MAY I, through your paper, draw your attention to an

incident in Tavistock's Mitre Close area late last Saturday

morning — concerning an attack on my cat, two small

dogs and a further cat.

On hearing some noise I looked out of my window to see

my cat being chased by a greyhound. The cat disappeared

up a tree and did not come down for several hours. In fact,

my partner had to get a ladder and coax the animal down

— who was very traumatised for several days.

Apparently, the greyhound had attacked the cat prior to

this. When I say 'attacked' the greyhound had my cat by

the throat. It seems possible the dog had escaped — as it

was seen running from door to door and appeared lost.

We checked the cat for injuries and apart from a graze on

his stomach he seemed okay — apart from not going out

or eating for two days.

On Thursday we ended up taking him to the vet as his

stomach was 'weeping' — a result of the dog's teeth

being sunk in. We now face a bill of a few hundred pounds

but the money isn't an issue; we would just like the dog

owner to realise the trauma his dog caused to my animal

and neighbours' pets, and just to point out that it could

have been a child the dog had by the throat — the

consequences don't bear thinking about.

It is dog-like to chase cats etc but not viciously attack. We

would just like the owner to be aware of what happened.

A word of apology and/or explanation would be nice, so I

have added my phone number in hopes. One never knows

whether this is likely to happen again, or whether it was

just an accident — a dog getting off a lead, maybe — but

does the owner know what the animal is capable of?

Pauline Derrick

11 Mitre Close

Tavistock

01822 610992