Has the law changed then? Does that also mean that now if someone accidently runs a cat over on a public highway they have to report it as they do with a dog? I was told not so long ago that cats outside of their own property were classed as wild animals and therefore outside any laws, apart from deliberate cruelty ones that is.

She is trying her best guys, but she also has a 3 year old...... she cant control when the backdoor is opened, if you know what I mean. She is such a lovely lady and certainly not one that believes in disposable pets. She has the poor dogs thoughts at heart.

Ive offered to take him to a friends house who has cats and is a trained dog behaviourist.

Its a last resort. Hes so intense that I do not really know whether its a solution......

The lady is actually a client but we have become quite good friends. I went to the house today and she left me the info in a note. I actually cried when I read that she was thinking of rehoming him.

Have a big cuddle from me and Jimmi, what horrible news to read in a note. Your friend must be in pieces.

I had an incident happen to me in my own back garden and i was told i could not be prosceuted because it was on private property. I was also told that had the incident happened on public land it would have been different.

I haven't waded through the whole thread, so apols. if I am repeating what someone else has said, but this makes me so angry. How many millions of song birds do cats kill every year? How many innocent budgies, parrots, hamsters, or other little pets get killed by cats? Are those cats then destroyed? When next door's cat macerated a nest of thrushes in another neighbour's garden, and my daughter's cat did likewise to a nest of blackbirds plus the mother as well, were these cats destroyed? No they were not, of course not, it is a cat's instinct unfortunately to kill not just for food but for fun.

Why is it any different then for this dog to have done something similar? Even if it were on public land, do cats pay any attention to their prey on public land?

I am not condoning what happened of course, but that could so easily have been one of my dogs, or both. They were both on leads the other day, but still nearly got hold of next door's moggy who was hiding in the bushes on the side of our drive. Had they done so, and said moggy was killed, I would not expect some idiotic judge to order them to be destroyed.

Rupert was the same at first with the chickens and then later with the rabbit. How long has it been going on? You say she has a 3 year old and can't control when the doori s opened, how about a baby gate in front of the door so even if the child opens the door the dog is still confined? If he has a fractured hip then shouldn't he be confined to a leash while it heals anyway?

I didn't think we'd ever get Rupe to stop charging the fence, trying to dig under it and just generally fixating on his prey but I did eventually. It took months but we got there. Don't get me wrong, given the opportunity he'd still have killed the chickens and rabbit but he wasn't frantic to do so and could chill in the garden. I always had him hooked up on a harness and long line just in case though.

I'm not trying to judge here, just saying it may not be absolutely hopeless. Fingers crossed your friend can find some sort of solution to the problem.

The babygate is a great idea, I will pass that on.

The fracture in the hip is old, hes a rescue dog and was pretty beaten up.

She has two, the other one is not interested or bothered at all.

I am trying to convince her not too, but she is so worried, firstly about him escaping and getting the kitten, or him injuring himself. Shes also wondering what sort of life he will have if he is just gagging to get the cat and frustrated all the time.....

Surely in the case of the dog escaping & getting through the fence to the kitten next door means the fence is flawed and now is the time to either replace it or reinforce it and add height to it at same time?

I agree........