Meggan Grubb

[Ellyjelly]

I agree with almost everything you said here. Apart from the part highlighted. I think the neighbour is a bleep and a horrible person by the sounds of it. But why should they have to cat proof their garden? It's not his cat! It's as much instinct for that greyhound to kill that cat as it is for an outdoor cat to roam into other people's gardens. I used to live beside a family with two cats who always came into my garden to try wind up my German Shepard. They would sit on top of the shed where he couldn't get them and hiss at him. Now if my next door neighbour asked or tried to insinuate I need to cat proof MY garden I would have told him where to go...

I’m just thinking as he knows his dog has actually killed a cat, only saying what I would do as I couldn’t deal with what happened, I agree, he has no responsibility to do that.

Life span of outdoor cats is 2/5 yrs, I think this is due to accidents. Didn’t know that. Scary.

 

[Bilbo16]

I’m just thinking as he knows his dog has actually killed a cat, only saying what I would do as I couldn’t deal with what happened, I agree, he has no responsibility to do that.

Life span of outdoor cats is 2/5 yrs, I think this is due to accidents. Didn’t know that. Scary.

That is scary. I lost one cat who got hit by a car about 10 years ago. One of my cats that lives with my mum went out and came back with a horrific injury to her foot/leg. The vet said it wasn’t from another animal so we have no idea what she went through. The leg had to be taken off, but we are grateful it wasn’t worse.
Such a horrible situation. I cant stop thinking about what they must be going through. And to have to deal with their neighbour being less than sympathetic too.

 

[Paddington84]

I'm so sad, I just keep thinking about what a horrible end Poppy had and it's heartbreaking. Absolutely horrible. I love dogs, but honestly if a dog did that to my cat I would report it regardless of whether it's in it's own garden or not... it's a new neighbour and Poppy has obviously been used to going there prior to this and the neighbour moving in and feeling safe. The fact that that neighbour is basically saying they don't care/won't do anything to prevent this happening further is definitely dangerous. If he's not willing to be a responsible pet owner - he shouldn't have a pet. Quite simple.

Being a c#nt doesn't make you irresponsible. It just makes you a c#nt.

I'm still finding it hard to understand what this dog owner has done that is "irresponsible"?

And expecting him to ensure it doesn't happen again? How? Lock his dog in his own house incase another neighbourhood cat decides to visit his yard uninvited?

What about the cat owners responsibility to the wildlife?

Where do we draw the line?

Other than being a c#nt, this guy hasn't actually done anything wrong.
Reporting him would say more about the Cat owner than anything else.

 

[bunnyblue]

Really it’s hard for us to specifically say what could have been done , if anything could have been done, or what the dog owner could do in future because we have so few details.
That he had zero remorse suggests maybe he could have been careless. But again that’s a guess.

I just still can’t believe it happened, it was so sudden. It breaks my heart to think of Meggan or Niall having to recover the body, if they were able to. It’s just so sad, and such an awful way for Poppy to go.

 

[chatterbox55]

I'm so sad, I just keep thinking about what a horrible end Poppy had and it's heartbreaking. Absolutely horrible. I love dogs, but honestly if a dog did that to my cat I would report it regardless of whether it's in it's own garden or not... it's a new neighbour and Poppy has obviously been used to going there prior to this and the neighbour moving in and feeling safe. The fact that that neighbour is basically saying they don't care/won't do anything to prevent this happening further is definitely dangerous. If he's not willing to be a responsible pet owner - he shouldn't have a pet. Quite simple.

Report it to who? The police deal with humans not animals ??? Also, why should cats be allowed roam free everywhere but not dogs?! Imagine dogs were allowed roam free all over housing estates?! Imagine looking out your back garden and seeing a random jack russell or pitbull out your back hunting? Cats already get enough leeway

 

[Ellyjelly]

As much as it’s horrific it was a tragic accident. The dog isn’t to blame niether is Poppy, as said further up, she was probably used to going in there and felt safe. It’s heartbreaking and I’m not sure you ever really get over something like that, having had a cat run over when they were young was bad enough. The most shocking thing was the neighbours response, so cruel and heartless. I remember when my cat was killed I didn’t want to live in the house anymore, ( it was on a lane) but I got paranoid about my other fur babies, we moved 9 months later!!

