a traumatic attack- looking for support and ideas to help nurse my cat back to health - Page 2

[Girl In The Fire]

Just think of the lesson you are teaching your children if you do sue... When you make a bad descision and there is a bad outcome make up excuses, blame someone else, and sue those people for $$$$$

[thekimballs]

I have to agree--taking advantage of bad and uneducated attitudes about breeds is no fair to anyone.

I would ask her to inquire to her homeowner's insurance. If there is legal liability the homeowner's insurance will cover all costs--your vet bill taken care of and nobody gets hurt. That's what insurance is meant for. If there is *no legal liability*, then you need to ask yourself whether a well-intentioned but bad decision on your part is worth suing someone who may be no better off than you are. The money has got to come from somewhere--are you going to take her house? Her car? If you go to suit, we're talking lawyer's fees, court costs, etc. If she loses, she's going to be in deep trouble because you put her dog in your house unrestrained.

If it were my dog I'd absolutely feel responsible if my dog had come over and hurt you or one of your animals outside on your property. I'd even pay (though I'd grumble) if you came to my yard and my dog bit your dog. But if you brought my dog inside your house without asking me, no matter how well intentioned you were, I'd have a hard time feeling liable. You were the one who instigated the situation by "stealing" my dog.

Ask Shannon if she'd feel responsible if one of her dogs hopped her fence and while Shannon was looking for him or her was taken inside a private home, and then somebody screwing around with this pretty shepherd who looks like a police dog pretended to attack someone else and got bitten on the arm.

I also know, as someone who has been responsible for paying someone else's vet bill (an accidental bite on a smaller dog's shoulder, we said "Of course we'll pay for those stitches," the guy promptly went and got $900 worth of totally unnecessary vet attention), that when you assume somebody else is going to pay you can spend vet money like water. If you knew you'd be responsible for every penny of that vet bill, would you have left her there for multiple days? So it ends up being an ethical issue there as well.

Like I said, I hope that homeowner's insurance can take care of the whole thing. That's by far the best outcome. If it won't, just try to put yourself in the owner's place and be very careful to do not just the easy thing but the right thing.

[shannon0218]

while I agree that the dog owner is not necessarily "responsible" for paying. the op was trying to protect the dog from running in the road when she brought it in.
Had this dog bitten her cat in her yard, the dog's owner woudl have been 100% responsible for the bills, fact is, had the dog's owner taken more care and control in containing the dog in the first place, the OP would not have needed to even think about bringing the dog in to protect it. Also, the owner promised to pay, to then not even bother returning the calls, that really sucks.
I just think it's pretty horrible that the OP had to learn a lesson about not blindly extending a helping hand by having something like this happen. If it had been my dog, first off it never would have been running at large in the first place and if I had screwed up and allowed my dog to be at large, I would step up to the plate and at very least meet the well meaning victim half way.

[shannon0218]

Originally Posted by thekimballs

I have to agree--taking advantage of bad and uneducated attitudes about breeds is no fair to anyone.

I would ask her to inquire to her homeowner's insurance. If there is legal liability the homeowner's insurance will cover all costs--your vet bill taken care of and nobody gets hurt. That's what insurance is meant for. If there is *no legal liability*, then you need to ask yourself whether a well-intentioned but bad decision on your part is worth suing someone who may be no better off than you are. The money has got to come from somewhere--are you going to take her house? Her car? If you go to suit, we're talking lawyer's fees, court costs, etc. If she loses, she's going to be in deep trouble because you put her dog in your house unrestrained.

If it were my dog I'd absolutely feel responsible if my dog had come over and hurt you or one of your animals outside on your property. I'd even pay (though I'd grumble) if you came to my yard and my dog bit your dog. But if you brought my dog inside your house without asking me, no matter how well intentioned you were, I'd have a hard time feeling liable. You were the one who instigated the situation by "stealing" my dog.

Ask Shannon if she'd feel responsible if one of her dogs hopped her fence and while Shannon was looking for him or her was taken inside a private home, and then somebody screwing around with this pretty shepherd who looks like a police dog pretended to attack someone else and got bitten on the arm.

I also know, as someone who has been responsible for paying someone else's vet bill (an accidental bite on a smaller dog's shoulder, we said "Of course we'll pay for those stitches," the guy promptly went and got $900 worth of totally unnecessary vet attention), that when you assume somebody else is going to pay you can spend vet money like water. If you knew you'd be responsible for every penny of that vet bill, would you have left her there for multiple days? So it ends up being an ethical issue there as well.

Like I said, I hope that homeowner's insurance can take care of the whole thing. That's by far the best outcome. If it won't, just try to put yourself in the owner's place and be very careful to do not just the easy thing but the right thing.

