Yesterday, 9/25/07, I winessed to my horror my neighbor's German Sherphard ripping a cat apart!  It was very gruesome.  I called animal control...explained situation...they said cat was trespassing therefore nothing could be done..I also called homeowner's hm and left message...we live in the country in a small rural city just outside Eugene Oregon.  This last January my 5lb chihuahua was attacked by this same dog...pulled thru the fence...for no reason...I was standing right there and with the grace of God was able to save my beutiful dog...the neighbor started retaliating against me for filing charges...I finally gave in and dropped the charges...it's not easy when you are an older widow woman living alone.

I found out later by the dog owner that the cat was their "pet" cat...I called animal control again and asked if I could file charges since the cat was not trespassing??  (They had said I could day b4 even if the cat was not mine...if cat was not trespassing I could file charge)  They said absolutly NOT...as it was not against any animal laws for a dog to kill a cat on dog and cat owner's property unless the owners were purposely getting cats for the dog to kill...

Am I alone in being completly appalled by animal control's no care in the world about the situation.  The owner has no intentions of doing anything with the dog...he seems to think the dog helps protect him and his family when their is a cougar or bear in the area that kills domestic and farm animals...he does, however, participates in hunting down and KILLING those animals and doesn't seem to understand...his very own vicious german shephard...he needs to be very afraid of dogs recent vicious actions.  These people have two small boys and do not get it.  Any advise out there?

Unfortunately, dogs do have a prey instinct. 

My 3 large dogs are fine around my indoor cats and have no issues - they'll sleep together,eat out of the same bowls, and I think the dogs even see 2 of the 5 cats as being higher in the pack then them.   But if they are outside and see a cat run, instinct kicks in and they want to chase it.  I know this and even though I have a fenced yard, my dogs are never outside by themselves.  (It just makes things easier - the neighbor kids like to tease the dogs.  If I'm out, this doesn't take place.)

I don't like the fact that my dogs chase small furry critters, but I realize that they are dogs and have a prey drive.  There is only so much instinct that training can over come.  The dogs have gotten squirrels a few times and in a matter of seconds the victim has a broken neck.  They get told to drop it and get taken inside.  And they do drop it - with a confused look wondering why the new toy doesn't move any more.  I've also had to deal with others cats getting inside my fence - so far I've been able to get the dogs off of them.   

From a legal standpoint, there really isn't anything that animal control can do unless there is a vicious dog law where you live that includes attacks causing death on other pets as a definition of what constitutes being vicious.  If the dog was on it's own property, the cat shouldn't have been there. 

That's why all my cats are indoors only.  There are too many dogs, cars, and people out there that could hurt them.  You have to remember pets are not people.  They don't think like people.  Cat's don't understand property lines just like dogs with a prey instinct don't understand the difference between a small pet and prey. It's up to the owners to do the thinking for the animals to keep them safe and out of trouble.

Just to clarify, I was not suggesting that all dogs who attack other animals would attack people. I was saying that they could and some will, but not all. But if you want to get animal control to listen and take action, suggest that the dog might be more likely to attack a person.