Dogs break into Douglas County home, kill two cats and chase woman

A Douglas County family was dealing with the violent deaths of their two cats Saturday after two dogs broke into their home, killed their two pets and tried to attack the wife.

The dogs came from a neighboring house Saturday morning and broke through a second story screen door of Patrick Vermilya’s home. Once inside, they killed one cat sitting on the screen porch, then went further into the home and killed a cat inside, according to Vermilya, who was not at home at the time.

Patty McMahon, Vermilya’s wife, came inside the house and saw the cats lying in pools of blood. Then she turned around and saw the dogs running after her, Vermilya told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“She thought the dogs were going to kill her,” Vermilya said.

She ran and hid in a bathroom and called Vermilya, who called 911, he said.

After 10 minutes, his wife thought the dogs were gone, but as she walked out of the bathroom, the dogs chased her again. She ran outside, locking the dogs in the house, Vermilya said.

Animal control came and captured the dogs, said Douglas County sheriff’s Major Tommy Wheeler

The couple had owned the cats, Lucy and Oscar, for more than 10 years.

“We don’t have any children and these were our kids,” Vermilya said.

He said he can’t believe that the dogs broke into the house to kill the cats.

“To have the animals come inside the house blows my mind,” he said. “The cop said in his 15 years he had never seen dogs break into a porch and house.”

The dogs were taken to the Douglas County Animal Control building and will be euthanized, Wheeler said.

The dog owners were given citations and will appear in court, Wheeler said.

A story from the good old days.

In one Indiana town in the 1940s, packs of stray dogs were such a menace that a man was elected mayor on the single platform that he would personally shoot them. And, being an honest sort, he actually carried out his platform, wiping out several packs of strays. He was reelected.

In South America, there has long been itinerant dog killers, who travel from town to town killing stray dogs. They use old meat, soaked in poison in a 55 gallon drum, and post warnings that on a particular night, all pet dogs should be kept inside. After setting out the meat, before morning any extra meat is collected, the dead dogs are carted off, and the dog killer leaves town.

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