 

[Katleesi]

Report it to who? The police deal with humans not animals ??? Also, why should cats be allowed roam free everywhere but not dogs?! Imagine dogs were allowed roam free all over housing estates?! Imagine looking out your back garden and seeing a random jack russell or pitbull out your back hunting? Cats already get enough leeway

You can report dogs attacking small animals to the police actually. Especially if there is a chance of them doing it again. That means any cat in Meghan’s neighbourhood is basically not safe now. Which as I said before is not fair considering it’s a new neighbour and those cats have probably felt safe to roam prior to this.

this was on my local police site - which I’m sure is probably similar in other areas.

 

[Ellyjelly]

You can report dogs attacking small animals to the police actually. Especially if there is a chance of them doing it again. That means any cat in Meghan’s neighbourhood is basically not safe now. Which as I said before is not fair considering it’s a new neighbour and those cats have probably felt safe to roam prior to this.
View attachment 1031976
this was on my local police site - which I’m sure is probably similar in other areas.

But you have to remember Poppy went into their garden, I’m assuming it’s a safe garden, the dog wasn’t out in public. It’s just a very very sad situation and I really feel for Meg and Niall.

 

[aemee321]

You can report dogs attacking small animals to the police actually. Especially if there is a chance of them doing it again. That means any cat in Meghan’s neighbourhood is basically not safe now. Which as I said before is not fair considering it’s a new neighbour and those cats have probably felt safe to roam prior to this.
View attachment 1031976
this was on my local police site - which I’m sure is probably similar in other areas.

This all applies if the dog is out in public, in which case if it was then yes the dog was dangerously out of control. However if it was simply on it's own land the responsibility will lie with the 'intruder', in this case it was sadly Poppy and thus Niall and Meggan as her guardian. Cat owners and their animals definitely o not have the right to be able to roam wherever they wish safely into private gardens, regardless of whether they have done in the past. My friend is currently harness training her new kittens as she wants them to be able to access the outdoors safely, and avoid getting into trouble with other neighbourhood cats and dogs when out of her sight

I'm not arguing that the owner wasn't horrible in his attitude afterwards, it was just an extremely sad accident. The dog isn't dangerous just because it chased and managed to get a cat like 90% of dogs who see a small animal in their garden would do.

 

[bunnyblue]

People keep saying “the cat went into their garden”, and that’s true, but that’s maybe why some kind of warning to other neighbours would at least be something so they can reconsider how to keep their own pets safe, and making it harder for their cats to get into other gardens etc. Theres always a risk to letting your cat roam, but knowing they could get hit by a car is (imo) very different to knowing there’s a new dog in the area that has literally killed someone’s cat.

They’ve been so quiet on socials, I hope they’re okay. This must have hit them so hard.

 

[chatterbox55]

People keep saying “the cat went into their garden”, and that’s true, but that’s maybe why some kind of warning to other neighbours would at least be something so they can reconsider how to keep their own pets safe, and making it harder for their cats to get into other gardens etc. Theres always a risk to letting your cat roam, but knowing they could get hit by a car is (imo) very different to knowing there’s a new dog in the area that has literally killed someone’s cat.

They’ve been so quiet on socials, I hope they’re okay. This must have hit them so hard.

So unrealistic to suggest the new neighbour should be knocking on doors telling people that he has a dog on the off chance they own a cat. If this was Pop's first time into the garden it's possible the neighbour didn't even know they had a cat. I also dont think it was specified if it was next door neighbour or not, therefore it could have been the house behind or a few doors down. So on top of moving into a new house the neighbour is expected to go knocking on every door within a 1km radius on the off chance they have an outdoor cat to warn them?! Maybe in an ideal world but not this one. And before you say only knock on the doors that have cats how is a new neighbour meant to know that? Or any neighbour, there's cats I regularly see on my road that I don't know which house they're from.

 

[laracroft]

its just a sad accident. If you choose to have an outdoor cat this is the risk you take! x

 

[chatterbox55]

its just a sad accident. If you choose to have an outdoor cat this is the risk you take! x

I agree, it was a cruel act of nature. No human is at fault in the lead up to this. I think the neighbour should have been more sensitive and mindful that Megan & Niall just lost a pet and been nicer to them but unfortunately being a head isn't a crime as much as we want it to be

 

[bunnyblue]

So unrealistic to suggest the new neighbour should be knocking on doors telling people that he has a dog on the off chance they own a cat. If this was Pop's first time into the garden it's possible the neighbour didn't even know they had a cat. I also dont think it was specified if it was next door neighbour or not, therefore it could have been the house behind or a few doors down. So on top of moving into a new house the neighbour is expected to go knocking on every door within a 1km radius on the off chance they have an outdoor cat to warn them?! Maybe in an ideal world but not this one. And before you say only knock on the doors that have cats how is a new neighbour meant to know that? Or any neighbour, there's cats I regularly see on my road that I don't know which house they're from.

