(Not getting involved in the rest of the thread)

a cat can attack a dog tho
I was walking with both my dogs onlead on a path - all of us minding our own buisness and a cat ran full pelt down a garden and launched itself at Mia
She was pinned to the floor with the cat trying to get a good bite hold on her windpipe
I was trying to hold back Ben with one hand and get the cat with the other hand

thankfully the owner came out and grabbed her cat - saying sorry that her cat does not like dogs

scared the life out of me!!
also I have seen the cats round here corner and beat up foxes

Not saying anything about what owners should or shouldnt do here, just saying, yes, there is a difference between a swipe and an attack - but cats CAN attack dogs

I have a cat who will be 19 years old in a few months. She use to be an indoor/ outdoor cat. But she is an indoor cat now although she likes to have a wonder outside now and again when I hang my washing out, whilst I am their. She enjoys rolling about the grass, she is normally only a few meters away from me at a time. The reason she became a house cat was because she became deaf and it clearly wasn't safe for her to be outside alone.

First of all, when I said "your cat" I meant a general 'you' not you personally

But on topic, a swipe IS an attack. You're assuming the cat didn't touch my dog. It did. Regardless of the damage it did, it's still an attack. If it had taken my dogs eye out with it's 'warning swipe' it would be no comfort to me to know it was 'just a swipe'. An attack is not defined by the severity of the damage, its defined by intent, therefore I don't see how I'm exaggerating to say that a cat that was lurking under a tree in my garden hit/'swiped' my dog. Even if it was out of fear, it still shouldn't have been there in the first place. Plenty of dogs have fear based aggression, it's still the owners responsibility regardless of the motivation behind it

And I know, people don't like to see dogs compared to cats, but I fail to see why. If my guinea pigs chewed by neighbours flowers, if my dog barked all day or romped around their garden, I'd still feel responsible because they are animals which belong to me.

As for how to contain cats, well I don't own one and have no intention of doing so, so these are just a few ideas but!:

1. Enclosing your garden with a cat fence.
   
2. A cat enclosure:
3. 
   
4. A cat harness:
5. 

And just generally keep them inside. They may pine to go out, they may not, but statistically they are less likely to die or be injured by harmful outside experiences and as loving pet owners that can only be a bonus

You think a cat walked on the streets on a harness around on and off lead dogs would be safer than one that can run free and escape?

Sorry but I'm not going to risk having my cat killed by strange dogs in this way and I don't have the money or room to build a big run. I'm afraid, as it's not illegal and safer for my cat, I'll continue to let my cats roam. In the same way people continue to let their darling children pelt up and down the street all summer long screaming and swearing!

A single swipe isn't an attack. It is a warning to back off out of self defense. It would take a lot to provoke a cat to the point of "attack". A lot of cats will bat off a dog using just their paws and NOT their claws. If the cat had swiped your dog with claws, you would know about it.

All those options are entirely unrealistic for most, baring in mind that there are some 8 million cats in the UK.

Most people are not going to fence their entire garden into an ugly, giant cat enclosure like that. Why would anyone want to ruin their outside space? outdoor space is at a premium for most people.

Putting up special fences again isn't realistic. Most people are not going to want a fence within a fence, making their garden look like a prison yard.

As for harnesses, good luck trying to 'walk' the average cat. Where would people be expected to 'walk' their cats, given that the average person probably doesn't have a huge garden? it certainly isn't safe or fair (walking them on leads would be highly stressful to your average cat - they are not dogs!) to walk them to the local park. They wouldn't last five minutes.

Well said
Oh! No.....if anyone expected me to keep my cats in the 'above' I wouldn't own one, even my rabbit gets a free run of the garden every day.............''caged up ouside''...... or kept inside.....harnessed ......your having a joke sorry but thats just cruel.
And I wouldn't be walking my cats around on a harness anyway, what!!! and some stray dog runs over to attack, me possibly getting bitten trying to save my cat....

best advice if you don't want a cat swiping your dog, teach your dog to stay away, I have 4 dogs here and they are all taught..1) they do not bark at cats, 2 They do not chase cats, 3 they respect cats space.
My cats and dogs sleep together, wash each other and the dogs worry about the cats, hence why they are all in at night

a) I never said 'walk your cats on the street like a dog on a harness' - obviously cats won't be walked like dogs, it would be more a case of you following it around your garden which would still provide enrichment and stimulation without the danger of the cat being unsupervised in the wilderness/on the streets. Also, at the person who said 'space is at a premium I would not want an unslightly fence etc etc'. That's a bit rich considering other people's animals are despoiling my 'premium space' with their unsightly poo!

b) It's an 8 week old puppy. Teach it to stay away from cats? What? She had never even encountered a cat let alone even knew what one was, and I didn't even know it was there Again, I would not allow my dog to attack a cat on the street, but if a cat is in MY garden when it has no right to be there at all then why should I have to go to such lengths in the first place. Any cat caught by my dogs in my garden is fair game to be honest, it's the owner's fault not mine. If people want to take that kind of risk with their animals by allowing them to stray then it's their responsibility. The cat is lucky that my dog is a puppy, as I would not want to see the reaction of a highly prey driven sighthound from working stock when confronted with an angry cat in its territory regardless of socialisation/control etc. But that's the risk people have to accept when owning an outdoor cat.

c) Allowing your rabbit to free range in your garden is quite a big risk, but if you're willing to take it with your cats by letting them do the same I guess it's a free for all My guinea pigs wouldn't last two minutes in my garden without the safety of a run, there are prey birds/foxes/cats/stray dogs all over the place around here.

We let our cats roam, and to be fair we have lost one out of five to a car accident.

In the past 6 months I have also stopped to remove two dead cats from out of the roads One was tonight..no tag sadly and too late to take to the vet to scan

And regarding cats on harnesses, I am shocked when people bring their cat in on a harness to PAH..to be fair the cats seem fine with it but it seems a little risky. My cats would freak out!

Unsightly fence or massive enclosure compared to a bit of poo that you can't even see...hmm, which is the bigger eyesore?

What a great attitude you have there...its "fair game" your dogs can attack a cat if it is in your garden. Delightful. I'm a bit baffled that you can moan about a cat swiping on one hand, and on other say it is ok for your dogs to attack a cat because it is in their garden? talk about double standards. Is actually training your dogs not a possibility?

It is fair game. I wouldn't be happy about it, I wouldn't encourage it and I would try and avoid it but at the day I would not feel responsible for it. I don't see how it is double standards when I've repeatedly said that I actively try and ensure that my dogs are used to cats and comfortable with them, following the incident with the cat in my back yard my whippet has been introduced to my friend's four cats as I don't want her to fear them cue to what happened. And if my dog attacked a cat in its own garden then of course that would be my fault for allowing my dog in there in the first place and I would be reponsible for medical costs and owe an apology. However if the cat is in my yard, then it's the owner who is negligent, not I. I'm not sure what's confusing about what I said, I'm perfectly entitled to "moan" because my dog was hit by a cat in my own back garden

Training dogs is very possible but as an owner yourself you should have realised by now that no dog is 100% predictable and no amount of training can prevemnt natural drives and instincts. I'm sure many dog owners would be offended at the implication that a dog with a high chase drive is only unpredictable on recall because of lack of training, or a reactive dog is only fearful of other dogs because of lack of training and so on. No amount of training or socialising is going to make me think that I can 100% trust my whippet not to see a small animal as prey.