Well, for dogs like mine, I would be held legally responsible in an instant--because they've been trained to do what they do, yeah, I'm basically screwed even if someone does something totally stupid. That is the reason I build so many safeties into my training. Unless you were about to (or pretending to) hurt a child or me off my property, you'd have to do A LOT to be bitten. Barked at, yes, held in a corner, yes, knocked to the ground and stood over by a snarling dog, yes, but bitten, you'd need to push a bunch of buttons off the property--on the property, different story, there the dog's natural "guard dogginess" takes over for a lot of training.

Now, there is a chance I'm misinterpreting something here--why was the dog taken into the house?? Was the dog in immediate danger? Were there any people in immediate danger of the dog?? how far away does the owner live and was an attempt made to just take the dog back home--or was that even possible??

[kitty waltz]

ouch. : you know, I dont want to sue. I want her to care, and to come thru w/ the $500 she promised. my ex husband wants to sue. I came here for ideas and support.

while I agree that the dog owner is not necessarily "responsible" for paying. the op was trying to protect the dog from running in the road when she brought it in.
Had this dog bitten her cat in her yard, the dog's owner woudl have been 100% responsible for the bills, fact is, had the dog's owner taken more care and control in containing the dog in the first place, the OP would not have needed to even think about bringing the dog in to protect it. Also, the owner promised to pay, to then not even bother returning the calls, that really sucks.
I just think it's pretty horrible that the OP had to learn a lesson about not blindly extending a helping hand by having something like this happen. If it had been my dog, first off it never would have been running at large in the first place and if I had screwed up and allowed my dog to be at large, I would step up to the plate and at very least meet the well meaning victim half way.

thanks. one person gets it. I only brought the dog in after he had already smelled my cat on a leash and seemed friendly, been playing outside w/ my dog and they were both hot in the 105 temps, I was getting them water when this happened. I wish she would pay half but if she at least showed some concern, and followed thru w/ the $500 I wouldnt be pissed off. the truth is, Im a single mom and can hardly afford this. so whatever, if y'all want to jump to all sorts of conclusions about me on this here message board thats your problems. I just want my cat to be ok.. and I dont like paying $$2000 to ensure that when it was just my own compassion biting me in the ass. I cant help being pissed off that the owner doesnt even care about this.

[kitty waltz]

If you knew you'd be responsible for every penny of that vet bill, would you have left her there for multiple days?

I already paid out of my own pocket, thank you very much. I wanted them to keep her even though its expensive, cuz I dont want her leg to get infected then have to be amputated. Not only is that even more expenses, but I want my cat to heal with all of her appendages!

how far away does the owner live and was an attempt made to just take the dog back home--or was that even possible??

I put fliers up all over the neighborhood. I didnt know the owner then, and wasnt about to drag my kids door to door in this heat. I live in a large development.

and now I think I will back out of this discussion. I shouldnt feel a need to defend myself when Im in a hurting place right now. I wouldve loved support, but I mainly came here for ideas to help my cat.

[MamaAllNatural]

Originally Posted by shannon0218

fact is, had the dog's owner taken more care and control in containing the dog in the first place, the OP would not have needed to even think about bringing the dog in to protect it. Also, the owner promised to pay, to then not even bother returning the calls, that really sucks.

These are the things that stood out to me too. It makes her look pretty bad (and even a little suspect IMO), kwim?

I do agree though that it's not fair to take advantage of breed ignorance in a community.

I'm sorry you feel attacked. I truly do support you and feel terrible for what happened to both you and your cat. It's especially hard when someone gets hurt when they were giving straight from the heart. It's just not fair. You tried to do a good thing and this is the thanks you get.

So, you're saying the kitty is now at the vets again? Hopefully it's a little less stressful for you that way. I hope she recovers quickly. It is just so sad.

[orchidfae]

I think that if any one of these people's dogs were to get out and be roaming the street in 105-110 degree temps, with no water and cars zooming by, wouldn't you want a kind hearted person to take in your precious pooch before anything happend to him? I know I would. Even when it is 105 outside that is in the shade. In the sun temps can soar to well over 140 degrees! and on hot pavement? You can cook an egg on the sidewalk let alone a little poochie. I think I would much rather come home to a flyer on the corner than my dogs body in the middle of the road. I would feel so horrible if anything were to happen like this, that I would feel responsible for any vet bills, but then again I am not a negligent dog owner, and I do make sure that my dogs are well scocialized and trained NOT to attack cats or small dogs, or the most important a child! So It is the dog owner's responsibility to pay most of the vet bill! Once again there are not bad dogs, just bad owners! What happened to morals people? I think your husband is justified. I just hope it can be settled before actually going to court.

