Abingdon woman ‘shocked’ after cat killed by dog and ‘dumped’

Lauren Boore, a mum in Abingdon, became concerned when her cat Mittens, who she’d had since birth as part of her other cat’s litter, wasn’t home for breakfast one morning.

After the beloved family pet didn’t return for another day, Ms Boore began searching for Mittens, posting an appeal on Facebook, handing out leaflets and knocking on neighbours’ doors.

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“He’s always in and out of home so I knew something wasn’t right,” she said.

Lauren Boore with her late cat, Mittens, when he was a kitten (Image: Lauren Boore)

It wasn’t until someone who had seen the appeal for missing Mittens got in touch with the cat owner and said a dog had been witnessed attacking a cat on the morning of Friday, April 17 – the day the cat went missing.

Ms Boore said: “Automatically I was like, I think I know whose dog it is. That’s when things started spinning around in my head.

“The next day I confronted the owner of the dog that I suspected because it matched the description.

Lauren Boore had Mittens since he was a kitten, when her other cat had a litter (Image: Lauren Boore)

“He denied it, to start with, but once I said there’s been a witness and it matched his dog’s description, he admitted it all, basically, and said he’d been lying to me.”

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The dog, a lurcher, had reportedly been with the owner on the playing field near their home when it ran away and chased down and killed a cat.

Ms Boore said Mittens was a beloved cat and a ‘member of the family’ (Image: Lauren Boore)

“I just wanted Mittens back. I just wish he’d done the right thing in the beginning,” she added.

“We’ve lived on the same road for nine years, and I never thought he’d be capable of doing that – he seemed like a decent person, and I’m just really, really shocked.

“I want something done about his actions, because at the end of the day, he wasn’t a responsible dog owner.”

The cat owner made a report to the police, and although an officer visited her and spoke to the neighbour, no further action has been taken.

Mittens when he was a kitten (Image: Lauren Boore)

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When contacted by this newspaper, Thames Valley Police said the case had been filed, and declined to comment further.

Ms Boore added: “I just wish people would do the right thing, when it comes to cats.

“They’re somebody’s pet, and a family member, and people should have more respect towards cats.”