For the last week or so Lacey has been vey unsettled of a night time and has been puffing her cheeks out at 2,3 and 4 in the morning which I just assumed was someone walking past the house. As we have the bedroom doors shut she usually whines then relents when me and the missus stay in bed or tell he rto be quiet, so at 5 o clock this morning when she started doing it again I got the hump with her and was about to tell her to go and lay downstairs when she bolted down the stairs which I assumed was her signal that she wanted to go to the toilet but she ran straight into the front room and began sniffing everything as if someone or something she had never smelt before had been in the house. So after telling her to go toilet and pointing toward the back door I walked into the kitchen to see a random black cat sitting there( guessing it got in through the dog door or esle it was a real cat burglar!). Now with it being five in the morning and me being half awake I didn't think to quickly grab Lacey so she bolts into the kitchen and her and the cat start fighting which send her dog bowls flying everywhere, not to mention some of the cats fur and when I fianlly managed to get hold of her the cat scratched me and hissed before jumping up onto the side unit. My missus heard the commotion and came downstairs and the cat hissed at her aswell so she opened the back door and shooed it out. After inspecting Lacey we realised she had a little nick on her nose which we put salt water on and it seems to be ok but as we couldn't inspect the cat we cant be sure of its injuries as it was very aggresive and probably scared and stressed so I need to know what possible comeback we could have if there are any seroius injuries to the cat and if there is anyway we can report the cat as being a nuisance as my other half says that the cat has tried to get through the dog door before but Lacey usually stops it before it can get in the house.

I suspect the cat might have learned a lesson and won't be back.  Cats are pretty much masters of their own destiny and there is little you can do apart from take good care of your scratches as they are likely to become infected.  Cat wounds can be nasty.

Ok, make sure your dog has got no cat bites on her.

A friend recently told me: her neighbour had 2 greyhounds. When taken for walks they were muzzled, but out in the garden they were not. They were surrounded by a 6ft fence. Neighbour let 1 of her greyhounds out into the garden, without checking for cats. Greyhound went after cat and caught it, cat scratched and bit dog, and ran off. Cat turned out to be fine, dog died of (I think) cat bite fever. So just check your dog over and make sure there are no bites.

Char

hi, after reading your post just had 2 share my story with you.all last week molly (16 month sbt)was getting me up all through the night.at first it started with barking then growling,came downstairs into the kitchen where she was pacing up and down let her outside and she went mad was a totaly different dog (shes normaly such a placid thing)went outside with her but couldnt see anything told her ther was nothing ther and put her back in her bed.wasnt untill friday found out that a car had been stolen from outside our back gates and a piece of the car was thrown into the garden. after a week of keeping me up my patience was running out but after hearing about the car i felt so bad for shouting at her will she ever forgive me x x

Hi there.
There is nothing that could have been done to prevent the cat coming in. The dog door is there for you DOG. If a cat decides to go through it it's your dog's teritory! No wonder the dog got defensive!

Cat can hold their own. Most cats are out all day anyway and are bound to face problems like this one.
I wouldnt worry too much. If anything cats are more vicious.

As one previous post said "the cat will have learned it's lesson, and not come back".

Hope this has helped a little bit...

Ashleigh

Hi don't worry, cats travel and go places they shouldn't I know I have two. :)
Actually only last Tuesday I had a similar problem only in the porch;  Well my two cats are almost 22 and not able to defend their territory as well as they once did :( well a big young ginger Tom is bothering them, well I have been locking the cat flap at night to prevent access, but that evening about 4.00ish Sal went ballistic at the lounge door I opened it only to come face to face with Ginger Tom in the hall/porch, Oz was doing his best to deter the intruder well he had reinforcments then in the form of Sal (SBT) and after lots of fur flying, the poor ginger Tom finally made it out of the front door which I managed to open swiftly followed by Oz and Sal with Tess (the pup) bringing up the rear before I caught her.
The ginger Tom has not been back and now in the evening I leave the cat flap open for my two and the lounge door open for Sal to "guard" the fort while the cats are asleep.
Have spoken to the cat owner a neighbour and he said apart from about 2 hours of raised fur his cat was okay barring a few swipes from my cat's claws. No harm done but at least he won't be back in a hurry and my two can enjoy their old age in comfort.
Karen