Oh God

[cleolinda]

When Sister Girl's best friend came over this afternoon, she saw that there was a police car outside the house across the street, where a girl I went to school with (both high school and grad school, actually, although the latter was a mixed grad/undergrad class) lives (or at least her family does; I don't know the exact arrangement) and was sobbing hysterically. Somehow this turned into "Their house has been broken into," although I don't know how Sister Girl and Best Friend came to this hypothesis, but my mother has just now been across the street to check up on things, and this is what happened: Lauren (the other girl) came home and found two of their five cats (including, rest in peace, the Shaggy Cat) mauled to death on their back deck. There's a third cat currently missing, though wounded or dead no one yet knows. She was able to describe two large, black, shaggy (I think? I'm not sure?) dogs who had broken into their yard and completely pulverized a bush, apparently, in their zeal to get at the cats; I'm assuming they were still on the scene when Lauren found the cats. Now, because I'm lazy, I'd rather walk our dogs out to the back yard to do their thing than drag them around on leashes, and they're old enough now to understand what Go Outside means, so I just shepherd everyone out back three or four times a day. (We have a very tall, very sturdy wooden privacy fence--in part to keep vagabond kids out of the pool--so I think we were safe.) So I had no idea that these two dogs had been terrorizing the street all day, according to other neighbors--at one point even charging a small toddler who lives next door to Lauren. At least two different families keep their dogs in open yards with those zappy perimeter collars, too, so if their dogs had been outside, they wouldn't even have been able to flee if attacked. Fortunately, I think the woman across the street was able to grab the toddler and get inside before anything happened, and no one else's pets were hurt. But Lauren's parents and the police officer started combing the bushes up and down the street, hoping to find the missing third cat, when my mother saw them and took the opportunity to ask what was going on. Apparently another neighbor had seen them as well and told Lauren's mother to get in her car and he'd follow the dogs one way and she could go around the other, and he was able to follow the dogs up [Street Near Me]. He had lost them by that point, but the neighbor asked a man standing outside if he'd seen them, and the man said, yes, actually, he had. A gray pickup truck with a ladder in the back had come forward and stopped; the driver had gotten out and hustled the dogs into the back, and then he had driven backwards to get out of the neighborhood, apparently rather than let anyone see his plates. Which says to me that he knew his dogs were dangerous, and very possibly had caused havoc before, and he knew that he was going to be in deep shit if anyone caught up with him. I mean, I'm sure they escaped--not like he purposely set them loose--but the police are looking for a truck of that description now, and if anyone sees the dogs out marauding again, they're to call 911 and someone will immediately be sent out to catch them.

(Jesus, those poor cats. I mean, I'm still sad that Lucky passed away a year ago today, but we discussed both his passing and Meko's at the respective times, and we were all glad that they went suddenly and peacefully and painlessly. Lauren's cats? ... Not so much.)

Comments

[supersyncspaz7.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, that's awful. Those poor cats.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

Yeesh! Oh man. I hope he's caught.

[stargatejunkie.livejournal.com]

Omg, that's terrible!

Thos poor, poor cats.

*sads*

I have three cats. I don't know how I'd react if I came home and I found two of them dead. Poor, poor Lauren.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, the thought of that makes me ill. *hugs her cats*

[artemis-archer.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, that is so awful. I feel terrible that your neighbor had to find them that way, poor thing =(

Hopefully they can find the dog owner so this can't happen again

[lilgoala.livejournal.com]

That's horrible. :( What an awful way to lose your pets.

The sad part too is that the dogs who did it will probably be destroyed, when it's the all fault of the jackass owner for letting them get out and not properly training them in the first place. People piss me off.

[koritsimou.livejournal.com]

Word.

[elbales]

With a slice of word pie.

[gabbygrl.livejournal.com]

My cat Ariel was attacked by a dog. He picked her up and shook her until her ad=bdominal wall ruptured. We ended up getting her fixed with surgery, and she's good as new (fur still growing back, but she acts like herself, which is a blessing.) I feel for those poor kitties.

