Cat and Dog Relationship Advice!!

bethie

have you tried also getting some feliway or DAP? Or possibly both?

What type of dog is it? sight hound, spaniel, retriever, or terrier? (good luck if it is any of the above!!!!)

What happens when the dog and the cat come face to face? Is the cat reacting to the dog in any way? (Arching his back, swiping, spitting, fluffing, running away etc), or just looking at him?


If the cat IS reacting by doing any of the above, it will just encourage the dog to chase even more and get it even more hyped up. However, it is possible to try and train the cat to calm down, which may help calm the dog down by not reacting.


does the dog chase any other small furries?


dogs and cats can learn to live together, but it takes time for them to be able to read each other's body language. Have they improved at all over the past 9 months?


I have both a very laid back, chilled out cat, and a very reactive cat. Both learned (at their own speeds) not to react to the dog, and eventually the dog goes away. The dog has also learned that if she approaches the cats slowly she can sniff them, and sometimes they may even sniff her back.

gettingready

1) What dog is it? How old is the dog/how old is the cat?

2) Have you tried a crate for the dog so the cat can walk around and they can perhaps sniff one another without the cat being put in danger?

I have a German Shepherd and 6 cats. My dog is almost 5 yo, cats are 10 months (4 of them) and 5 years old (2 of them)
Kitties obviously did nto know they are supposed to be scared of the dog so adopted her as their mum from the day I brought them in.

The 2 cats that are 5 years old - one still hisses at the dog (been here for around 2 months I think) but less and less. The other - took him about 2-3 weeks to be completely at ease with the dog.

BUT my dog adores OUR cats. Zara will chase strange cats (not to kill, she wants to catch them and bring them home I guess, silly cow) and is obsesses with the one at home that hisses at her. Zara so much wants to be friends with Chloe but I guess Chloe needs much more time.

It is a difficult one for you, I really feel for you - you want them to get on but ...

All the best and fingers crossed

Fire_Fox

Stoney_G wrote: »

I think some people have misunderstood what I'm saying.

The cat is not living in constant fear, she is a very happy cat and goes in and out of the house all the time. The two live separate lives. If there was a problem I would have acted months ago, I think there is an over reaction about re-homing and the like which is completely unnecessary.

Thank you for the comments about the cat flap, I will be looking into this further.

What can we misunderstand about this? Don't use highly emotive language if you don't want highly emotive responses. Cats are very good at disguising fear and pain and cats can most definitely smell and hear an adversary in the same building, regardless of line of sight. Going out no days and only some nights is not going out all the time.

Stoney_G wrote: »

Hi Guys,

About 9 months ago I moved in with the OH. He has a dog and I have a cat. We were under no illusion that they were going to be best friends but in reality the dog just wants to kill the cat!!

We have a house where you open the front door onto the stairs and a door to the downstairs, this means that we can keep them separate -dog downstairs and cat upstairs.

Aside from the fact that they cannot be together as they will tear the house apart in an attempt to chase / hide, we are finding that the night-time situation is becoming increasingly difficult.

My cat refuses to go out in the day. She prefers to go out at night. The problem being that she cannot leave the house herself. Due to the layout of the house there is no window for her to leave by and no catflap (the only door being the front door). We have experimented and found that she will go out for a few hours but likes to come in for ten mins then leave again. In the middle of the night this is awful because she cries outside the front door which causes the dog to bark and then wake the house. We let her in and then she wants to go out again.

The dog chases all cats but is fine with kids. We tried to introduce them with him on a lead and do this still now, but with no luck, hence the idea of the behaviourist coming in for a few sessions, to show us how to do it properly. It's not such an issue that we need to move or re-home either of them, it's more an annoyance during the night when we're trying to sleep. Some nights she's quite as a mouse but other nights she's desperate to go out.