My pitbull likes to eat neighborhood cats, what should I do?

Question

I have a 4 year old male pitbull, I love the dog and he is good to my family, Awesome with kids! He however will kill and half eat any neighborhood cats that come into my yard. I started to tell one of my neighbors after he ripped their cat apart but i figured it may be a barrel of fish I didn't want to open, so I threw it in the creek. I dont want any SPCA people messing with my dog. I have a great dog and its not my dang problem to babysit the neighbor's cats. Does anyone have any advice? I really couldn't care less about the cats, they are just ingrateful yard rats but can my dog get into any trouble by a troublemaking neighbor?

My dog is on a runner in my yard and doesn't leave the yard. I personally dont like cats and am not going to cage my dog or keep him inside. My pit is my problem, not the cats. I think they get what they deserve if their stupid owners turn them loose outside. Infact I think its amusing. I'm just worried about the legal aspect.

Answer 1

Cats are murdering b*stards. Thing is they find and hunt birds from all over. So if they wander into your yard in search of something to kill or to sh*t in your flower bed then f*ck them. We have 2 dogs, collies, whom like your dog are fantastic with the kids but if anything small and fluffy were to come into our garden they would kill it. So far we have had 2 rats (live in the country and have chickens), 2 rabbits and half the fur off the neighbours cat. It knows to stay away now.

We used to keep a rabbit in a hutch and the older dog, pure bred border collie and now 13, used to circle the hutch constantly, eyeing up this meal that she couldn't get to. It got to the point where there was a almost a trench in the ground where she ran round and round. Anyway, the rabbit died (of myxamatosis) but my dog still ran round the hutch. So we burned the hutch, and she still ran round and round the burning embers thinking it was still there!!!!

Answer 2

Personally I have three cats and am a huge cat lover. But in the same respect my cats all live inside. If the owners of the cats let the cats run free what do they expect to happen. It is your yard and if the cats are in it, its really not your problem. As much as I hate to say it. The only thing I would consider is telling the people around you to keep the cats out of your yard, and then whatever happens after that isn't your problem. You can only warn people so many times. When there are no more cats in your yard, no more will be eaten...Good luck!

Answer 3

Um...This is bad and you're not one to talk about "troublemaking neighbors" if your dog is killing and eating their pets. I'll say you can get into trouble. Whether you like cats or not, this is VERY bad, and you may have to get your dog euthanized if you can't control his behavior. If your dog is otherwise good, which sounds like what you're saying, I'd advise building a fence that will keep the cats out. There are safe chemical repellents for such things.

I'm both a cat AND dog lover, I've met incredibly friendly pitbulls and I'm not trying to sound like I think they're a bad breed, but seriously, even if you hate cats enough to just let your dog kill them, think about how you'd feel if one of your neighbor's pets killed and ate your pitbull.

Answer 4

Okay for one.... if your dog is ripping apart other peoples animals its not amusing it's sad and as a cat owner I am offended but as a pitt owner/lover I don't know what you do to easily rectify it (fortunately mine learned along time ago the attack/playing with animals is bad)...

But honestly I am not too sure what you can do about it.

I don't think your liable since your dog is contained in the yard. And pits are not prone to bitting humans so I would'nt worry about this being a sign of aggression or anything in the eyes of your dog it's good clean fun...

Maybe try putting a top on your fence of tin slopping outwards to make it more difficult for cats to enter and if you catch him in the act let him not that you are displeased (scold him)

Answer 5

Yes your neighbor probably loved that cat just as much as you love that dog. It was probably a family member to them. If they ever knew about this they would get into a feud with you and probably would call the SPCA. I would say it probably was a one time thing because there might not be anymore cats going into your yard. My advice to you is don't tell your neighbors and try to make sure that it doesn't happen again! And if it does happen again than most definitely think about moving!

Answer 6

If your dog kills another animal, then yes, you can get into trouble.
However, the dog is confined to your property, and the cats are roaming free, so I'd think that you could probably explain that to a judge if you ever did get into trouble, and they'd probably drop the issue. Cats shouldn't be allowed to roam freely, anyways. Because your dog is a pit bull, people are going to be especially critical of it, and if I were you, I wouldn't want to draw any extra attention to my pit bull. It might be a good idea to keep your dog inside unless you are directly supervising it. That way, you can stop him from killing the neighborhood cats. Even though you don't care about the cats, someone does, and that's a horrible way for a cat to die. Even though it might not be your legal responsibility, it's your moral responsibility to keep your dog away from the cats

Answer 7

well, i hope soon one of ur neighbors finds out ur dog is eating their cats and then they can call animal control and report u and hopefully they will put ur dog to sleep. I just saw a case the other day where a pitbull bit a smaller dog and its intestines came out..the little dog lived tho and they looked at the pit once...no second chances and put it right to sleep...hope this happens to u cuz u seem real ignorant

Answer 8

Is he an indoor dog? That'd be a start. Otherwise, he should always be supervised when outside anyway so you can distract him when something catches his eye or squirt the cats with a spray bottle so they can learn to interpret your yard with discomfort (the water) rather than learning the hard way.

Answer 9

i guess-if the story is accurate-those cats deserve it. if they are dumb enough to approach a pit bull in an open yard, what do u expect. most cats would never go near that dog-you would have to throw them to the dog before they would just walk up to it. but who would ever throw cats to a dog?

Answer 10

your pet killed their pet.

dog or cat makes no difference.

if your neighbor had a dog in his yard and your pitbull got out and went over, and was killed by your neighbors' dog, you'd be upset.

you should solve the problem, and not leave the dog in the yard unattended. or put a muzzle on it.

The dog is yours. And therefore it is an extension of you. It's actions are your responsibility. And you should feel guilty for killing your neighbors cat.