Comments

1
Fucking assholes who let their dogs run lose. Shoot those fuckers, especially pit bills. Shoot them on sight.
2
But of course - cat power.
3
We always joke that if a murderer came into the house to kill us, the cat would throw us at the murderer in order to make an escape. Now I have some doubts...
4
I take back every bad thing I ever said about cats being useless. Holy crap, a loyal family guardian!

Meanwhile, that dog's owner is a very, very, very bad person, and needs some serious suing. Also, that dog needs destroying. Nothing like that should be allowed to live in a neighborhood like that.
5
yayyyy
6
I take back every bad thing I ever said about cats being useless. Holy crap, a loyal family guardian!

Meanwhile, that dog's owner is a very, very, very bad person, and needs some serious suing. Also, that dog needs destroying. Nothing that would mount an attack on a child like that should be allowed to live in a residential neighborhood.
7
If you know cats, you will recognize this behavior as very un-catlike; clearly defending the child. I'm going to jump on the "very bad dog owners, should be prosecuted to the full extent" bandwagon. Mostly, people need to train their fucking slobber monsters. Owning a dog is a much greater responsibility than a cat.
8
Êžatz iz the Êžoolest.
9
Does anyone else think there's a story here about the American surveillance state? This event was captured, by chance, on two cameras, each with a uniquely excellent angle.
10
Sorry, that's three angles. I mean, way to go cat, but I'm really shocked that there's this much footage.
11
@10 yeah, I noticed that too.
12
Gaping wounds after 0:45.
13
@10 they probably bought one of those multi camera DVR systems from Costco, like these: http://m.costco.com/surveillance-systems…
14
"Does anyone else think there's a story here about the American surveillance state?"

No, it says lots about your voting block and their habit of robbing hard working people.
15
Cats are BAD ASS.
16
@1: "The dog, described as a labrador retriever-chow mix"...

Not a pitbull. Please don't use this shitty situation as a way to push your own agenda.

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local…
17
@16 I didn't say it was a pit bull. I just said I shoot one if I saw it loose on my property.
18
Pound for pound, cats are the most efficient killers as mammals. No fear and and sharp claws.
19
That cat is awesome, but I can't believe the lady turns her back on her son and leaves him after the attack! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LADY??
20
Sorry to burst your bubble, but this cat was almost certainly reacting to an intruder into its territory. Notice how, after the dog flees, the cat dives under the car. The swift attack/retreat pattern is how cats deal with territorial intrusions. Some (tom) cats will brook no rivals into their space.

In other words: heartwarming as the loyal-watchcat meme may be, it really isn't about us.
21
@21 while you're likely spot-on to burst our bubbles, at least the cat didn't designate the child as an intruder as well. let's enjoy our happy anthropomorphisms where we can.
22
@13, I've been amazed for a while at the proliferation of models offered and the rapidly increasing complexity of these DVR/camera systems. Most are still hardwired with Ethernet cables, though, and I wonder how many systems get picked up at Costco on a whim and then sit around in the box because mounting all the cameras and running a dozen or more Cat-6 cables through crawlspaces and walls is too daunting a project.

@19, the dog went around the other side of the SUV and came at them again from that direction.
23
@ Dr. Z, the cat actually stays between the dog and the boy—it comes out from under the SUV and hovers near the boy at 40 seconds after the dog went around the SUV to attack again and the mother goes out of frame to chase him off. All through this encounter, the cat keeps looking around to keep track of all the players, when the only enemy is the dog. I'm sticking with hero :)
24
Check how kitty aims at the highest point of gravity then rolls when she makes contact to maximize transfer of her kinetic energy to the dog. Kitty didn't attack with her claws or bite. Her goal wasn't to harm the dog. She didn't hiss or posture or puff up. Kitty did the the most expedient and effective thing kitty could possibly do to separate the dog from her friend at the risk of her own life. Kitty isn't just a hero, she's a physics supercomputer.
25
According to the same news article, "The dog's owner later turned it over to city animal control officials. The dog will be in a 10-day quarantine and then euthanized, police said."

