Dog's Fatal Attack on Cat to go to DA

A little over two weeks ago, on the first of the month, the pet cat belonging to Eugene and Christine Rodemich was killed in their garage by a black Labrador retriever that had gotten loose from its owner. The owner appeared soon after the cat was killed, grabbed her dog and left the Hampstead Road property without offering assistance or apology, Eugene Rodemich wrote in a letter that ran in the La Cañada Valley Sun.

After a week of searching, the owner of the dog was found with the help of neighbors, who said the owner and her dog live on the same street as the Rodemiches.

The couple called the Pasadena Humane Society and were helped by animal control officer Julie Storey, who will be taking their case to the district attorney. Christine Rodemich said she only hopes the owner will take responsibility for her negligence, and understand that when something like this happens, you can't just run from it.

"Accidents happen and can happen again," she said, "but if something happens you just own up to it. [You do] anything except running." She likened the situation to a hit and run accident, saying that the owner did nothing, not even leave a note.

She said that the dog's owner later told her the reason she left was that she was worried Eugene Rodemich would come after her "with a baseball bat." His wife laughed this off as a ridiculous notion. The Lab's owner also told Christine that after she left, her friends told her not to call and to wait in hopes that it would all be forgotten.

But the Rodemiches were not likely to forget. Their cat was given to them by their sons on Mother's Day 15 years ago, and was a well loved pet. They own three other cats, all of whom they are now worried about.

Pasadena Humane Society Spokeswoman Ricky Whitman said this city "requires people to be in control of their dogs at all times," and even though accidents happen, she emphasized that killing a cat this violently and this quickly (it reportedly took only five minutes) "is not appropriate behavior for a pet dog."