Firstly i would like to offer my sincere condolances to you and your family on your loss. Pets are family to many people and loosing ones pet in any manor is distressing enough, i can not imaine the added emotions of a loss in such a way as what has happened with your cat and i can whole heartedly say, knowing the family of the dog, how deeply sorry they are for what has happened.I am going to aim the next part of my message to the responders of your thread as I am not trying to in anyway justify or deter any part of action that has come from this dog but i do feel that, having read some of the responses, although entitled to their opinion, need to respond to some comments on behalf of the family who own the dog.Just to confirm, the dog everyone is referring to is a greyhound. I am not going to ‘bore’ everyone with information on the breed but I would like to point out that greyhounds are considered to be in the ‘top 10 most gentle dog breeds’! They are naturally kind in temperment, gentle, loyal, shy and naturally very good with people of ALL ages – especially children oh and funnily enough generally get on with both other dogs & cats! If anyone believes otherwise or has heard differently they can ‘Google’ it or beter yet, ask a vet or an animal breeder. This dog has been in the family for nearly 3 years, prior to that the owners had a greyhound for nearly 13 years and lived in the area for over 16 years Not once have they encounterd a problem with a person or another animal. The owners daughter has a 1 year old and there has been no hint of an issue,. The family have extended family with lots of people rangeing from the ages of 3 moths to 91 years old and again, there has NEVER been a concern. The dog does not go out without a lead, the ONLY time he is let off a lead outside is in an enclosed park – The owner even has a muzzel for the dog for when he is off the lead in an enclosed park.The dog owners have a lead which actually came from switzerland and is generally used on larger, stronger breeds such as Burmese mountain dogs – Its is extra strength nylon and approved – sadly it is / was not ‘chew proof’. The dog was only tied up as he was getting in the way of the builders and the owners daughter needed to collect the owner from the hospital so to prevent either a worker or the dog being hurt, it was the only option at that time. For whatever reason – maybe the fact that the dog has never been tied up before - We don’t know but either way, he managed to chew through his lead and must have run out the door which the bulders had left open. Sadly we all know what happened then. The police were called, The owner took reponsibility and apologised in person – I don’t know how many people would do that. The family of the dog do feel extremly awful with what has happened, they are just as shocked , saddened and confused and would do anything they could to turn back time. I would also like to mention that the builders who were working in the owners house would like to apologise too, they feel awful as they blame themselves for leaving the door open, if they hadn’t none of this would have happened.As I said earlier, I am in no way trying to excuse or justify what has happened but I am going to ask some of the responders to re read what they have written because some of the comments are, to be frank, quite shameful! Someone said ‘That dog sounds like an absoloute savage’ and another said the dog was ‘tied with a ribbon’! Where did that come from? There are other comments regarding cats killing birds and mice – but that’s ok apparently? I am surprised that no one has thought to mention that an outdoor cat would be more at risk from being attacked by foxes or being hit by cars or even suggested, a statistical analysis on the number of missing cats (which seems to be a common occurance) to see if numbers are increasing and why that may be and to possibly suggest some ideas. As a community, we should be supporting each other by discussing how we may prevent accidents like this happening in the future. Because that is what this tradgic event was, an accident! Rather than ‘bitch’ and spread the ‘story’ with inaccurate information of what happened - This thread has become a 21st century ‘chinease whispers’! and is absoloutly absurd! There are many stages of grief and anger is one of them, the owner of the cat has every right to feel angst against the dog and the owner with justice too but to the other threaders, there is no reason to add fuel to the fire and start a vigilanti, this is going to help no one. Both parties live in the area. The owner of the dog, has had a horrible few years with her husband having a severe stroke and then herself having cancer. They are both recovering and trying to get back into the world and now the owner is worried and feeling uncomforable about leaving the house for fear that she will ‘bump’ into one of you and end up being confronted. Many people may not be happy with my words, for the owner of the cat, I apologise publicly if this or any part of this has added to your grief or offended you in any way. That was and is not my intent. I just felt that I had to make my voice heard and ask people that before they make a comment, that you ensure 100% that you have the correct facts.
Melinda Armitage-Rogers ● 5062d