beauty healthy happy
14 Mar
Neighbor's dog attacked my stray cat. What should I do?
I've been taking care of a stray cat for about six months now. I can't take him in because I'm not allowed pets in my condo, and he gets scared whenever I shut him inside.
Anyway, this afternoon, my neighbor's dog attacked the cat when it was climbing our shared stairs to come get food from me. It tore a big chunk of the cat's hair out to the left of his mouth. I see pink skin and two smallish red spots that look like they're open wounds, both maybe the size of a marker tip. First question: I tried to put Neosporin on the wounds, but when I put the tip of the tube near its wound, it moves its head. Any ideas on how I can get it on?
Second, what should I do about the neighbor's dog? Someone told me to report them to the police, but that seems a bit extreme. However, one time the dog got loose in a windstorm and tried to bite both me and another neighbor's husband.
The dog's runner is attached to the owner's gate, but they put him on a runner that must let the dog go down their stairs onto our shared stairs, because that's where the cat was attacked.
I am worried the dog can get a few feet down our split stairs, which means it could eat the cat or try to attack me or someone else.
I know I should talk to the dog owners but I am bad at doing that sort of thing without sounding accusatory. Also, I don't know if I should tell the neighbors I have been feeding a stray, because they will probably get mad and report me to animal control or the condo association.
What should I do?!
3 Responses for "Neighbor's dog attacked my stray cat. What should I do?"
Best Answer – Chosen by Voters I'm so sorry about your cat. First of all, these are two entirely different situations. I am truly sorry about your cat but a dog attacking a cat does not in any way make it a dangerous animal or have any reason to be put down. That is simply what's called prey drive. Same as a dog going after a gopher or a ground hog or a squirrel. Some dogs can distinguish between cats they live with but not stray cats, others can't. I live with a high prey drive dog yet he lives with two indoor cats and spends his entire day playing and sleeping with one of them. Prey drive is just nature, unfortunately, and like I said, the dog going after your cat does NOT make him dangerous.However, you said he went after people and that's an entirely different situation. That should have been addressed immediately. Aggression against people is something that is NEVER tolerated and DOES make a dog dangerous if it was unprovoked and you were just trying to walk past him. They definitely need to know about that and the dog needs to be evaluated for that because that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. What if next time it's someone walking by with their toddler and he takes a chunk out of the baby? If their dog is that aggressive and they're leaving him where he has access to everyone walking by, there are potentially going to be problems and they need to know NOW that they need to do something about their dog. I'd talk to them about where they are leaving the dog and that with the recent history, this dog shouldn't have that access and if they don't move it after that, I'd go to your Condo Association. Talk to them reasonably, though. THEY are the ones who are potentially going to end up with a lawsuit and you're really only looking out for THEIR best interest so I'd just tell them in that way…… that you're doing it to save them future problems only because that may make them a little more reasonable. Best of luck to you and I hope everything turns out okay with your cat.
if the dog is vicious and trying to bite people you definitely need to report it to the police. As for the neosporin i would sit on the cat and hold its head still, this is how i give my cats their pills
If you are not allowed to keep a pet, why do the neighbors have a dog?
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