Nice.
26
@23: it's just as likely the cat was keyed up by the encounter and was putting the SUV between itself and the dog as a way of establishing a moment of safety while kitty recovered from the confrontation. The presence of familiar humans added to the sense of safety.

I like your interpretation. Cats are little commandos; but each is on its own mission.
27
A story on KING-5 says the dog is going to be euthanized. Maybe not the first incident of this kind with fido.
28
Also, Casey Kasem has apparently been located in Washington state, no doubt with his feet on the ground and reaching for the stars.
29
If I lived in Bakersfield, I'd have surveillance cameras on my house, too. That place is all sorts of fucked up.
30
@25 and @27 It's a rabies precaution. They'll observe it and then decapitate it and send it's head off to the lab. The kid will get the full rabies series, the mom possibly too if she had contact with the dogs saliva (i.e. touched the wounds). The cat will hopefully have had shots if it's an outdoor.
31
I don't like cats. Now they are going to get way more credit than they deserve. They are so annoying - they are the only creature on the planet more egocentric than man.
32
I've watched that shit probably about 20 times today. I am so impressed and proud of that cat. I've had several cats over the decades and I have never seen any behavior out of a feline like that ever in the mode of protection. Protection because it is telling when the cat leads the kid to safety. Amazing.
33
@27: doesn't matter if it is Fido's first time. Predatory behavior like this is unacceptable. The dog was elsewhere, spotted prey, and attacked to injure/kill. That's the death penalty for an animal.
34
Kat Chancellor
35
fake.
36
I don't care what anyone says. That cat staged it's attack after the dog grabbed the boy. That's a brave thing to do and something a lot of people wouldn't chance, given the size differences, without a weapon. So I'm not attributing human qualities here.
37
@ 31, comfort yourself with the fact that they're not more egocentric than you.
38
Yeah, how did they wind up with so much footage?

LONG SHOT The kid, riding his little scoooter.
MCU the dog, who raises his head and moves out of frame
MCU dog running, ostensibly toward the kid
LONG SHOT the dog attacks the kid, then the cat jumps in
MCU dog running away. Play a victorious piano tune here. This whole thing is framed like a silent movie.
39
When I saw the videa I thought : that's a female for sure. And it is ! She-cats are fiercely protective of their youths, and they do lay their lives in their defense. I've seen mother cats attack other cats when they come close to their kitties in exactly the same way : they go down heavy handed and give a short chase, but once the intruder is at safe distance, they run back to the kitties and take them to a safe other place.

This cat reacted as if she had identified the child as her own. And that's quite probable, since from the article she seems to have been in the family since before he was born. She was probably pretty well treated by the family though the extent of her love for her family was perhaps not fully understood till now.

This is not the first time I hear of a cat attacking a dog to defend its owners. Though it's pretty rare, I've heard it only from female cats.
40
@24 It's hard to see how it unfolds since it's so fast but I think the odds are in favor of the dog getting clawed, cats are very fast jumpers and I'm sure she landed on the dog with all claws extended. I share your admiration with the physics that the cat uses to be the most effective at tumbling away the dog.

It's very impressive how she lands sideways from the dog, to both look bigger and check on the kid, and takes a split second time to assess on possible other assaliants, then gives chase to the dog, but abandons the pursuit when it takes her too far from the child. She doesn't take cover, she heads straight back to the kid, by taking the shortcut of going underneath the car where the dog can't follow, and doesn't stays under the car but goes very close to the kid and his mother, and escorts the kid home, by staying at his side.

The way the cat moves, she thinks there might be more assaliants coming for the kid.

The mother is not less brave, she checks on the kid then runs to fight the dog, barehanded !

