Chicken gone?

[Dogeful]

I think I forgot to take my chicken inside the barn for the night.
When I came to feed it this morning it is completely gone.
If I press select and click on chickens it is empty.
Did the wild dogs eat my chicken? There wasn't even a message or anything like: "Your chicken is dead"
Good thing I still have an egg in the incubator...
I have a cat, which doesn't even seem to bring any items home,
is there a way for me to protect the animals from wild dogs without having a dog yourself?
When do they attack, only at night?
Does putting fences around your animals help?
Do fences have any use at all?

[greensara]

Not sure about HM2 as I haven't gotten to playing it on my 3ds yet, but for the same situation in HM3, yes, the chickens are gone. You could only leave chickens outside at night unscathed if you had your dog outside too. One file I had a cat or bird and forgot to bring them in. The next day they were gone but there were a couple feathers left behind in the field. Guess I should finally play HM2 to know for sure, but I'm guessing it's along the same lines for leaving your chickens outside.