Saturday 16 October 2010

Dog bites cat - illegal.

A dog attacks a cat. Is that news? Dogs and cats, unless brought up together, are rarely on good terms. Dogs chase cats, it's what they do. One of the Old Days sayings was 'fight like cat and dog', another long forgotten phrase.

So a dog attacks a cat.

It's not a good thing, never was.

But... is it really a police matter?


UPDATE: The original link gave no more than 'dog bites cat' but JuliaM has found more detail, which makes it a police matter for sure.

12 comments:

JuliaM said...

When the men involved deliberately set the beast on the cat (another person's 'property' for the Libertarians, another member of the family to pet lovers) then yes, it is.

Because these walking wastes of oxygen need to be put down.

And their little dog too...

Sue said...

Don't cats usually run really fast when they see attacking dogs.

My Staffie chases cats and usually comes off much worse.

PT Barnum said...

What Julia said.

It would, unless the cat was ill, take human intervention for a dog to get the best of a cat, with the latter being far better equipped for self-defence.

Stephen said...

Is this a police matter? Yes, of course. How could it not be? The dog is under the control of the men in charge of it. If it attacks a cat or a person then those men are responsible.

Dave H. said...

What if a cat attacks someone's pet mouse? Or how about their canary?

Would taking such a matter lightly, say by making a cartoon about it, nowadays make you an accessory in a hate crime against a vulnerable species?

(I routinely get the dog to chase neighbours' cats out of the garden, and I suppose if she ever caught one it might be messy. She's fine with our cats. I've tried chasing them off myself, and always feel rather ridiculous. I just don't possess the required degree of mobility)

kitler said...

If you set your dog on my cat it would be a police matter because I'd fuck you and your dog up way beyond what could be considered reasonable force.

Leg-iron said...

JuliaM - thanks for the link. It does indeed explain why it's a police matter.

Sue/PT - I've seen dogs chase cats and change their minds very quickly when the cat stops and turns. I have only known very few dogs willing to actually catch one.

On the other hand, I remember a friend's cat from many years ago that would actively seek out dogs to intimidate. I think it was part leopard.

Stephen - it's a police matter because they held the cat for the dog. 'Natural' animal instinct wouldn't be, as Dave H. suggests.

I had, for many years, a pond with some hefty goldfish in the garden. Last winter killed them all. For years, local cats would lurk around that pond but they never caught a single one. If they did, should I have called the police?

Kitler - I don't have a dog or a cat, and if I had a dog I would be ashamed if it needed me to hold something down for it.

Besides, beating up people isn't even as much of a crime as allowing people to smoke these days. So if someone sets a cat on your dog, feel free to flatten them.

Just remember to act drunk.

Anonymous said...

Most dogs, as other posters on here have pointed out, don’t actually have an ingrained instinct to kill cats, contrary to popular rumour. The trouble is, when a dog meets another animal, it finds out about it by sniffing the other animal’s bum! Between dogs this is a perfectly acceptable and normal “nicety” but cats often understandably object to a huge dog’s nose heading for its nether regions and instinctively rush off. And dogs are chasers – if it runs away, you chase it, if you’re a dog. They’d be unlikely to attack it unless they were hungry and genuinely out hunting – usually it’s just a chase instinct which will fade as soon as the cat vanishes or stops running. And if a cat stands its ground or isn’t bothered in the first place, few dogs will suddenly attack it for no reason. And if a cat goes on the offensive – heaven help the dog.

The fact that these two louts had to hold the cat down (and, no doubt, goad the dog on) is an illustration of this, as is the fact that, injured though it is, the cat survived the attack – a dog which really wanted to kill a “small furry” would do so in an instant (has anybody ever seen a trained “ratter” in action? It takes less than a second).

There are countless myths thrown around about animals and animal behaviour, most of them by people who’ve only ever owned one or the other. “Being Top Dog,” “Dogs and cats don’t like each other” and “only those Bull breeds are dangerous – Labradors and sheepdogs don’t bite” are just some of them.

Beware the anti-dog movement, all you animal-lovers out there. It’s waiting in the wings ………..

JuliaM said...

"... Between dogs this is a perfectly acceptable and normal “nicety”...

I've got two Siamese cats - they are pretty fond of this technique too, much to the consternation of the two moggies I also have. ;)

Leg-iron said...

My mother once had a Siamese cat. It was demented. She had one of those sofas with a curved section. It used to race into the room, do a 'wall of death' around the sofa and race out again.

We also had a budgie who couldn't fly but liked to chase dogs. He hated people too. Then there was the dalmatian who found a white kitten with three black spots and adopted it.

Now that I think of it, we're a family that attracts all the weirdest products of nature.

Can't think why.

Stewart Cowan said...

How come I have to go round with black plastic poop bags to clean up after my dogs, yet cats come into my garden and do what they will, unafraid because they know the law's on their side?

Why hasn't Trevor Phillips sorted out this gross inequality?

Leg-iron said...

It could be extended to the owners of homing pigeons, so they'd have to follow their birds home.

It started silly so there is no limit.

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