Dogs attacking kitten

IsItJustMeOr...

An incident happened a few weeks back that I just want to share and get some opinions on...

We live with 2 dogs and 2 cats. They want for nothing...

We've a fenced in garden for the dogs and they are only out there when we are not working and at home (house dogs apart from that).
They tolerate the resident cats as the cats were here before them, but will give one of them a bit of a chase if they can when we aren't looking...

To make a long story short...one night a few weeks ago, I'd let the dogs out to the enclosed back yard, as I'd done 100 times over, to do what they had to do.
After 10 mins, we heard an awful screech and ran out. Unfortunately a small stray kitten must have made it's way into our backyard without our notice...The dogs had attacked it...
We rushed it straight to our vet, but under a full examination it appeared the injuries were to severe to save..

As a huge animal lover, I'm so sickened, upset and disgusted with both of them.
It's still a big issue to me that the kitten died and something I am kinda feeling hard to deal with in relation to how I now feel about the dogs...

I am far from a stupid individual and realise all dogs are dogs at the end of the day, and they have their base insticts...but still..

Has anyone had an experience with this?

Bullseye1

This is a tough one as I too would be disappointed in the dogs if they killed a kitten or any other animal for that matter. Its the same with cats. You let them out and they kill a bird, cats have that killing instinct we hope our dogs dont but unfortunately the genes do get the better of them.

Not sure how I would feel if it happened to my pets. Now that they have tasted blood you are certainly going to have to be more vigilant with them.

artieanna

The first thing I thought of when reading you post was... it was a small kitten, so the dogs (what breed are they?) may have felt threatened, thinking it was a rat..

IsItJustMeOr...

Oldest is a 4.5 year old Retriever/collie cross and youngest a 1.5 year old terrier/staffie cross

IsItJustMeOr...

Must add at this point, they didn't maul the kitten to pieces...They just grabbed it then, let it go from I could see, then we heard and ran. Too late unfortuntaley..

morganafay

I would feel the same probably if my dogs did that. But they are dogs, they probably didn't know what the kitten was and thought it was prey or even a toy. They just might have been too rough with it and hurt it.

All my dogs are lovely, as I'm sure yours are, and are used to kittens so very gentle. But when they were puppies and first met kittens, most of them did the same thing, and grabbed the kittens by the scruff of the neck and shook them like a toy. But I told them off so now they know to be gentle. So even though they were just playing, they could have killed them by accident.

So don't be too harsh on your dogs, I think most dogs that weren't used to kittens would do the same thing.

peasant

morganafay wrote: »

So don't be too harsh on your dogs, I think most dogs that weren't used to kittens would do the same thing.

Dogs can differentiate between "their" cats and strange cats. While they may tolerate or even love theirs, they are still quite capable of killing strangers.

MsFifers

I think its easy for us pet owners to try to mentally set aside the essential "animalness" of our pets. Your dogs were just acting according to their basic nature.

Its the same when my cats occasionally catch a bird in the garden - and the horrible monsters play with it by batting it around. I'm always angry with my cats afterwards - even though that makes no sense!

Really - us humans can't judge our pets when you think of all the terrible factory farming practices we engage in! We're the ones that should know better!

TooManyDogs

I kind of have the same situation with my dogs. They either ignore or adore my 2 rabbits (they're never loose with the dogs unless I'm in the room), they defend the rabbits if visiting dogs get too close but when I bring them up the fields they have chased down and killed wild rabbits. Like you OP I'm disgusted but realise that it's in their nature. Your 2 cats (like my 2 rabbits) belong to the pack so the dogs leave them alone, but they don't have to like them.

I agree with the others that the kitten may have looked like a small prey animal rather than a cat and the dogs didn't intend to kill it but grabbed it too roughly. Try not be too hard on them, unfortunately the animal world is cruel sometimes.

IsItJustMeOr...

Thanks all. I appreciate your thoughts and opinions...

morganafay

peasant wrote: »

Dogs can differentiate between "their" cats and strange cats. While they may tolerate or even love theirs, they are still quite capable of killing strangers.

Yeah some might. But also they just mightn't know what a kitten is the first time they see it, even if they're fine with adult cats.

peasant

morganafay wrote: »

Yeah some might. But also they just mightn't know what a kitten is the first time they see it, even if they're fine with adult cats.

That may well be the case.
But more importantly, people mustn't delude themselves into thinking that (their) dogs are fine with cats (all cats, everywhere) just because they snuggle up to the moggy at home.

Because they most likely aren't.

Graces7

Our wee dog is fine with our cats as she knew them when she was small... and they make sure she respects their boundaries.

The rescued collie however is a very different matter; I would not trust her an inch where the cats are concerned and try to make sure they never meet. The cats are very aware of this too and run away and /or up trees if they are nearby and collie is around.

I am sure that if collie caught one of the cats there would be blood shed. Not sure whose....

Different dogs. And most are aware of the temperament of their own dogs. They are animals after all.

Cherry Blossom

My 14yr old labrador sleeps in the stables with my horses so I was quite surprised by him heading off to the gate to bark and growl at a pony and sulky on the road. I do have other peoples horses here from time to time and he's never acted any differently towards them so I assume it was the addition of the sulky that got the wind up him. He must have seen the new situation or circumstances as something 'wrong' or something to be wary of. It might have been something similar in your case that the dogs just weren't expecting to find a kitten in the garden and it surprised them.