Hi Sally,

Joedee is absolutely right - the law does not (at present, in England) cover attacks on cats.

The "it might be a child next" is simply a knee-jerk reaction, and has no real basis - if your dog chased and killed or injured a rabbit in the fields, you wouldn't automatically assume it would chase children, would you? Your dogs saw a small furry prey object - probably already running - and chased it... as most people's dogs would, even Merlin.

I would want to see the vet bill and/or speak to the vet. From the sound of it the injuries the cat sustained [fractured jaw especially] may not have been actually caused by the dogs themselves, but by colliding with something in fright. Cats' jaws are notoriously weak and fractures are very common after a fall from a window, a car accident, or collision. If it can be shown your dogs only chased the cat - and didn't injure it by taking hold of it in any way - then things are not as bad as they may seem.

If you need any legal advice then do contact Trevor Cooper as Rune has suggested, or DDA Watch (they are also legal experts, in all matters canine and will be able to advise).

As I know you personally, and your dogs, please don't hesitate to ask if you need any kind of character statement from me, to back you up as the responsible and conscientious dog owner I know you to be.

Please don't try to worry too much, understandably tempers are high at the moment, but I sincerely doubt it will ever go to court. You can always phone me for a chat if you need to xx

If all your able to pay is £10 a month then I can't see what they can do about it, you can only pay what you can pay, even if it went through the courts ( which I'm sure it won't ) the courts would still have to work within your means.

Thanks very much everybody for the advice and support!!

To be honest, I am no longer worried about going to court, or the police. As has been said, unless our dogs attacked a person, or another dog, then there's nothing legally that be done. Though I suppose it would be a different matter if we constantly let us dogs roam around the streets unsupervised, attacking cats on a regular basis!!

It's strange, I haven't heard back from the cats owner since this morning when I said that we would need to see the bill before we made any payments to her. Though I suppose she could be cooking up some kind of revenge as I am only able to pay such a small amount back on a monthly basis!!

I did wonder whether the bill was actually for a lot less than she told us. As Dottie's owner originally told us the figure of £3-600 had been quoted (unless the op was more tricky than originally thought of course) and that's why she's gone quiet as I have asked to see proof....But, I expect that's the not the case at all and I will hear from her soon!!!

I was thinking the exact same thing.

You have no legal obligation to pay the bill, and if you can only afford ten pounds a month then that's what you'll need to pay. Plenty of people would tell the woman with the cat where to go

(Of course, I'm not one of those people, I too would be paying the vet bill).

Oh what a horrid situation all round.

Personally I would buy the largest bunch of flowers you can afford and I would go around personally to see the cat owner. I would apologise profusely and eat as much humble pie as necessary. She may relent somewhat if she sees in person how sorry you are.

You can also then see the vet bill and speak to them about what you can or cannot afford. If you cannot afford it, then there is very little she can do.

I don't think sorting it out by text is the answer. Face to face is the way to go imo.

Good luck.

If I have read this correctly the cat was in the owner's front garden which is not fenced off. Presumably the cat was not tethered in any way, therefore was a free-ranging cat and not a house cat.

Much as I have sympathy for the cat, I cannot see how the owner of a free-ranging cat in an unfenced front yard can expect that all dogs "respect" that unfenced yard and not enter it to attack a cat.

My late lamented Kat was a free-ranging cat, and I lost her due to a RTA. Had I lost her to a dog/pack of dogs it would have been the same. A free-ranging cat is just that, and an unfenced yard is not going to keep dogs out, as I know from bitter experience.

I was just wondering this myself. Cats are free roaming how can it be proved your dogs even did it. The cat could of been attacked earlier in the day and your dogs mealy found it already hiding and licking its wounds. What about the cat owners duty of care to her cat, she allowed it to wander around free to be hit by a car or hurt by a dog. I would offer something towards the vet bill out of guilt my self and leave the rest to the cat owner. As for it being on a credit card dont let them try stick you with interest as it was their choice to put it on a credit card.

sorry if this opinion is not welcomed

Whilst there is no case to answer under criminal law, ie the DDA, it is a civil matter so thus the owner of the cat could sue you.

I would sit tight and seek advice from Trevor Cooper (dog law uk).

Pereg was attacked by a stray dog that came into my unfenced front yard - impossible to fence it in therefore she is tethered on ~12m of rope so that she cannot get to the pavement but has more than enough freedom of movement.

I had to get my Vet to come out and clean and staple the puncture wounds she suffered, plus antibiotic shots and 10 days' supply of antibiotic pills. Shortly afterwards Pereg had her first Grand Mal epileptic seizure, and my Vet is convinced that the trauma brought it on.

I say it was a stray dog, but I am fairly sure I knew who owned that dog, not that I could prove it. Someone who has dog after dog, always letting them run loose, and when one vanishes there is always another one...

Kat was a free-ranging cat. There was no way I could have stopped her, but at least I had her spayed so she did not bring more unwanted kittens into the world. She had a very happy, albeit only four years of life, and she just happened to cross the road once too often. I do not blame the car driver who hit her [she had no marks on her when I found her] - but I would not have blamed any dogs had she been set upon by some of the packs of stray dumped dogs we get here.

And if a cat came into my yard and Pereg got it? When Pereg was a puppy and I still had Little One, they killed a tiny kitten that had somehow gotten into my yard. I still do not know whether the kitten - only a few weeks old - was already dead or whether they shook it and it died. Little One got hold of it and shook it, I made her drop it and then Pereg got it and I made her drop it. But there was no marks on it so I do not know if they killed it or not.

But it was in my, our, front yard, and both Little One and Pereg did what was obviously in their instinct.

So as I would not have tried to get money from either the driver who must have side-swiped Kat, nor tried to get the person who I am certain owned the dog that attacked Pereg, nor would I pay any vet bill for a free-ranging cat that just "might" have been harmed by the OPs dogs.

I'd just be cheesed off in general if I had someone else's dogs end up in my front garden to be honest - used to have a neighbour's dogs from a few houses down regularly end up in our back garden (this was before we had our dogs so the garden was hedged but not fully fenced - the dog would break through the fences of several consecutive houses and hit a dead end at ours as one side of the garden was fenced so we got the joy of its presence - and poo - repeatedly) and that alone was enough to do my head in.

Do the decent thing and don't start trying to dodge out of it now - you'd expect the same if it was your pets that had been hurt. If you're going to start wriggling out - I actually hope the cat's owners DO sue you - it sounded at the start like you were going to do the moral thing, now you're looking like you're starting to want to wriggle.