My mom and little sister live in country, and have several cats. One of the cats they had was a very mean cat who did have her claws. The other cats were rescued, and declawed. They decided to get 2 purebred German Shephard puppies. They dogs and cats got along great, and the dogs are very good dogs. The dogs are 1/2 brothers, and my mom has not fixed the dogs, as the breeder has asked my mom to use them 1x for studding, and would also like to show Bear.
Bear's grandfather killed a poodle over the dinner bowl.

The dog are now almost 4 yrs old, and very well behaved. Bear is INSANE about balls. You would think he is Retriever!!! He and Wolf do play rough with eachother as well, but when it comes to the cats, they are so gentle with all declawed cats. The one cat 'Spanky' on the other hand has been aweful to the dogs since they were puppies. She would scratch them on the nose any chance she got, she would do it when mom's back was turned, and of course when the dogs growled, or attempted to retaliate they got into trouble.

Mom came home one day to Spanky lying in the bathroom, soaking wet (I mean dripping wet!). She rushed her to the vet, and was able to save her. The dogs never broke the skin, but as cats get abseces, the area where the dogs grabbed her, the skin died and ripped open. (I guess I don't really blame the dogs for this, as she really was an aweful cat, and if I were a dog I probably would have as well, but that doesn't excuse it...)

Nobody was concerned for the other cats, as like I said, the dogs got on great with them. They would lick the cats, and the cats loved the dogs. The would actually sleep on the dogs!!! With what happened to Spanky, we were always cautious with leaving the cats alone with the dogs, and would usually separate them into the basement (usually, but not always). Well, my sister went to work on sunday, and she separated the cats from the dogs (cats downstairs, dogs upstairs) but 'Spook', a very skiddish, nervous cat must have darted thru the door with out my sister noticing. When she got home from work, Spook was in the bathroom, dead, and again, soaking wet. We tried to believe it wasn't the dogs, as there were no bite marks, but I did do a close inspection of the body, and there were 2 small bruises on both sides of her body, as well as a large bruise under her chin. There was blood in her mouth (and a small tooth missing) and blood in one of her ears. I am sure the dogs did this, probably not on purpose, maybe she just darted off somewhere, Bear was bored and saw it as a moving ball, and maybe the were just playing with her, grabbed her head, and strangled her by mistake (playing too rough). The only explaination I have for her being wet is that they tryed to lick her alive once they saw she was dead. But it has now happened twice, and we are all very disturbed. No one more than my sister, who of course blames herself, and doesn't want anything to do with the dogs. (They were her dogs, and she was increadably attatched) We don't know what to do now. Should we put them down, or try to find a home? Regardless, my mom works night shift and refuses to get rid of the dogs as it mean my sister will be alone in the country at night. What if we do find a home, and they do it again? Does anyone have any ideas as to what happened, or what to do from here???

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what to do from here???

Get crates for the dogs.

The way I see it you have 3 options-

1. Get rid of the dogs
2. Get rid of the cats
3. Crate the dogs everytime you leave the house

"I am sure the dogs did this, probably not on purpose, maybe she just darted off somewhere, Bear was bored and saw it as a moving ball, and maybe the were just playing with her, grabbed her head, and strangled her by mistake (playing too rough)."

Dogs don't kill animals by accident. If they killed her, they meant to.

"The only explaination I have for her being wet is that they tryed to lick her alive once they saw she was dead."

Don't be ridiculous. She was soaking wet because she was in their mouths. They probably played with the body after she was dead, mouthing it and chewing on it.

"Does anyone have any ideas as to what happened, or what to do from here???"

Sure, you have two dogs with high prey drive. They saw prey and they killed it. Kennel the dogs and keep them separated from the cats at all times. Either that, or soon enough you won't have any cats left.

It's not the dogs' fault, they're just doing what comes naturally to them.

But if they were mouthing it and chewing on it, there would have been marks on her body...

Ed has a great article on keeping cats and dogs in the same household.
http://www.leerburg.com/dog-cat.htm

My wife and I followed it closely when introducing two adopted cats to our GSD pup who has a lot of prey drive and who goes nuts every time he sees a squirrel or rabbit. That said, we still have a place in the house that is for the cats and another for the dog and don't let them hang out with each other unsupervised.

Read the article, follow its advice, and follow the advice of others on the board to make sure they aren't together unsupervised. If you continue as you have, you'll probably lose the other cats also.

good luck,

Alan...

Not necessarily. You don't know if she had broken bones (mainly neck/back) or not. And you stated that there was some bruising, blood in ear, etc.

I've seen lots of small mammals that my dogs have killed without puncturing the skin.

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But if they were mouthing it and chewing on it, there would have been marks on her body...

Incorrect.


I have a cat right now who was paralysed by a dog (bite) who had not a SINGLE mark on her body for over 2 months.. then one day an infection erupted on the INSIDE, only then was there a visable mark, when the infection forced its way from the INSIDE out.

Another thing to bear in mind is a heart attack...

Blood from in the ear usually means brain damage and not a bite to the ear. Sounds like these dogs were having way to much fun. Crate them from the kitties!

I have cats, and high-prey drive dogs. My older cats are "dog-trained" and they don't run or dart anywhere. As long as they are quiet (when the dogs are around), they are not bothered. Unfortunately sitting still didn't do my black cat (ex-feral tom cat, claws and knows how to take care of himself) any good when he calmly sat still when a neighbor's Airedale went after him - grabbed him and shook him with intent to kill. I was right there, yelled and tackled the dog who let the cat go. Cat sprayed urine in all directions as he ran like hell. He didn't return for 2 days and of course I thought he was dead for certain. But, he returned and was extremely sore - but not a mark on him! No missing hair, no wounds, no blood. X-rays at the vet showed 4 broken ribs, fractured sternum, fractured pelvis. He did recover and is now 21 years old and still getting along fine. But you see, lots and lots of internal damage (to the point of death too) can be done by a dog-bite, without any external "obvious" damage at all.
This dog meant to kill the cat - but someone commented that if the cat is dead, the dog meant to kill it - I don't think this is necessarily true. I had a kitten who was just old enough to start exploring outside. I neglected to let her in before the young dogs were walked. Young dogs were used to the "cat savvy" cats, but the kitten darted and ran into a corner where one of the young dogs chased her, and caught her. Caught her = bite. And she bit hard enough to kill her. But, I don't believe she <meant> to kill the kitten, she was in high prey drive and dogs catch things with their mouths - ball, toy, food, prey. She just bit too hard, but there was no aggression involved - I didn't blame the dog in that case, I blamed myself for forgetting to get the kitten into the house and safe before exposing her to young high-drive dogs before she had learned the "don't run" rule.

Molly