A Moral Dilema

[cmom]

I do not have any cats but I have friends with chickens who have. Many times a cat never came home again. They just figured they had been gotten by a predator. I would leave it at that. If you tell the neighbors your dog killed their cats then you may be opening up a can of worms even though the cats were killed by your dogs in the dogs own territory. Just another opinion.

 

[jamesbwood]

My neighbor just told me his dog had one of my chickens in his yard. He got her to release it and put it back over the fence. Its a bit beat up but will be fine - I'm glad he told me and have clipped their wings.

We knew that if we free ranged our chickens this was a risk. We have never found them over that fence and thought that they avoided it due to the dog, guess not always. I'm glad he told me as I can do something about it - clip their wings and inspect the fence though I suspect they could get over it again if they really wanted to.

Having said that, I don't think I would say anything. In your case, an animal died and there is no happy ending. While you are completely "in the right", people are emotional creatures and are often irrational, especially around pets. Perhaps even more so around cats. If you say anything, you will then have to explain more, like why you didn't bring the body to them so they could see if it was theirs. . . and where it was when you found it. . . I'd much rather play dumb/ignorant and save the relationship then have to lie about any of that.

James

 

[Mattemma]

No reason to tell.You let pets roam and it is a given that sometimes they will not come home.Why tell? If a pet owner has pets not coming home then the prudent thing would be to keep remaining pets home.Only ill feelings will come from telling.

 

[sourland]

No reason to tell.You let pets roam and it is a given that sometimes they will not come home.Why tell? If a pet owner has pets not coming home then the prudent thing would be to keep remaining pets home.Only ill feelings will come from telling.

With all of this I agree. If questioned, my answer would be, "There are coyotes in the area." Not a lie. Regardless of where you are located, there ARE coyotes in the area.

 

[furbabymum]

I decided to write them an email. They wrote back and said the two cats they were caring for had KITTENS. BOTH OF THEM GAH! So now not only am I not feeling bad about the two deaths I'm looking at a for sure population explosion of feral cats in our area. I am happy we took at least 2 breeding cats out of the equation. I'm certain there will be more to come now. BTW the kittens were older. Not full grown but not tiny. I'd say juvenille age..

 

[furbabymum]

My neighbor just told me his dog had one of my chickens in his yard. He got her to release it and put it back over the fence. Its a bit beat up but will be fine - I'm glad he told me and have clipped their wings.

We knew that if we free ranged our chickens this was a risk. We have never found them over that fence and thought that they avoided it due to the dog, guess not always. I'm glad he told me as I can do something about it - clip their wings and inspect the fence though I suspect they could get over it again if they really wanted to.

Having said that, I don't think I would say anything. In your case, an animal died and there is no happy ending. While you are completely "in the right", people are emotional creatures and are often irrational, especially around pets. Perhaps even more so around cats. If you say anything, you will then have to explain more, like why you didn't bring the body to them so they could see if it was theirs. . . and where it was when you found it. . . I'd much rather play dumb/ignorant and save the relationship then have to lie about any of that.

James

Why we didn't bring a mangled cat for them to actually see and identify?????????????????? I would not inflict that gross mental picture on anyone!!!!!!!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

so you never really said how they reacted...they were OK with it? And why not, plenty more where they came from! Sorry for you and your situation, maybe you can solicite assistance for a spay and neuter party. (Actually I am being sincere, sort of):/

 

[jak2002003]

They sound like really bad cat owners.

Firstly they are letting the cats roam about.

They have not had them 'fixed'.

I doubt if they have even bothered to vaccinate them.

People like that give cat owners a very bad name.

What are they going to do with all the kittens?! If they did not 'fix' the adults I don't think they will do it to the offspring. Soon you may have a huge cat population problem..........

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Sigh...I think the world already has that huge pop explosion, wouldn't you agree....?

 

[petdr96]

I think you did the right thing, letting them know. Its always interesting to hear other people's take on the situation but ultimately, you need to do what lets you sleep at night. It really is a huge dilemma.....I know that I would be upset if I found out that a neighbors dog killed my cat. BUT, having said that, I would also be upset at myself for allowing the cat to get into that position to begin with! The dogs were contained in their own run and the darn cats got in there with them. And, it's not as if you had a big dish of cat chow in the dog run that encouraged the cats to come by to begin with. They probably *were* looking to have a nice chicken dinner and the dogs prevented it.