Neighbor attacked my cat

Hi.. I have a sweet cat at my home. I don't know what was the reason, last week he attacked a kid of our neighbor. They injured my cat and his legs were broken. He has injuries on the body too. They did such a big cruelty to my cat. I read here http://www.torontodefencelawyers.com/blog/is-it-a-crime-to/crime-injure-kill-dog-cat, injuring cat is a crime. I am just thinking to sue against the neighbor. My cat is so adorable to me. Does anyone here know about the legal procedures? If so, please share it with me

I'm sorry this happened.

Are you saying that these attacks happened at the same time? Your cat attacked the neighbor's kid, so they attacked your cat? If so, I'm not sure how much of a case you would have unless you could prove it was provoked.

Can you keep your cat inside?

Call the police first. They need to establish that an incident actually happened. Have all the vet's papers and statements on hand. You need the vet to say what his injuries are and the likely cause. Once all that's done you can file a small-claims suit for the vet bills. Possibly even have them arrested for cruelty. But if the cat attacked the child first you would also need to prove that they acted excessively and did more than was necessary to get the cat off the child.

talkingpeanut said:

I'm sorry this happened.

Are you saying that these attacks happened at the same time? Your cat attacked the neighbor's kid, so they attacked your cat? If so, I'm not sure how much of a case you would have unless you could prove it was provoked.

Can you keep your cat inside?

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Yes.. Both happened at the same time.

Willowy said:

Call the police first. They need to establish that an incident actually happened. Have all the vet's papers and statements on hand. You need the vet to say what his injuries are and the likely cause. Once all that's done you can file a small-claims suit for the vet bills. Possibly even have them arrested for cruelty. But if the cat attacked the child first you would also need to prove that they acted excessively and did more than was necessary to get the cat off the child.

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Thank you. I will inform the police asap

I'm so sorry for your cat. It doesn't matter if he attacked the boy first or not. Cats rarely attack out of the blue so I can only assume the cat was captured somehow or forced to confront the boy.

I agree the police is the way to go. Let us know what they say. Next, I would look for a local lawyer for a consulation. 

If a cat injured my child, ld be tempted to kill it also. Your cat should be inside

You need to call the police and file a report and you need to call AC. Have all vaccination papers on hand. If the child's skin was broken your cat may face a quarantine.

The neighbors will only be liable if they used excessive force although if you sue you will still likely be held partially accountable because the cat was off your property.

jennabengal said:

If a cat injured my child, ld be tempted to kill it also. Your cat should be inside

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Agreed. If ANY animal of any of my neighbors attacked my child, that animal would be dead before it knew what hit it. You can take that to the bank! I don't care if it was someone's beloved pet or not. My child is beloved to me and that trumps anything else!

It amazes me the number of people who let their animals out loose to go around and harass other people, use their lawns as their own personal bathrooms. People pay taxes for their property, they have every right to not have some neighbor's pets trespassing on it.

You may find them suing you as you are responsible to keep your pets under your control at ALL times. This is your fault and no one, absolutely no one elses! Your cat may be adorable to you but it didn't attack you, it attacked a child!

This is kind of a two way street situation.
If the attack on the child was unprovoked, then they have every right to sue you. Now if the cat was injured while the parents or child were fighting your cat off, you have nothing to stand on. However, if the cat attacked, ran, and then they went after it, then you can sue as well.

We will never know for sure what happened.

The bottom line is NONE of this would have happened if the OP had kept his cat under his control. The cat itself is not responsible. A cat is an animal and like all animals they don't have morals, they have instincts, and there is a big difference. That is why owners are responsible for their pets actions.

For every dog that ever killed a child there is always an owner saying oh but my dog was so loving, so gentle..I don't know what happened....

That is another two way street I think all kids so learn to respect animals and try to do no harm to them cause like you said animals are acting out of instinct so if they see this kid that is grabbing and pulling them the animal is going to attack. So it is the fault of both the owner of the animal and the parent of the kid I hate to say it but the kid probably did something to spoke or hurt the animal not in a malice manner and the cat acted in the only way it knew how.

If you pet attacks someone off your property you are likely to end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit. Cat bites can be very serious and expensive to treat. But for the pet owner allowing their cat to roam this would not have happened. Realistically the owners of the cat have no real standing even if the parents pursued the cat in an attempt to capture the animal that attacked their child for fear of disease or rabies.

The OP is 100% at fault and has no one to blame but herself for her cat's injuries.