Dog came in our yard and mauled our cat-who is responsible for vet bill?
What is the name of your state?-North Carolina On Sat, July 2nd a new neighbors dog got out of their home and was wandering the neighborhood. It is a large hunting dog. A neighbor who was walking her dog on a leash witnessed the dog attack my cat who was laying in our yard. He picked up the cat and was slinging him around. She yelled and the dog stopped but not until a lot of damage was done. I was not home at the time. The owners of the dog came to our door about 1 hour after the attack and we found our cat and took him to the vet immediately. To make a sad long story shorter, he had very bad injuries and we had him put to sleep(after much agony) the next day. The total vet bill is $680.55. Today we got a letter in our mailbox from the dog owner saying that they had gotten rid of the dog but did not feel they were obligated to pay the whole vet bill since we made the choice to let our cat be an outdoor cat and should therefore realize that we were "subjecting him to all natural predators of these woods"!!!!!! " IT was also our choice to go to extreme life saving measures on a hopeless case." They included a check for $400. I had called them yesterday and told them what the charges were. They did not come over on Sunday or contact us at all to find out the condition of the cat. I always had to contact them. If the cat had lived I probably would have been willing to share the vet bill, but since their dog who was allowed to run loose(not allowed in our county) literally came in lour yard and killed our cat, I think the should pay the whole bill. Can I win in small claims court--can I ask for compensation for pain and suffering? I was thinking if I threatened them with this, they might come up with the other $260.55!!! Thanks for any advice. I have never had to face anything like this before.
What is the name of your state?-North Carolina On Sat, July 2nd a new neighbors dog got out of their home and was wandering the neighborhood. It is a large hunting dog. A neighbor who was walking her dog on a leash witnessed the dog attack my cat who was laying in our yard. He picked up the cat and was slinging him around. She yelled and the dog stopped but not until a lot of damage was done. I was not home at the time. The owners of the dog came to our door about 1 hour after the attack and we found our cat and took him to the vet immediately. To make a sad long story shorter, he had very bad injuries and we had him put to sleep(after much agony) the next day. The total vet bill is $680.55. Today we got a letter in our mailbox from the dog owner saying that they had gotten rid of the dog but did not feel they were obligated to pay the whole vet bill since we made the choice to let our cat be an outdoor cat and should therefore realize that we were "subjecting him to all natural predators of these woods"!!!!!! " IT was also our choice to go to extreme life saving measures on a hopeless case." They included a check for $400. I had called them yesterday and told them what the charges were. They did not come over on Sunday or contact us at all to find out the condition of the cat. I always had to contact them. If the cat had lived I probably would have been willing to share the vet bill, but since their dog who was allowed to run loose(not allowed in our county) literally came in lour yard and killed our cat, I think the should pay the whole bill. Can I win in small claims court--can I ask for compensation for pain and suffering? I was thinking if I threatened them with this, they might come up with the other $260.55!!! Thanks for any advice. I have never had to face anything like this before.
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