What would have carried off my little dog?

[herefordlovinglady]

gotta go with the owl. I am so sorry she had this happen. It's not the first little pooch I have heard of being carried off either by a hawk or an owl.

Hope she is better soon.

 

[KandiandJerry]

I have to agree if it was a coyote...she would be dead....they will kill even large dogs...

 

[ChickiKat]

Flying Monkey??

 

[darkmatter]

Parson's Wife :

She was not torn open, but had multiple bite marks.,

The pattern of bite marks can tell a lot. Was there evidence of canine fang marks? Size of the punctures and distance between them will tell you what and how big the predator was. I think it could be coyote or bobcat doing a snatch and grab but got interrupted. Talons would leave a different pattern, as would cat claws.​

 

[debid]

Yep, a vet can tell by the distance between puncture wounds, depth, etc. what type of animal likely did this. We had a mountain lion take a house cat once (shockingly, the cat came back -- injured and minus an eye but alive). Although nobody saw the attack, the vet was able to ID the predator based on bite pattern.

 

[mrpekinduck]

I'm glad yur dog is ok! I bet it was a coyote or fox. Opossum just doesnt seem like it would really do that. (sorry if im behind just didnt feel like reading all of the comments.)

 

[deerman]

one of two

Young coyote.....reason he got away..........alive

great horn owl......they will take cats, small dogs ,even half grown racoons, skunks,...and if you came back out that fast , he would have flew off, before kill it.

others are right about type of wound ,will tell. all i can say lucky you came back out so fast.

 

[carolinagirl58]

is your dog current on Rabies shots I hope?

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Fox, he is small enough to sneak in grab it and run. His jaws aren't strong enough to.kill it in contact.

 

[Parson's Wife]

Thank you for all the ideas and well wishes. Sorry, I haven't replied sooner...making peanut brittle all day.
She is better, she is current on vaccines, and we are very thankful. She has a deep wound on her back (single) and on her side she has 2 slices about 1/2'' to 3/4 '', then on her neck she has 2 smaller ones also in a slice pattern. They form a line, but the one on her back is a hole. They all bled profusely, which I heard was good, because it washed out.
Yes, lesson learned about night potty breaks...still scares me for them!

The hole in her back is lower down, and the 4 lines cuts are about 5" separating them.
Does that make sense?

I'm a no vote on the coyote, I've seen what they do to dogs...my brothers collie was attacked and killed; though a young one might be a possibility.

I'm not sure about the birds...will think on this.

Thank you again.

EDITED TO ADD While all this is conjecture, guesses, and ideas the pattern of wounds on her fit a bird of prey of some sort. The bite patterns did not make sense to us for any of the other animals known to attack, we had teeth missing, etc... since reading these ideas, we have been studying pics, videos, etc...in an effort to figure out the culprit. I believe (again, only guesses) that we have figured this out. Thanks to BYC'ers! We've spent the last bit looking and reading about birds of prey, it was a smaller one or the other dog interfered enough she was spared. The area on her back is what confused us the most, a birds claws.

Thank you again.