Conference misery::feline_v1

    I understand your problem well.  I live in Marlboro Ma where the
    leash law is a laugh - or at least it used to be.  When I moved
    in eight years ago there were _so_ many dogs running free you wouldn't
    believe it.  I was told by my neighbor that there had been several
    cases of cats being killed by groups of dogs that made sport of
    the hunt.  That's about all I needed to hear.  The next time I saw
    a dog in my yard, I called the dog officer.  She showed up 45 minutes
    later.  Needless to say, the dog had gone by then, but I had a long
    talk with her.  She confirned the story I heard about the cat killer
    dogs.  From then on when ever I would see a dog in my yard, I'd
    grab some cat food, go out and get the dog, put him/her in my garage
    and call the dog officer.  It actually got to the point that the
    dogs would make a bee line for my yard when they were let loose
    because they knew they'd get free goodies!  It took a long time
    (two years) but I never see any stray dogs in my neighborhood any
    more.  Their owners just got tired of the inconvenience of getting
    the dog out of the pound, and the expense of bailing them out (in
    my town, the more offences - the bigger the fine).  If you are really
    serious about getting rid of the dogs, it can be done.  Best of
    luck.
    
    Marion

    While I won't make a recommendation that you follow this advise,
    the problem of dogs running loose and causing harm to other animals
    was handled like this at my house....
    
    
                           12 gauge...
    
    
    My town has a 24 hour leash law, that despite awareness of
    the problems their dogs were creating, most owners chose to ignore.
    In all honesty, I can't say I didn't empathize (sp?) with them in
    some way. This is a fairly rural area with miles of open and
    undeveloped land surrounding the newly built homes; just the kind
    of place a dog can be pictured happily romping around the open fields.
    
    But, put a bunch of the family pets together and they develope a
    pack mentality that Fido's owners wouldn't believe he's capable
    of.
    
    After requests had been made to the neighbors and the laxadasical
    town officials, nothing was done; the dogs continued to roam the
    neighborhood, killing chickens, rabbits, cats, and even attacking
    other dogs that were chained up on their owner's property.
    
    2 blasts and 2 dead dogs later the problem was solved.
    
    I really have a harder time advocating this type of extreme action
    than my reply may reflect. For years my dogs ran free and probably
    caused their share of aggravation, but increasing human and pet
    populations in the area brought an end to that era. At one
    time letting a dog run free was not an irresponsible act. No more.
    
    According to the family attorney, the local law provided for such
    measures to be taken in order to defend "livestock", which was
    defined as ANY animal kept on private property, so we were on solid
    *legal* grounds. Your local laws may vary.
    
    Edd 

First, if you must use weapons, use shotgun with rock salt and aim for the
animal's back end.....it won't kill, and the animal can recover.  However,
I suggest combining two approaches:

Keep your cat in for awhile, get a nice cat tree near a window and just
keep the cat safe while you practice the trick of calling the dog officer
any time you see a loose dog, whether in your yard or not.  I would also
inform my neighbors in a firm, polite voice, that I plan to call the dog
officer and report any dogs running loose TO PROTECT THE DOGS FROM INJURY
DUE TO CAR ACCIDENTS OR EXPOSURE TO PESTICIDES USED ON PEOPLES LAWNS.  In
this manner, the owners are warned, and you have informed them you are
protecting their dogs, not challenging them by threatening their dogs to
protect your cat.  One or two things will happen, they will either leave
the dogs at the pound because they don't care or they will get tired of
paying fines and will keep their dogs at home.