Every person who has ever owned a cat and dog at the same time will know that, for the most part at least, the two predominantly domesticated animals don’t really get on very well. They might be surprised to find out however that – in France at least – roaming gangs of feral felines have taken the war between the two species to a whole new level.
A 31-year-old woman in the town of Belfort, in eastern France was out walking her dog in a forest when she, and her erstwhile canine companion were jumped by a gang of ‘at least six’ feral cats, according to the Huffington Post.
The woman suffered deep lacerations to her legs and arms – which she received trying to defend her French poodle from the feisty feline’s full blown assault. Indeed, according to the Huff, the injuries were serious enough for her to require treatment at a nearby hospital.
Her puffy-haired pooch didn’t fare much better in the attack. The dog was also wounded in the cat raid and was separately transported to a veterinarian clinic for treatment.
A local daily newspaper L’Est Républicain quoted the vet who treated the woman’s savaged poodle. He said the cat’s behaviour had been highly “abnormal”. He also could not explain why the cats had committed this seemingly random act of aggression in the first place.
Valérie Dramard, a veterinary behaviouralist, called for calm however, saying that “cats are not the new zombies of the apocalypse. They are simply territorial and unfriendly with unknown species.”
My advice to the lady who was attacked is this: buy a real dog! Seems unlikely that six mangy street cats would have jumped her if she’d been walking a big, fuck-off rottweiler or German shepherd!
Poodle’s are basically furry rats anyway.
Image: Getty
