My dog killed a rat. Will she harm my small pets or a new kitten?

I am sorry to hear of your loss, some dogs will never acclimatise to cats and will act as a predator -prey species regardless of age or infirmity. I would not recommend another cat or kitten as he is likely to attempt to attack again.

You probably do not need to be concerned since Puppy did not actually eat the rat. However, if you feel like she is acting abnormally, like vomiting or coughing excessively or acting more lethargic than normal, I would recommend taking her in to the vet just to make sure nothing is going on. There are some diseases that can be spread from rat to dog but with such limited interaction Puppy is probably fine. My only other concern would be if there was any rat poison around that the rat or Puppy could have gotten in to. If so, this could cause some bleeding issues in Puppy. Your vet can run a simple blood test to make sure this is not an issue.

The main worrying fact is rat poison, if the rat ingested poison before he was killed by your dog, Gracy could be affected by it (it could be fatal). i would recommend taking her to your vet in order to get vitamin K coverage just in case.

Bringing a kitten into a home with a dog that has high prey drive, especially if that dog has a history of killing small animals like squirrels, etc. can be very dangerous - because of this, I would strongly recommend making an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate your dog in person and help you do this as safely as possible. You will likely need to keep your dog on-leash at all times around the kitten for quite a while, so that you can prevent any chasing and reward calm behavior with treats and praise. The kitten and dog should never be loose together when you aren't home, or when you aren't able to supervise. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist who can help you in person here: www.dacvb.org

Aww poor kittens! It is definitely possible that a fox or some other wild animal could have snatched up the two missing kittens even with the dogs nearby. Unfortunately, some dogs will not distinguish between pets and other wild animals so it is also possible that one of the dogs got the kittens. I'm sorry that this happened! Probably best to bring the kittens indoors for protection until they are older.

I would be concerned that the dog thought the kitten was a play toy, and that's why Dixie grabbed it out of the cage. Newborn kittens are extremely fragile, and Dixie could potentially hurt the kitten even if she didn't mean to; therefore, I would keep the dogs away from your cat and her kittens until the kittens are at least four weeks of age. At that age, they will be exploring the world around the, and the dogs can have contact with the kittens when fully supervised.

In these cases close monitoring is needed both for any possible wound/injury from the fight and possible poisoning (some of these rats can be poisoned with rodenticide). Any external wound, lethargy, inappetence, signs of cough, vomiting or diarrhoea should be checked by your local vet.