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

Terrible.

the guy running off with the dogs like that, KNOWING there was trouble just makes it worse.

[karadin.livejournal.com]

I agree with one of the posters that it is the owner who is at fault, even if they got out by accident, no one needs such aggressive dogs, who maul other animals and attack children. I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be fighting dogs, real guard dogs (My uncle trains canine units for prisons etc.) never attack unless commanded by their handler.

[lafemmezilla.livejournal.com]

Poor kitties. How horrible. :(

I hope the jackass owner gets caught.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Ugh.

This is why my cats will never be let outside.

(Not in the least blaming anyone who lets their cats outside. Just saying...between dogs and cars and whatever other dangers/predators, I'd just be too scared to let my babies out.)

[koritsimou.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with you.

[cran.livejournal.com]

I agree, too. Outdoor cats live an average of five years, while indoor cats live for an average of 12 years or 15 years, depending on which sources you go with. In my experience, that's been true -- I currently have an 18-year-old indoor cat, but lost my black cat at age five when he escaped outside (which he did any chance he got) and was hit by a car. When I was a child and lived in the country, all my cats were outdoor (barn) cats and I can't remember any of them living past age six or so. They're just so much safer inside, away from dogs and other predators, bad people, cars, diseased animals...

I hope the dogs' owner is caught and charged. There is no excuse for allowing any dog to run free, especially not an animal known to be highly aggressive.

[kookaburra1701.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Too many bad things can happen to my kitty if he's outside.

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

Now that seriously sucks. I don't even want to imagine how horrible it was to show up and just find your cats, well, mauled to death.

[are-there-stars.livejournal.com]

Oh man, that sucks.. I really hope they catch that guy. He knew enough that they could or would or have already done that, and it's really not fair to you or your neighbors for him to just sneak away.

[thyroyalmajesty.livejournal.com]

Oh my God.

My parents had to put down the family dog two days ago; I live on my own with two cats, and now whenever I'm in my apartment I'm not without a cat in my arms. (Much to their annoyance.) I couldn't imagine coming home to such a horrific scene. If my cats thought that I was going to stop molesting them anytime soon, this story is going to guarantee that I won't. Maybe I'll put them in baby slings like Bucky in "Get Fuzzy," just to ensure they're always safe and by my side.

[ponygirl118.livejournal.com]

What the hell? Who the hell lets their dogs do that? WHY?

[pigsnicket.livejournal.com]

Oh! That's so sad! Those poor cats :(

[nitesh-update.livejournal.com]

I saw this right after reading about this guy who fed his neighbor's cats to his pitbulls. (http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2007/09/20/768819.html&cvqh=itn_pitbull)

God, I feel sick. People suck.

[agentsculder.livejournal.com]

You are so right. People really do suck. I just imagine how ANYONE could do something like that. I hope that guys goes to jail for a really long time. I don't even want to think about what a person like that could be capable of doing to people if he would abuse animals like that.

[elbales]

Oh god. Just seeing the text of your link nearly made me lose my dinner. There's no way I could click through... and I'm trying right now to not remember what the link says.

You're right, sometimes people really suck. What makes them so broken inside that they do things like this?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Jesus.

[squishysquidgy.livejournal.com]

What pisses me off, is that these people think it's "ok" just because they don't like cats. I don't even understand why people don't like cats in the first place! They're certainly not going to viciously attack like a dog, in the way that it can go after children, r other animals like what Cleo wrote about. Yes, cats harm wildlife and can be vicious, but that's why animal rescue places and the government (at least in Australia) tell you to keep your cats indoors. Really, why should this be any different for dogs? Then again, that many house-owners either refuse having pets allowed in their rental properties, or refuse to have pets allowed, they should be put to some of the blame also. When it comes down to a person having a house to live in or keeping a pet, as much as they lve the pet, I'm sure they'd get rid of it, so they have a home. WHich could lead into stras wandering steets causing problems.

