My cat did not give way to dogs, except Schaefers

Very early in Simon's outdoor life, he was chased by a Schaeffer. Simon had just become an outdoor cat. The chase was terrible, I had no way to react or do anything. Neither me or Simon was prepared for the dog being there. It was a lightning fast surprise raid out of the blue.

The Schaefer attacked my cat from above and from behind

The attack came when Simon was walking the streets in his usual manner. Simon was just passing over the street from a block across our block, on his way to the block on the other side of our street. Simon was walking calm and slow, out in the open. He was crossing the street in daylight, fully visible, only walking. He passed right behind the trunk of a Volvo station wagon. The station wagons hatch back door was open. Simon passed the open hatch door maybe two meters from it. Inside the station wagon, there was a dog, unseen by me and Simon. The dog was a Schaefer. The Schaefer was not tied down, and saw this big white forest cat pass literally right under his nose. It became too much of a temptation for the dog. The Schaefer jumped down on Simon from above. Simon had not seen him so the attack came totally unexpected. Luckily, Simon did react fast, and rushed away. Cats are predators, and especially Simon did not have the habit to run for anyone. But this happened in his young days, he was currently only weighing 7 kilos. He was not used to being oudoor, and running was probably a good idea that time. Anyway, the Schaefer rushed after him. Simon, not having been an outdoor cat very long, was not yet become accustomed to use fences or anything like that, he only ran. Simon rushed in full speed around one corner of a garage, around the garage, and back again after a U-turn around the garage. The dog did the same. I tried to rush in the way of the Schaefer, but the cat and the dog more or less did 20 meters before I even had taken more than a few steps forward. They both disappeared out of sight. This was as much as I saw, then both dog and cat was gone out of sight.

My cat was gone the whole day and the whole night

I have no idea what happened after the cat and the dog disappeared out of sight. I did not see where Simon went. I did see the car again, but only once, and not with the dog in it.

It was not until late next morning Simon came back home. He was wet. He was dirty. He had torn out almost all his claws. He was hungry. But he did get away. He did find his way back home. And he did learn a lesson. Never run for a dog. And after that he never did, not even when being in a frontal attack by a rushing big dog in full speed.

But there was an exception. I did see him step off the sidewalk long in advance when seeing Schaefer's on his street. From that day, Simon carried much respect for Schaefers.

In the evening, Simon still did not get home. I hoped he was not hurt, but I did not know. I went around trying to find him, but did not succeed. Same thing in the night (3 o'clock when cats are up and it is quiet). Then again early in the morning. I started to create "missing cat" posters. And then, still in the morning but later than his normal time, Simon came home again. I had just gone out to hang up the "missing cat" posters in the neighborhood. And there my cat came. Simon was a dirty, hungry hurting forest cat, but he was alive.