When cats attack - a cautionary urban tale

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, my sister and I were walking our 5 month old pup, Cosmo, last night. He’s a standard poodle, cute, cute cute. We are about 1/2 block from our house and this cat comes out of a gangway and approaches us.

I have the dog so I start backing away with the dog and for every step back I take, the cat follows. I’m getting kinda freaked -it’s a larger than usual cat and it is really being aggressive - hissing and approaching.

After about 30 seconds of the backing away game, it lunges at our dog. The dog yelps and I try to get between the dog and cat. The cat continues to lunge and goes for me. I am screaming like an idiot and my sister is trying to shag the cat away from us.

The dog and I finally get a little breathing room, about three feet or so, and I start running with the dog. My sister is standing behind us. The cat is between her and me and the dog. She’s yelling at me “Run, run, don’t stop, keep running” The dog and I follow her commands like well trained animals should.

As the distance grows between the cat and me and the dog, I slow down a bit and watch my sister try to get past the cat. She walked into the street while the cat was chasing us and sucessfully navigates the abyss the cat has determined was his territory.

Our dog has two puncture wounds on his right front leg from the cat. The cat bit me in two different places. I was wearing jeans and he broke the skin through the jeans.

After the drama was over, of course we laughed a little. The cop who took the complaint laughed a little too - two grown women and a dog, terrorized by a twelve pound cat. My sister, doing her best Gandalf impression saying to the dog and me, “Fly, you fools!!”

Neither my sister or I have ever seen this cat before. We filed a police report so if we do see it again, we can report it.

So, off to the doctor for me this morning to see what he thinks of my wounds. Do you think they may just start rabies therapy?Then to the vet this evening so the dog can be looked at. His leg was still bloody this morning.

Way more drama than we bargined for in our own neighborhood on a Monday night.

The moral to the story, I dunno, but when I think of one, I’ll be sure to let you know.

2

Bummer. That happened to my neighbour. The neighbourhood was canvassed in hopes of finding out if the cat had its rabies shots. No one owned up to being the cat’s humans, and without an owner to produce vaccination papers, by neighbour had to go through the rabies shots.

They aren’t the awful “long needle in your gut” shots any more.

Just a series of regular needles. Still sucks. And cat bites can become infected pretty easily too. My neighbour was not happy.

Hope your doggy’s leg heals up. If you determine who owns the cat, give 'em shit!

3

I’m glad to hear that they aren’t the long needles anymore, but still, based on what I have read so far this AM, it looks like I might get stuck (ha!ha!) going through the shots.

Dr’s appt for 11:00 am today. I’ll know more later.

The dog goes to the vet at 5pm today. He was limping this morning. I’m hoping its just the shock of it and not bad pain.

4

I had rabies shots a few years ago. One big one in the hip, and the rest little ones in the arm. Not painfull. Be sure and get them, that is strange behavior for a cat.

5

At least it wasn’t a swamp rabbit. Jimmy Carter (Cecil) never quite lived that one down.

6

This is incredibly bizarre behavior for a cat (and not in the way cat behavior is usually bizarre). If you can’t find the owners and verify vaccine history, they’ll try to catch the cat and send his furry little head to the state lab for testing. If they can’t catch him, you’ll probably have to get the shots as a precaution. If they can catch him, it will depend on how the tests on the brain come back.

7

The shots don’t hurt. Certainly observe the cat if it can be caught, but please take the shots instead of killing it.

8

I’m sorry, but the correct pop culture reference for this situation is the killer rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Look at the BONES!!)

Please tell your sister to spend more time hanging out on internet forums. Unless she’s got, you know, a life or something.

9

I don’t think Jane D’oh! will have much say in what is done to the cat, if it is caught.

My (admittedly imperfect) recollection is that they may want to quarantine the dog to observe it. I’m not sure if there is any anti-viral treatment for dogs for this.

10

This is only one of the reasons I keep my cat INDOORS. She hates dogs and has declared jihad upon them. I know when a dog is walking in view of the front window, if she’s sunning herself there, because she goes into a rage and demands to be let out RIGHT NOW so that she can put that dog In Its Place (six feet under, or however deep one buries dogs).

The funny part about this is that she barely weighs 9 pounds. She’s a tiny little thing.

11

You know, it never turns out to be Nastassja Kinski anymore…

12

More proof that cats are demon-spawn, and all of them should be shot with 1920’s style “Death Rays” and then fed to homeless people.

13

In a pie?

14

Nah, feed the homeless to the cats. Cats smell better.

15

I’d buy that for a dollar.

16

No shots for me -yeah!!

Antibiotics to prevent infection. Base line bloodwork in case my symptoms change.

The dr called our state animal control something or other as well as the CDC and both saw no rabies cases from cats or dogs in my county for the past two years, so the shot process is not necessary. Phew!! They said it would have been different if it was a squirrel or racoon, but cats and dogs are lower on the rabies list.

So, now all that’s left is a trip to the vet tonight with the pooch to see what they will do about his wounds.

And heresiarch you’re correct about the killer rabbit being the correct reference in this case. I think in the heat of the moment, my sister went with the most current as opposed to the most appropriate. I will be sure to let her know, though. :smiley:

17

Congratulations on not needing rabies shots! I hope Cosmo also gets a lucky break.

I re-read the OP and saw the part where your sister was blocking the cat while you and Cosmo retreated. I think I was wrong - Gandalf was a more appropriate joke. :slight_smile:

Buy Cosmo a cat-shaped chew toy as a get-well present.

18

Well, I’m glad you’re escaping the rabies routine. Glad you got medical attention promptly, though.

I got bit by a cat and since it was the weekend, I had to go to the emergency room. I felt like some kind of wuss, sitting there with a cat bite while people with heart attacks and broken legs sought treatment.

But… they said I was the third catbite that weekend.

19

Wait…I’m all for animal rights, but are you suggesting she get a series of possibly unneccessary injections of medication in order to spare the life of a stray, vicious cat that randomly attacks people and small animals? Rabies or not, I think kitty needs to go away before it terrorizes someone else!

20

According to the 7:1 ratio, dogs must be buried at a proper depth of 42 feet.

You may think that dollar can of Alpo is cheap, but that’s seven bucks in dog money!