The was a story here a few weeks ago about a pet husky killing a toddler (I can't remember what exactly happened), and the dog had no past vicious behaviour, or any problems. But the thing is, with no past behaviural problems, it wouldn't surprise me if the kid had pulled at the dg or something and it was defending itself from being hurt or what it saw as an "attack". The dog doesnt know what it did was bad, and I find it sad that the dog is punished.

I don't like kids all that much, but I'm certainly not going to harm any just because I don't like them. And because I don't like them, I don't put myself into situations where I'd be around them. I'm not having any (as yet - "must have babies" hasn't kicked in for me yet :P) or go anywhere where I'd be surrounded by them (like parks, schools etc). Sure there are places where they are unavoidable, but that's what IGNORING is for. So hey you dickhead in that article, you don't like cats? DON'T GO NEAR THEM, IDIOT.

Er, I don't really know what I'm really getting at but this stuff makes me fucking angry. /rant

[eyetosky.livejournal.com]

Dammit, Georgia! >_< way to represent!

And pit bulls... why do the lunatics go after pit bulls? Going to the dog park here with my own pup, I've discovered that pit bulls are probably the most social, trusting, and downright happy dogs you'd ever hope to meet. Somehow, knowing them makes it so much worse to hear about things like this, because of how deliberate and intense the training is to make them into monsters.

and that guy... only 21... the thing about his cell phone made me ill.

[cran.livejournal.com]

It truly is the owners who give pit bulls a bad name. My brother got a pit earlier this year -- she's six months old now and the sweetest pup you will ever meet. She loves people, cats, other dogs (no matter the size or gender), horses... she doesn't bite, and she knows all her obedience commands. Her mother and siblings are all similar. It's all in the training.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

That is totally and utterly sickening. What is wrong with people today...

People like that should be given a dose of their own medicine. How would they like to be mauled by their dogs. I know what it feels like and believe me, it ain't pleasant...

Bastards.

[scarletsherlock.livejournal.com]

jesus, that's just...that's fucking evil, is what that is. That makes me sick. I hope they catch this guy. Poor Lauren.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Jeez, that's awful. I hope they catch the guy.

[tifaria.livejournal.com]

They recently passed a law here in Texas that finally holds pet owners responsible for attacks like that, though I wish they'd passed it years ago. It makes me so incredibly mad that people let their dogs become vicious like that. There is no reason that properly trained dogs would behave like that. Unfortunately, many many people are ignorant about proper pet training or, like around here, they just don't care... which makes me wonder why they have pets in the first place.

Those poor kitties. :(

[elbales]

Oh my god, that's horrible. Those poor cats. I can't imagine... and I don't want to. Your poor neighbor, too. She must be totally devastated.

That man should be in jail, and his dogs, if they can't be retrained, need to be put to sleep, though I hate to say it. The worst part is, most domesticated dogs don't start out dangerous.

[emerald-skies.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so sorry. My neighbourhood had a bad brush with loose dogs as well recently; a couple of weeks ago, my neighbour came outside to find her cat curled up in the grass, dead, with a chunk taken out of him. I wigged out pretty badly at first when I heard, because I envisioned...pieces...but my neighbour tells me the only reason she knew something was wrong from a distance was because this cat never curled up in the grass in her front lawn when he was alive. That suggests not very messy.

But, judging by the clumps of white fur everywhere, it sounds like the kitty fought to the last *feeble smile* That whole business made me very sad; he was my favourite of my neighbours' six cats.

[banakil.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I can't think of a worse way to lose a pet. It's making me physically ill just thinking about it.

