Get a hose pipe to it along with a lot of arm waving and shouting,usuallly works....if it dose not attack you instead

Tried it. Tried lobbing increasingly large stones. It now knows how far I can throw, and sits smugly 1metre further away. Tried driving at it. Consider safety of child and self more important. Considered poison (dog, not self) but of course own dog & cat not fussy when it comes to scranning spare food. [/I]

I dont like poison ,better to ask a neighbour to shoot it,especially if childs saftey is a risk, nearly all cortijero`s have a shotgun or rifle,

I hope your cat's come home by now! Cats do very well being kept strictly indoors. No fleas, ticks, fights, predators, trucks & the like. A Siamese cat could be attractive to a thief.

Yes, thanks for your thoughts, came home Saturday (see thread)...trucks??? Well yes if I lived in or near a village, never mind a city... rural Spain is a bit safer for both moggies and Siamese. Worst possibility I foresee is a mauling by a wild boar or being a seasonal feast for a fox! Funnily enough, he's opting to stay indoors at the moment, looks out the front door like he's given up roaming for a while

ps that dog is likely to see the business end of Juan-up-the-hill's shotgun; yet again snuck into the house (door only open 3 or 4 mins) & pee'd against my shopping bag.grrrr!

Bear in mind you are in a Catholic country. The Church teaches that animals have no souls. Therefore, it doesn't matter what happens to them. That's probably why I saw a boy pick up a kitten by the tail & smash it against a wall, while his father looked on, beaming.
I would never let my cat run loose.

Being a Catholic myself, I think that´s rather a sweeping statement. It´s got nothing to do with being a Catholic, or a Christian for that matter, it´s about being a sadist or uneducated. All our neighbours are Spanish and, with the exception of one, they are all pet loving Catholics who, whether or not they believe that animals have souls, still love them and wouldn´t do anything to hurt them.

Yes, tend to agree with the first; mixed feelings on the second. A friend's child recently nearly got himself into playground bother for wanting to stick up for a dog being kicked around by older lads, while teachers seemed to have temporary blindness. Also, I hear (no firm evidence but seems to be accepted fact) the tendency round here is to feed dogs with bread & not a whole lot else. (maybe all animals, except goats, who have to walk kms for their food) Bizarrely, the Juan-up-the-hill I referred to who I may ask to send the podenco to the great kennel in the sky, is the local animal-whisperer, who cares very much for his own dogs & has an endless procession of dogs, cats, donkeys, ponies, pigs, you name it, through his doors. Have to admit I'm not sure what happens thereafter, but they are loved for a while

fionamw, maybe it depends where you live. I live not far outside a town so don´t see what necessarily goes on in the campo. People there may have a different mindset. My objection was that Mimi Forsyth was using a sweeping statement about the Spanish and I don´t think it was fair.

On a different note, I thought my (neutered) boy had gone missing for hours today but he eventually turned up. Oh how we worry.

Glad your boy is back and, is he still staying indoors?

I grew up in Spain.