The owner of a rottweiler that killed a cat last week said his dog defended itself after it was attacked first.

Stefan Spiteri stood up for his dog saying it was “well behaved” and “obeys every order we give him”.

He came forward after The Sunday Times of Malta reported the incident in Attard on Friday night.

Marcelle Migneco, the cat’s distraught owner, saw her 10-year-old pet, which had been sleeping outside on a ledge, being ripped apart.

She claimed the dog’s owner tried to control it but failed. In talking to the newspaper, she made an appeal for large dogs to be muzzled in public although not to be put down.

Giving his version of the incident, Mr Spiteri said he was out for a walk with his partner and child and kept the dog on a short leash when they passed the house belonging to the cat’s owners.

“While on the pavement, a black cat jumped on top of our dog and the ginger cat [Ira] showed an aggressive expression and jumped on his face.

“Our dog tried to defend himself and the only way he could was to grab the ginger cat in his mouth.”

The cat’s owner tried to remove the cat from the dog’s mouth “but to no avail”, he said.

The rottweiler remained on the leash throughout the incident and eventually, when it let go of the cat in the middle of the road, “the owner tried to strangle it, picked her up and placed it on the pavement”.

Blood was spilled when the cat was lifted, Mr Spiteri said. He denied Ms Migneco’s statement that there was a vet present.

“The cat’s owners started shouting that the dog should be put down and that we are a shame and how would we feel had they killed a member of our family,” he said.

Called in by the Mignecos, the police recorded both their versions and Mr Spiteri and his partner left as “that is what the police told us to do”.

The incident went viral on Facebook, with people saying the dog deserved to die, Mr Spiteri said, adding they were also threatened and some even wished “the dog shreds our child to feel exactly what the cat’s owners felt”.

Mr Spiteri said his dog did not need to be muzzled and that the cats should have been left inside if they were pets. “This was about a dog defending himself so he isn’t to blame,” he said.

When contacted again, Ms Migneco denied seeing a black cat but said she saw Ira sleeping on the ledge. Her sister, a doctor, picked the cat from the road to check her pulse and see “if she was alive to put her out of her misery”.

She also said her family’s personal vet happened to be passing by.