A dog owner was finally convicted and sentenced to prison time for the first time here in Virginia after her dogs attacked and killed an elderly woman and her dog in the victim's own front yard in 2005. I know that a law was introduced last year to make it a felony worth up to five years but I can't recall if it passed or not. I hope so. It's about time bad owners were held accountable in a significant way.

[sorchar.livejournal.com]

Once again I'm glad I insisted that Bob be an indoor-only cat. That's so sad.

[worldforawhile.livejournal.com]

Oh, how terrible. Those poor kitties. I hope that man gets mauled to death by his dogs; I feel bad for them, too, having been raised to be so psycho.

[edda.livejournal.com]

I hope they throw that dickhead in a small cell with both of his dogs. Jesus.

[shebit.livejournal.com]

Yet again, I'm wondering why the hell it's only necessary to have one licence plate on cars in the US. Here in the UK you're legally required to have plates on front and rear, so a vehicle can be identified regardless of which way it's going.

[bohotremere.livejournal.com]

I think in some states, cars do have two license plates...I seem to recall seeing such on cars from California.

Unfortunately in this case...Alabama is not one of those states. :(


Poor kitties.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought the same. In New York, you have two plates

[entropy-and-me.livejournal.com]

Yep, in Nevada you have to have two plates as well. I don't understand why you would possibly only want one, but it is the case in a lot of states. In fact, I think Arizona went from having two plates to one while I was growing up there. (But you might not want to quote me on that, it could be a memory illusion.) I imagine the lack of double-plating must have something to do with state costs or something...

[bigeyedrabbit.livejournal.com]

Holy holy holy shit. Those poor cats.

[spiderfarmer.livejournal.com]

Gods, that's horrible! I hope they find the owner and the dogs. Give Lauren a hug from me and the critters here. Poor baby.

[sekhmet783.livejournal.com]

*shudders* That's horrible.

When I was a kid, about five or six, I witnessed one of my neighbors dogs (a Doberman Pinscher) mauling one of our cats. I can recall just standing there, yelling at the girl beside me (her family owned the dog) to make the dog stop (the cat was killed). Then, a couple years later, those same neighbors had two other dogs (Rottweilers) that attacked another one of our cats. We had to take him to the vet to put him down. Now, thanks to that, I'm incredibly uncomfortable around those two breeds, even though I understand that not every Doverman or Rottweiler is like that. It's something I don't think I'll ever get past; I'll always be nervous around them.

It goes without saying that I was incredibly happy when those people moved. I'm still convinced they had something to do with the death of my other cat (shot through the back legs, spine shattered) and the disappearance of another. [sarcasm] Lovely people. [/sarcasm]

[okaasan59.livejournal.com]

How terrible. I lost a kitty to stray dogs a few years ago. She was an old lady cat that I adopted when she was 13, who loved being an inside/outside cat, otherwise I'd have kept her in. We never did find the dogs that did it. My present cat was a stray before she adopted us and she insists on going outside during the day. I insist that she at least comes in at night.

[xander77.livejournal.com]

Ack. Now I'm feeling guilty about not getting involved the last time I witnessed a guy seeking his dog on cats.

[kamiawolf.livejournal.com]

My baby boy cat got practically mauled to death by two pitbulls a little over a year ago, so stories like this still hurt. My sister was home at the time and hear our poor baby screeching outside on our porch and when she got their, the two dogs had him in both their mouths and were trying to pull him apart. My poor sister had to pry our baby out of the dogs jaws, but it was too late. They had broke his back in three places and he had to be put down. :(

the dogs also mauled a raccoon, but the police didnt do anything about them.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, this reminds me so much of what happened to one of our cats when I was a kid.

We let our cat outside (on a chain attached to the house so he wouldn't wander away), and we forgot to let him back in for the night. The next day, he was gone, except for his collar. He was eventually found across the street, mauled to death. The culprit: two aggressive dogs on the loose. Since then, we've had strictly indoor cats.

My sincere sympathy to your neighbors on their loss. I hope those dogs are found and put to sleep...