[Michelle_F]

As an owner of a large dog, I'd far rather someone called animal control than took my dog into their house without my permission. I can read my dog, but most folks can't. He will obey me, but maybe not someone else. If their dog tried to hump him or snapped at him over food, he might well injure or even kill their dog without me there. He'd be much safer in the animal shelter where they can scan his microchip and call me to come get him. I've also had a bad experience when I tried to help a stray dog by putting him into my car and taking him to the shelter's overnight drop. The dog chewed and dug into the interior of my car causing hundreds of dollars of damage, just on the way there. I won't make that mistake again. Fortunately no one was hurt in my case. I hope your cat gets better. I hope the owner of the dog decides to buck up for you. I don't think anyone will win but the lawyers if you sue, though. Take Care.

Aaron, using Michelle's account...

[kitty waltz]

I probably shouldnt bother, but I thought Id update on the cat.

Shes having her leg amputated tomorrow. The circulation is poor and an infection had set in. Shes still at the vets. They put on an anitbacterial cast and are hoping to draw some of the infection out before surgery. She also has a bladder infection from holding her pee so much. The doc says the healing time for amputation is much shorter at least.

In this state animal control, and the humane society, just puts pit bulls to sleep, esp if the have no collar/ microchip. They dont even offer pit mutts for adoption. This dog had no collar/ license/ microchip. I didnt want that to happen to the dog. I like pit bulls, and I dont think its fair for the laws and humane society etc to be so biased.

And for the last time, I dont plan to sue, my ex husband wanted to. {Ive since talked him out of it.} I divorced him for a reason. We dont agree on stuff. k?

[MamaAllNatural]

I'm so sorry your kitty has to lose her leg.

I can't recall meeting a three legged cat but I've met tons of three legged dogs who are just as agile, if not more, than the ones with four legs. I'm glad it'll heal faster. The whole situation is just so awful. I really hope that lady will help out as much as she can.

Are you starting to feel healed at all physically and emotionally from the incident?

I really don't think anyone was trying to attack you. Mostly just offering a different POV. Also, I think emotions come into play when we are imagining it's our pets in that situation, from both sides, kwim? I know you were already hurting and I don't think anyone meant for you to hurt more.

Take care.

[thekimballs]

I don't want you to think that we don't care about you or your cat. We all do--this is a very pro-animal and pro-owner board, so I am sorry if we made you feel unwelcome.

Cats typically recover from amputation beautifully and adapt even better than dogs do. You'll be shocked at how little it affects her as soon as she learns to tripod herself properly. We had a cat with a rear leg amputation at age 1--she lived to 16 and never skipped a beat.

[shannon0218]

I'm glad you updated, I was starting to wonder about the cast and if there was an infection--I know that you probably had to seek out a vet who would cast rather than do surgery to save money and unfortunately, while it is indeed WAY less money when it does work, it does often have these results. The good news though, like the others have said---cat's with 3 legs do GREAT, you probably won't even notice. My folks had my cousins cat (they took him when Jason had kids--buddy did NOT like kids and would seek them out and attack them!) Anyway, he was the toughest piece of cat ever, he had his tail and back leg amputated when he was 2--he got caught in a fan belt. That cat could hunt and kill racoons...on 3 legs without a tail. he was WILD.

Anyway, I totally sympathized with you--when I posted the other "what ifs" I wasn't doubting you--I was offering possible reasons I wouldn't have done what you did, but most probably, if I thought the dog was in IMMEDIATE danger like you did, I'd have done the same damn thing so

Please keep us updated on your kitty, I'm guessing she'll start eating no problem once that infection is dealt with and then you can actually begin to heal from this--it's hard to move on when your kitty isn't. I'm glad you talked the ex out of sueing, you're obviously a tough mama.

[kitty waltz]

Really Sad News

Well the vet called me last night. She said she was sitting at her desk at the end of the day, looking at Azraella's chart, and she felt really puzzled that she's not healing. She said every cat that has ever come to her w/ a similar injury was doing just fine by now. So she decided to run a couple of tests.

My cat has feline AIDS.

Im in shock. I shelter my cats, everyone always remarks on it. I dont let them out, they never see other cats, etc. Every now and then Azrael would run out of the house to chase a black cat.. long story but ppl always joked that she's racist cuz she has a thing against black cats specifically. Thats the only way she couldve gotten it. Its so scary to think there are these illnesses out there and no matter how much you shelter and protect your cats they could get it somehow. I had her tested for this years ago, so I know she mustve gotten it since we moved out here to AZ.

Even if I paid the extra $250 for a blood transfusion before the surgery, she still would have a very poor prognosis. Her bone marrow isnt producing any red blood cells.

So I have no choice, I am going to visit her there tomorrow, to say goodbye. And Im bringing {my other cat} Frederick, to get tested. Im so scared; he probably has it, too.

Im just plain devastated.

[MamaAllNatural]

I'm so sorry. Maybe this explains how you said she is always growly and in a bad mood. Maybe she just wasn't feeling good. What an ordeal. I really can't imagine having to go through all of this. My heart goes out to you.

Poor kitty.

[thekimballs]

I am so sorry. I will be thinking of your family tomorrow.