numbers.

    Cats have fights when out and get abscesses etc which can be very serious. A dog should always be under your control when out so 99% of the time should be safe from cats. There will always be a 1% though and that is why you (should) have insurance in case it gets serious. Dogs are not cheap, they get in trouble and the fun of cats and dogs is just one form of that trouble. Unfortunately this time the dog lost but I am sure there are plenty of cases of out of control dogs chasing cats which then get run over.

    Our dog got a scratch that narrowly missed her eye when she was a puppy as she went to say hello to the neighbours cat. She learnt a valuable lesson and now lives in harmony with 2 cats and a rabbit who all snuggle up to her.

    edit: a particularly dangerous cat (ie attacks lots of other animals, people, children’s faces etc) would be something that would be deemed as needing sorting though and the council would be best approached about that.

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    Cat (and dog) bites in people can become infected and be quite nasty. no idea how this applies to dogs

    I suppose you get to decide whether or not you take responsibility for your cat – but you and the cat can’t have it both ways IMO: If somebody’s dog attacked it, would you pursue them as the cat’s owner or would you just shrug & say that the dog was chasing a roaming animal ? If the former, pay up.

    BigEaredBiker
    Free Member

    Thanks for all the replies.

    The cat will be discouraged from following the kids to the park in future. I’m pretty sure it was a territorial thing, the cat just likes being where the kids are – she’s tried to follow them on walks/bike-rides several times before.

    Hopefully when I see the dog owner next he’ll be in a mood for a chat. I can’t be doing with grumpy neighbours just because of a cat.

    andyl
    Free Member

    Missed the bit about the kids. Cats can be very protective, see extreme example:

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLX6h4Z2q18[/video]

    Next time there could be an angry bear at the park and what if there is no cat to protect them?

    andyl
    Free Member

    and

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa6jZv-Khc[/video]

    dannybgoode
    Full Member

    The cat owner is responsible. The cat attacked, the cat owner failed to keep it’s animal under control.[/QUOTE]

    The point is though you can’t control a cat. They are not trainable like a dog. Also dogs are not allowed out without an owner to control them – a cat is and the owner is not responsible for its actions whilst it’s out and about. How could they be?

    Edit :indeed a few years ago a postman required a fair few stitches following a cat attack and there was no action be could take against cat or owner.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    Last time our old dog was bitten by another dog for no good reason, it did need to go to the vet for a little cut. Cost about £30. Morally, and for the sake of neighbourly harmony, you could offer to cover it.

    bruneep
    Full Member

    Lifer
    Free Member

    [video]https://youtu.be/KzwzQkskasM[/video]

    Cats have dirty claws

    binners
    Full Member

    The cat owner is responsible. The cat attacked, the cat owner failed to keep it’s animal under control.

    Have you ever tried to get a cat to do something? You’ll just be met with a look of withering feline contempt. Then they’ll obviously then be planning to kill you in your sleep

    n0b0dy0ftheg0at
    Free Member

    Dog owners kicks cat away

    Depending on what actually happened, in terms of power and contact, this is the bit that most concerns me.

    binners
    Full Member

    Just be thankful the cat didn’t have a baseball bat!

    [video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XMiAQkkLy1E[/video]

    irc
    Full Member

    Depending on what actually happened, in terms of power and contact, this is the bit that most concerns me.

    Doesn’t concern me. Nobody has said the cat was inured. Maybe the cat will have learned a lesson? The dog owner was entitled to defend it assuming the kick was not harder than needed to get the cat off.

    Options? Stand still while dog is scratched to buggery or kick the cat off.

    zippykona
    Full Member

    My brother’s cat would attack for no reason. His wife would often sport a scratch on her cheek after the cat would turn on her. If I had to house sit I would leave my motorbike gloves on. At night the bloody thing would be throwing itself at the bedroom door trying to get in.
    I wouldn’t feed it for the first 3 days and it would slowly start to be a bit nicer to try and get some food.
    Eventually my brother had a baby girl and the cat attacked her in her cot.
    Thankfully the cat was put down. A truly vicious ,horrible cat which I would happily have strangled .

