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Puppy and resident cat help.

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  • 25-11-2011 10:30pm
    #1
    Léan
    Registered Users Posts: 996 ✭✭✭


    Our puppy is with us a month now and is pretty settled. He is 20 weeks old.
    Everything is going well except for the cat. Our cat is one year old and very timid, he is an indoor outdoor cat. Our pup lived with a cat before he came to us but he is still very curious about them.

    Everyone has told us the cat will give a few swipes to the dog and the dog will learn his place in the house. This has not happened. The cat is too timid. The dog goes up and sniffs, the cat feels threatened and growls, then the dog barks, all hell breaks loose. :o

    We have tried loads of things, giving the dog a time out each time he approaches the cat/ positive reinforcment/ keeping the dog calm while someone else keeps the cat calm etc... Nothing seems to be working. It might work for 5-10 minutes, then we're back to square one again.

    It's gotten to the stage where we have the dog downstairs and the cat stays upstairs. However when the cat goes outside he is staying out for longer and longer and it's becoming more difficult to get him to come back in. For example this morning he was let out at 8 a.m. and he's still not home yet :(. Before we had Cato (our dog), he would be in and out all day and would just pop up on the windowsill when he wanted to come in.

    We love both our animals very much but it's just getting very difficult. At this point we're thinking of getting a trainer to come into the house to suss out the situation.

    Has anyone been in this situation before?


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    #2
    Mart0
    Registered Users Posts: 30 ✭Mart0


    Had this problem when I got my Lab years ago. Except it was the other way round. The dog had learned it's place however the cat would just not stop going for him, And the dog would never retaliate, so the cat just kept swiping him.

    I tried a lot of things so I can't really say what worked for sure, But the first thing i tried was them getting used to each others scent. I played with my dog with a towel and petted/cuddled him for a while with the towel, then I would do the same with the cat with the same towel. I would do this over and over a few times a day.
    I also tried feeding them together, This is a risky one, You have to keep a good eye on them to make sure things don't get out of hand, But once you get them to respect each others food, Natural respect for each other usually follows.
    However now (7 years or so later) everything is fine. The cat is the more dominant of the 2, But they both know not to fight and just pretty much ignore each other.


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    #3
    mymo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,553 ✭✭✭mymo


    Oh no, that sounds terrible.
    We got a pup with a resident, very nervous, 8yr old cat. Amazingly for us it was a great success and they get on great, it even brought the cat out of himself and he is much less shy now.
    However it did take time, we had baby gates on the livingroom and stairs, the pup had a crate and stuffed Kong (if you haven't heard of them google kong dog toys) and when quiet the cat was encouraged to pass by. The pup was so engrossed in working every bit of food from his kong that he barely noticed the cat.
    We then walked around the house and garden with the dog on a lead, whenever the cat was around and gave treats for good behaviour.
    Make time to make a fuss of the cat, give him some of his favourite treats.
    Wear the pup out as much as possible, he's less likely yo chase if too tired.
    Use baby gates or something so the cat has a safe place and a free route to the door (or a window) as much as possible.
    Maybe even fence a bit of garden off for the dog to play in, so if the cat goes out they have their own areas.
    If the dog tries to chase the cat in the house, put him out, but really he shouldn't have the chance, you need to be on alert all the time to distract him.

    Our cat wouldn't even look at the pup at first, after a few days he would sneak in and sniff him when asleep. then after about 2 months I walked in on them playing together.
    3 years on we now have 2 dogs and 2 cats, all get on great, shy cat is still a bit shy, but the change is amazing.

    I hope you can work it out, they really can be at the very least tolerant of each other.
    Good luck.


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    #4
    planetX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,441 ✭✭✭planetX


    I have your problem X5. My pup is high energy and is not capable of leaving the cats alone, we have constant hassle - my cats don't swipe at him either. I've had to put up a baby gate with one bar taken out of it, cats can pass through and the dog can't. They have the house, he has the kitchen. All hell breaks loose in the garden:mad:


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