They don’t need to knock on everybody’s door in a “1km radius”. And we don’t know how close a neighbour they were, but close enough that Meggan called them a neighbour.
There’s responsibility on both sides, and I’m sorry but if you own a dog that you now know (if it never happened before) is capable of doing that, even just printing off notes and putting them through doors asking people to maybe reinforce their fences or be more cautious about their cats is something.

If I ever owned a dog that literally killed somebody else’s pet I would feel horrified and do what was in my power to warn neighbours to avoid it happening again. I don’t buy this “there’s nothing the dog owner can do.” Clearly they don’t care so they don’t want to do anything.

Like, the dog owner warning others makes more sense than all the cat owners in the area who up till now were fine randomly knocking on the new neighbours door and saying “oh hey your dog doesn’t happen to be capable of killing cats?”

 

[chatterbox55]

They don’t need to knock on everybody’s door in a “1km radius”. And we don’t know how close a neighbour they were, but close enough that Meggan called them a neighbour.
There’s responsibility on both sides, and I’m sorry but if you own a dog that you now know (if it never happened before) is capable of doing that, even just printing off notes and putting them through doors asking people to maybe reinforce their fences or be more cautious about their cats is something.

If I ever owned a dog that literally killed somebody else’s pet I would feel horrified and do what was in my power to warn neighbours to avoid it happening again. I don’t buy this “there’s nothing the dog owner can do.” Clearly they don’t care so they don’t want to do anything.

Like, the dog owner warning others makes more sense than all the cat owners in the area who up till now were fine randomly knocking on the new neighbours door and saying “oh hey your dog doesn’t happen to be capable of killing cats?”

A neighbour could be classed as anyone in a whole housing estate chicken so that argument is invalid. Printing off notes jesus you're delusional. Why should the training always be put back on the dog owner, why can't cat owners train their cats to stay in just their garden or whatever? It's your cat coming into my garden where my dog is chilling out, I will not be the one to change anything. Train your cat

 

[bunnyblue]

A neighbour could be classed as anyone in a whole housing estate chicken so that argument is invalid. Printing off notes jesus you're delusional. Why should the training always be put back on the dog owner, why can't cat owners train their cats to stay in just their garden or whatever?

I didn’t mention training at all, and we all know dogs need a level of training regardless of their breed. And I don’t think the suggestion to print notes is delusional. What’s delusional is keeping this kind of incident to yourself, but I guess it will be on Meggan and Niall to warn the other neighbours.

And yeah I’m sure if Meggan or Niall were ever on the other side they would just wash their hands and do nothing.

 

[aemee321]

There's also responsibility for cat owners to assess the risks when they let their cats roam outside and not put the entire onus on dog owners to let everyone know they have a dog breed that's completely legal. Most cat owners will know there are dogs that will live nearby if they live in a suburban area, they don't need to be informed about it. The amount of times I've found cat poo in my flowerbeds because they treat it like a litter tray and tried to shoo cats that try to kill/chase squirrels and birds away isn't fair so why should I have to let every cat owner in the area know that I own a dog. Obviously I'd be horrified if my dog attacked any other animal but also I shouldn't have to keep an eye on my dog 24/7 whilst it's in the garden just incase a cat wants to come and poo on my lawn unaffected

 

[bunnyblue]

Most cat owners will know there are dogs that will live nearby if they live in a suburban area, they don't need to be informed about it.

why should I have to let every cat owner in the area know that I own a dog.

I don’t know if you’re responding to me, but just in case… I never said that. It was really only in the specific case that the dog has killed somebody else’s pet.

As I’ve said, I think there’s responsibility on both sides, to different degrees. I know if I had a cat and I found out about an incident about this near me, I’d think about reinforcing my garden or finding ways to make it harder for the cat to roam, I wouldn’t think it was entirely the dog owners responsibility to make sure something didn’t happen.

 

[Ellyjelly]

Any dog could kill a cat if they really wanted too and any dog is capable if it came into their garden. This is a tragic accident, if it’s next door neighbours I’m sure Poppy had gone into there before, maybe she didn’t realise a new dog lived there, but most cats are pretty switched on. The greyhound just acted on instinct. Tragic and horrible and heartbreaking. The response from the owner of the dog is unforgivable though and I’d hate him forever.

 

[Bilbo16]

Let’s not turn this into a dog owners/cat owners argument. It was a horrible accident, no helped by the owners attitude.