    PePPeR
    Full Member

    My cat walks down the park with us if we don’t watch out, he goes around with my 2 dogs like a pack! Woe betide another dog that goes near him though!

    I’ve found the best way is to give him a bit of cat food before we all leave, he then doesn’t follow us!

    km79
    Free Member

    If only there was some kind of saying for this type of interspecies fighting.

    glasgowdan
    Free Member

    Never mind the law, what’s the decent thing to do? Apologise to the dog owner and pay the vet’s bill.

    We’re all humans and need to get along.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    + Glasgowdan.

    The most dissapointing thing in the whole story is that the OP thinks about litigation.

    Take the dog to a vet and they will say it needs treatment (they see ££££)

    And the kids should mtf up. Law of the jungle park and all that

    timbur
    Free Member

    Both dog owner and dog need to MTFU IMHO.
    Teach the dog owner to kick properly and teach the dog that cats are their for its sport!
    Tim

    😈

    dannybgoode
    Full Member

    Honestly, as both a cat and a dog owner – if my dog got attacked by a cat I wouldn’t dream of chasing the cats slave for money.

    If my car injured a dog and I was asked for money I’d tell the owner to do one.

    If my dog attacked a cat then again, yes I’d pay up.

    When it comes to liability issues my view is that you go with the law not with morals otherwise people start to take advantage.

    If you do go with morals then make sure you make it clear it’s on an ex gratia, no admission of liability basis otherwise you may as well write a blank cheque.

    Colour me cynical but that’s the world we live in…

    jamj1974
    Full Member

    This should have been my cats theme [video]http://youtu.be/CMWWVhJ7RF0[/video]

    He wouldn’t have accepted any liability.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    The cat owner is responsible. The cat attacked, the cat owner failed to keep it’s animal under control.

    Totally incorrect under UK law.

    Just becuase it is a cat, does not give it’s owner to not be responsible for it.

    Again, totally incorrect under UK law.

    zippykona
    Full Member

    Maybe it’s time to change the law. We can’t just let these devil cats just wander around freely.
    In the wrong hands a cat is as deadly as a shot gun and we all know shot guns need to be kept locked up.
    Killer death dogs are required to wear muzzles. Surely it’s not too much to ask that cats in public wear claw muzzles. A leather boot should keep the public safe.
    These cats look perfectly happy with the situation.

    spursn17
    Free Member

    I reckon that the dog was the pussy in this instance!

    My dog regularly gets a whack from the local cats and doesn’t learn that they have sharp claws!

    Del
    Full Member

    Dog owners kicks cat away
    Depending on what actually happened, in terms of power and contact, this is the bit that most concerns me.

    hmm. my first thought was let the dog off, and the two can sort themselves out, either the dog’ll run or stand and fight.
    my second thought was that best bet would be to drop the dog’s lead but go for the cat’s scruff.
    my third was i’d be blowed if I was going to stick my hands in there, so the foot would probably be the go-to, while making sure I kept the dog under control.

    ultimately i wouldn’t give a monkey’s if the dog got bit scuffed up, but if it had sustained a serious injury, that’s what insurance is for.
    poor dog. 🙁

    Selled
    Free Member

    Interesting, we have exactly this problem.

    We have a dog as well, and if we walk from the house with the dog the cat will also come with us. There seems to be an invisible boundary that he will rarely cross in all directions. If we come across another dog he will attack it, and once he goes into attack mode he attacks anyone and anything he can get his claws into. It also scares our children senseless. A friend visited recently with her dog, but we were not in, the cat came round the house and supposedly attacked the dog!!

    The funny thing is, it seems to have come on over the past couple of months, before this he was no problem. The Vet does not know what is wrong with him.

    Where we live (not in UK) we are liable, if he attacks a dog we will have to pay. I also worry about our children, although 99% of the time he is still the best Family cat ever.

    Now is decision time which we are finding hard….

    technicallyinept
    Free Member

    this isn’t your cat is it?
    cat attacks women in Oldham

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 49 total)

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