Good team work, mother cat and mother human !
41
@33 We agree.
42
@19 She was obviously afraid of the badass cat in her driveway, so she went inside to get a ball of yarn for protection.
43
Fancy Feast is shit.
44
Is there a way to slow down the action? Half speed or something?
45
@27 if it's not the first time that dog has run loose and attacked someone, the dog's owners should be euthanized. Why do so many dog owners think their inability to control their animals is never their fault?
46
I can attest to the possibility of a cat actually defending a human and not just clearing its territory. I used to live with someone else's small dog that was violent and horrible (should have been put down but not my decision to make.) My cat typically avoided the dog, and the dog was afraid of her with her claws, so they rarely interacted. One time the dog cornered me in a back hallway and was growling and snapping, and my cat came running in and attacked the dog. It was the only time she ever initiated contact with the dog.

I don't think it's something you can ever expect, but cats are definitely capable of non-asshole behavior.

As to the surveillance, the cameras seemed to be set up to give a nice view of the parked SUV. Probably home security for theft deterrent. If you're a techie and don't have to pay someone else to do the work getting it setup, not really an expensive system to get up and running - only a few hundred dollars for 8 cameras.

The sequence of events in the video(s) produce more questions. After running off the dog, the cat returns to the boy's side by running under the car, and then seems to retreat toward the home with the boy. After seeing that the boy's injuries don't appear to be life threatening, the mom's sudden departure seems to me to be running interference to be sure the dog is not returning for another attack. She did run away quickly, probably in response to a sound we didn't hear. It's like a movie with an unsatisfying ending. We need another few clips of security tape for a better conclusion to the story.
48
I've had many, many cats over the past 40-some years and this breed—a grey/black/brown striped tabby-mix—is by far the most bad-assy of all cats. My cat landed this same move on a neighbor's dog that got too close to our yard party. It was a sight to behold. He's mean, rude, a total brute, and is fiercely loyal to my family and friends.
49
It's in Bakersfield and they are having a bad meth problem there at the moment. I know people who are constantly over there, installing cameras. It's getting bad as poor/gangs are being flushed from LA/Anaheim with rising rent costs and cities trying to "clean" themselves up. So they get pushed into areas like Bakersfield.

As for the cat-- it looks after the boy after immediately chasing off the dog. The mom was locking the dog up in the neighbor's yard, she also got bit by it.
50
After learning that this cat is female - and not male as I assumed yesterday - I would agree with @39. In feral situations toms will kill kittens to bring queens back into season. Queens are ferocious when it comes to protecting their kittens from toms. Also, queens are somewhat less territorial than toms (or rather, their territories are less expansive) so at this point I think it's rather more likely that the violent dog attack triggered this cat's natural motherhood response.
51
Animal behaviorist Nicholas Dodman of Tufts veterinary School weighed in today:

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/05/15/ca…
52
@51: in the social settings Dodman refers to (e.g. barn cats) related queens will often band together and keep their kittens in a creche to mount a collective defense against predatory toms as I described in 50.
53
To the people asking about the mom running off: I second the idea that she's checking where the dog went. Alternately, my first assumption was that she's running for her purse to take the kid for medical attention; if she's wearing a dress, then she probably doesn't have her keys or license on her.

Pretty impressive, though, no matter what the cat's motivation was in the defense.
54
Google 'top earners Youtube'. They've made millions. It was not a stray dog. It is owned by the neighbors and most likely familiar with the boy. Completely unprovoked, such dogs very rarely go for blood with a young child. Erika Triantafilo, the boy's mother, witnessed the whole event and was on the spot within seconds. "The next thing I know, I see my cat flying out of nowhere onto this dog", she told the media, but elsewhere she claimed she didn't realize what had happened until after when her husband showed her the surveillance video. Instead of picking up her child and taking it to the nearest hospital, which is located at about three miles' distance, she runs away. Yeah, right. All was recorded on Tuesday afternoon at 4:51, but the following day, early in the morning already, the boy's father posted the edited video on Youtube. Roger edited it carefully, so we cannot see the boy's left leg before the alleged attack. Tape the dog's favorite meat to his left calf, et voilà, cash in. I'm not saying this happened, but it is possible. Roger declined to answer critical questions from reporters. He also doesn't want to sue its owners, possibly to avoid a critical-thinking lawyer. Google street view of Eagle Vista Drive in Bakersfield. Three CCTV cameras in front of the house in such quiet street?

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