Dempsey's extremely close call with a cat...

We took him out just now for a toilet break. On a side note, his stools are a lot firmer now, though still not quite back to normal.

We have a back entrance/exit to our house, up the garden and through the garage. The garage leads out into a long, wide strip of private land that we share with neighbours. And cats.

As I opened the door, I saw that one of our neighbours had his gates open to let his van out. Looking down, a small dark shape caught my eye. I assumed it was our neighbour's lovely little tricolour JRT-type dog, who Dempsey sadly doesn't think much of. This little dog never comes over to him though, so that's fine. Until I realised that it wasn't the dog - it was a cat.

For those of you who know Dempsey, you'll remember that he hates cats with a passion, ever since a big grumpy tom cat attacked him when he was young. And this particular cat happened to be extremely friendly and started walking happily over to Dempsey. Cue the desperate struggle to pull Dempsey back inside before the cat could reach him!

Luckily, I managed to yank him back in and slam the door shut just as the cat got about three feet away from him! Our neighbour very kindly picked the cat up, although it wasn't his, so that we could get out.

Love Demps, but he can be a pain in the arse sometimes!

It is a bit of an issue. Good that you keep a lookout.

My Xan used to have 100% tolerance for any cat but then I moved and the new neighbours had a terrible cat that would attack my cats, sometimes in the house.
This cat killed one of mine - it bit her throat and punctured her airway. She bled into her lungs and drowned in her own blood. She was 12 years old and only went outside to toilet. It was horrible!
Xan is pretty protective of his pack and he built up such hatred towards that cat. Now he can't stand any strange cats.

Yes, I always check outside before he goes out. He's not generally aggressive, but like a lot of dogs, he doesn't like cats.

Poor thing! That must have been terrifying!

Oh, Theresa, your poor cat!  

Dempsey is unpredictable with dogs, but extremely predictable with cats - he loathes ALL of them.

It was lucky you noticed the cat. My two aren't too keen on cats and they have always lived with them   

sorry to hear what happened to your cat Theresa x

Yes, he does, unfortunately. Wish there was some way we could change it.

Always have a peek outside before Dempsey goes out!

I don't see him changing, tbh. It would take an awful lot of desensitising, and I don't know anyone who'd be brave enough (or reckless enough) to let us use their cats as the desensitisers!  

Pretty sure it'd be a bad idea!