Can a domestic cat kill a dog?

Question

My neighbour says hers would! how? dogs are too big arent they?

Answer 1

It doesnt work, because a cat kills like many other predators: By breaking the neck, either by biting or shaking the victim.
The cat couldnt do that with a dog, lunless its areally weeeny tiny one....awwww, no! Cats dont do that!

Answer 2

I think your neighbor is trying to scare you for some reason.
Does you dog go into her yard?
It is possible for a cat to take down a smaller dog, depending on the size and the aggressiveness of both. My 25 lb huge tom (not fat he is 3' from nose to tail) will confront any dog. Don't think he would kill them tho. He is more swat & walk away. But I would make the assumption that, based on his sheer size, if he was a very agressive cat he could easily take down any dog that weighed less than 10 lbs.
A dog would have to be pretty passive about the whole situation before a cat could kill it. But as mentioned, a cat can inflict a lot of injury, can blind a dog or infection can set in and kill the dog.
But I would not worry too much about it, just keep you dog away from her yard it that is the problem.

Answer 3

Depends on the size of the dog. My American Pit Bull Terrier was attacked by a feral cat on a walk one day. The cat just jumped out from under the car. My dog is too much of a mush to do anything- he just kept backing up until I kicked the cat away (which took about two seconds to realize what was going on). I had to take him to the vet to prevent infection in the scratches... but he is fine now. :( If he was alone I think that cat would have ripped him up good! Crazy cat! **mad**

Now he gets scared when he sees cats.

So yeah, if my dog was small like a maltese or toy poodle- I think that cat COULD have killed him.

It's possible, just not likely.

Answer 4

Well it doesn't happen very often but yes, a cat can kill a dog. Usually when a threatened cat attacks another animal, he goes for the jugular at the neck area (when biting) and he goes for the eyes (when scratching). If the jugular is punctured, the animal can bleed to death. However, it is more usual for a threatened cat to simply wallop a dog accorss the nose and usually that's enough for the dog to leave kitty alone - unless its an aggressive and angry dog. It is more usual that a dog kills an inexperienced cat (a young cat or a very pampered indoor cat). Feral cats and big aggressive tom cats give dogs a run for their money any day.

Answer 5

I guess it would depend on what kind of dog, a big dog probably not, a very small dog maybe, i had a cat once that would jump on a dog no matter what size it was she would really hurt them by digging her claws into the top of their heads, but she never killed a dog.

Answer 6

I'm sure it could happen. Cat's claws are a dangerous weapon and if a cat attacked a dog with intent to hurt it, it definately would. Also, it would depend on the size of the dog. My dog is four pounds and could be killed by any average sized cat.

Answer 7

depends on what kind of dog it is. i have many cats and several large (100 pound +) dogs and they no better than to mess w/ the cats. I dont know about killing a dog but they can rip eyes out and cause severe damage, infection could possibly kill the dog, so yes its possible.

Answer 8

We had a Maine Coon as a barn cat. This salty old fellow brought down woodchucks, if he took it in his mind to do some damage to her, the neighbor's poodle would have been no challenge (Fortunately he just ignored the dog). If he had wanted to he could have done some serious damage to any dog lab sized or smaller.

Answer 9

Any self respecting cat can give an average dog a run for his money any day... I have seen it. Depends on the personalities ( agressiveness) of both animals.

Answer 10

Well with the wee little dogs we have now... I can see an aggressive cat killing one. They are natural predators.