mystery attack any thoughts?

[mtair]

when i came home from work last thursday my dog was loose (inadvertantly left out side) and laying in a pool of blood .out by my lab who was hooked up outside. we brought him in he was frozen with ice all over him. he almost immidiattly started blleding again .so we took him to the vet .he had to be carried .he is a 75 pd. mix breed who is 10 years old. upon examination the vet said he was attacked by another animal. he had many many scraps and what appear to be claw marks the vet shaved those areas and they werevery apparant .they are all over his body feet ,rib area , legs but mostly the neck. one of which is a gash 6 inches long and deep. all together he had 780. oo worth of stitches he is a fairly low key submisive dog . we live in a rural area ,with no woods around for 400-500 yards its all field and we really have no neighbors . so i really dont think he made it back from the woods due to his condition and its out of the question that the lab did it . any ideas (if only dogs could talk).

[bobcat 10]

it could be a coyote they have attacked my coonhounds one time bit them cut them,one of my coonhunting buddys hound was treeing and coyotes ran in and attacked. one coyote riped off one of the testicles off of his coonhound.

go deep hunt hard.

[plainsman]

Where do you live?? Any badgers in your area?? They can tear a dog up pretty good.Did you check for tracks?

Best wishes for your friend, hope he heals up good.

[mtair]

i live in the n.y. catskill mtns.nope no badgers ,we do have fishers though ,to tell the truth i never thought of them though, they are pretty nasty. i was kind of thinking bear or cougar . but who knows , i think a cougar would have finished him off. he was in real bad shape.had to carry him out to go to the bathroom. after his meds. kicked in he started comming around . he is doing much better now ! thanks

[mtair]

as far as tracks i looked around ,but really found nothing.i couldnt imagine it happening to far from home , because of the shape he was in. after the last snow i took the quad out through the woods and saw nothing but deer prints

[who_else]

sorry to hear that, at least he is getting better.

[Buckshot]

How big is your dog?
Also glad to here he's doing well.

[whtelk]

sounds like you might have a big cat around...I am from Oregon and have seen dogs ripped apart by lions.

[mtair]

my dog is around 70 pounds big dog but skinny.whtelk i was thinking cat to, he has quite the impressive swip mark on his neck. the n.y. d.e.c. denies any reports or knowledge of cougars in n.y. but there have been sightings .within 10 miles of here . unaknowledge and unverified of coarse.

[blackliner]

The damage sounds a lot like the kind of attacks we saw when lions woukd attack our calves. Sounds like a good reason to put in for a tag...