German Shepherd Brutally Attacked My Dog

Location: Kentucky, USA

Early last week a German shepherd owned by my neighbor took a huge chunk out of my dog while we were walking on the sidewalk nearby the house. We were NOT on the neighbor's property. The dog had a chain attached to its collar, but the other end of the chain was not secured to anything. The owner of the dog was inside the house and left the dog in the yard to be supervised by their late-teens/early-twenties daughter, who is a co-owner of the dog but not the primary one. Some neighbors across the street saw what happened and their child in the moment said he had seen the dog break loose, but the child's parents immediately told him to shut his mouth and not get involved in other people's business; I imagine they are wary of police, the neighbors with the vicious dog, or both.

I rushed my dog to the veterinary hospital where they were barely able to save her life, as the attacking dog had not punctured any of my dog's vital organs despite significant skin loss and tissue damage. My dog is traumatized; I am traumatized. I have scratches on my hand from yanking my dog away and getting her out of the other dog's reach. One of the cuts appears to be getting infected, but I am uninsured and wary of going to the doctor and incurring a bill. My dog had almost all the skin on the left side of her body torn off. She can't be outside without shaking. It was brutal and the recovery is extensive.

I filed a police report through animal control. Animal control informed me that the primary owner has a court date on November 3rd where they will receive notice that animal control is conducting an investigation into what the officer described to me as a "dangerous/potentially dangerous animal." Until the investigation is complete and the court decides what to do with the animal, the dog is on restriction--not allowed outside the house except to use the bathroom; owner is required to have a BEWARE OF DOG sign in their yard; even when dog is outside it must be on a leash held by someone who is capable of controlling the dog. The officer told me that the dog owners allege that I was on their property--although admitted that if I was on the property, I was not an unreasonable distance off the sidewalk. And since the primary owner was not even outside during the attack, there is no way for her to have seen it anyway. I don't know if any home nearby has a doorbell camera that captured any footage of the event.

As of right now the vet bills are sitting at around $2600. I had to put the bills on Care Credit, which incurs 30% interest from the date of service if the balance is not paid within 6 months. Since the attack happened a week ago, we are just now getting to the point where any necrosis or infection would become apparent. My dog is set to have her stitches removed in about a week. It is not a matter of if there will be more vet bills--there will be. It is just a matter of whether there will be complications, causing the vet bills to skyrocket.

I would like for my neighbor to cover the vet costs at least. My neighbor is a renter and it is a poor neighborhood; I don't know if she works or has renter's insurance or if she has any assets to speak of. Since as of right now the bills sit just above the small claims limit of $2500, I am wondering if it is even worth it to get an attorney involved, or what I should really do. Or if, because of the cuts and infection on my hand, I could potentially have a case for personal injury. I am also wary of approaching my neighbor and asking her to make a good-faith effort to cover the bills. I am functionally broke right now and don't even have enough to make the minimum monthly payment on the Care Credit, let alone pay off the full balance before it starts accruing interest.

What should I do here?

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