Dogs living with cats

[Nicola]

Some dogs and cats never get on - and I don't believe they should be forced to either. They are an entirely different species altogether and dogs and cats are sometimes incompatible, imo. If the dog is introduced to cats in the home when they are a puppy, it is likely that they'll eventually be ok with each other, whether they only tolerate each other or become friends. I know of dogs (rescue dogs) who would most probably kill a cat.

We already had 3 cats before we got Molly. At first, one of the cats had Molly cornered. I managed to grab Molly before the cat had a chance to scratch Molly to bits. We were so concerned that this particular cat would never take to the dog, the other two cats were fine with her. After around 6 months of unforced communication between the two, the cat and the dog managed to live together on good terms. Now, they are best friends and will play on the stairs and sleep beside each other.

I understand that my situation is the opposite way round to Kirsty's and that her dogs are bigger, but the scenario is similar. While the cats and the dog were in the process of getting used to each other, we always ensured the cat had somewhere to go away from the dogs, even if it meant in another room with the doors shut.

[marcella]

I know for a FACT that there is no way I could introduce a cat in here. My two would tear it apart......... and besides I'd sneeze and sniffle since I'm allergic to them so it's defintiely as no-no for me!!!!!

I dare say if they are introduced at young ages it can work, but I believe that dogs are just destined to be cat haters unless they are taught otherwise!!!!!
But I'm sure LOADS of you will tell me I'm wrong because several of you have both.

[John Thomson]

[Nicola]

Marcella,

I agree with most of what you've said.

I think for dogs and cats to get on, the majority of dogs have to be introduced to cats when they are very young. Not in all cases, obviously. Even then, the dogs might still hate the cat and want to tear it to shreds!

[Nicola]

[marcella]

yeah, he'd need to sleep with a hand on the lead attached to the prong for that to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


oh no .............. bloodshed doesn't quite cover it! A cat wandered in my back door last year when John was out walking the dogs. It came in here to the office and at that point John opened the front door. The boys could sense it immediately ans came racing through just as I was pushing the cat out of the window!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were almost out the window after it, it was bedlam!!!!!


............ oh, just to say the window is close to the ground, I wasn't shoving it down 5 stories or anything!!!!!

[John Thomson]

Yes Nicola............the trick is to constantly put the collars on and off treating everytime...then the dogs don't associate the collar with any specific correction..not foolproof...but a voice command works on most occasions.......because if they ignore that next up is a leash correction and they don't risk it.

Has to be better than taking a dead cat to my neighbours door
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John Thomson
www.cumbernaulddogtraining.co.uk

[Allan Campbell]

my old dog bess was a working lurcher ... she had killed over 18 known cats in her life up until she was about 10yrs old ... yeah shocking i know ... the point is when shirl and i got married we decided to get not 1 but 2 cats ... bess never looked twice at them the wrong way ... in my opinion .. with work ... almost any dog can be taught to be reliable with a house cat .... not all ... but most ...it again comes down to pack leadership ... wats mine is mine ..not the dogs
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[kirsty]

Alan, this is wot i am hoping for. Dodge is working out well with the cat though a few months ago he had her dangling from his mouth. The funny thing is now he will not even look at her the cat sleeps beside my pillow, she is just a tiny wee thing, and Dodge is just desperate to come round to my side of the bed when they come into the bedroom in the morning, but he wont come within 6 feet of her - when he came to the house at first, he constantly chased her under the beds.

Bob just wont give it up, 9 times out of 10 he will not chase her if she is sitting in one place, but as soon as he gets close and she hisses, he is after her - i am hoping that in time he will calm down.

We have had thedogs for over a year now and for the first 8 months the catwould notcome out fromunder the bed if they were anywhere near, now she sits on top of bed.

Her time is at night when the boys are down in their bed, that is why i let her lie at my face even though she makes me itch and sneeze and have to take piriton it is the only time she gets any affection -what we do for our animals eh?

Ideally I would like to re-home her but she can be timid and would need to go to a home without any other animals or kids. and she is 13 and everyone wants a young cat. but it would be best if she could be re homed. I thought when i got the dogs that they would all learn to get along, my last GSD loved cats and was born into a house with nine cats -We will just have to wait and see and in the meantime hope that bob keeps both his eyes and tootsie keep her head on her body

[marcella]

[Janice]

I think dogs must vary a lot in their feelings about cats. Our first dog simply hated them. Our second was happy to ignore them anywhere except in the back garden. It was a no cat zone.
Dale didn't bother about them until a beautiful long haired monster started winding him up. It comes into the garden, lets Dale come quite close then jumps on the wall and laughs at him Honestly its asking to be killed. It hides behind branches that over hang the wall, waits for Dale to forget about him and then walks along the wall again. I've no chance of Dale ignoring cats anymore
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Janice and Dale

[Nicola]

Sounds to me like Bob just hates cats, pure and simple. Is there no way the cat could live apart from the dogs? Seeing as the cat is older and probably wants a quiet life.

I know of someone who has two cats and one dog. I don't think the dog minds the cats, and vice versa. It's the cats who detest each other! One has downstairs of the house and goes in and out the back door, the other has the top half of the house and goes in and out the front door.

[kirsty]

[kirsty]

Nicola they pretty much do - tootsie has our bedroom and I keep the dogs out of there through the day, when I come down stairs at the end of my working day the cat has the run of the upstairs cause the dogs are downstairs with us, then they go to bed udowntairs and dont come upstairs again till the morning when they hear us rousing.

The dogs and I are generally together in my office for a good part of the day so the cat and the dogs are both upstairs.

Lindsay wont have the litter tray in our room so it is in one of the spare rooms, but she has our room cause we have a superking metal bed with 4 large drawers which slide underneath it that the cat can climb into and feel safe they are like a wee cage to her - she lived in these drawers through the day when we first got the dogs.

It is really sad - she was a cat that would not use a litter tray and was out and in all day - now she wont go out incase she encounters the dogs. She will come down the stairs and sit on the bottom step in the evening when we are all in the living room. Its not much of a life for her. They way I justify it to myself is that her material needs are being taken care of and some people have cats in flats that are smaller than the upstairs of my house and she is getting older and sleeping most of the day anyway - but its not ideal, and although i love her, i would give her up to give her a life with more freedom and affection. Then i ask myself would that be cruel at her age now, would we be better keeping her in her current situation - not easy

[Lindy]

I would never dare get a cat as the poor thing would be dead in minutes as Dora and Lizzy would be on it in a flash. If they see or smell at cat in our garden they go crazy and both especially Dora have been known to chase them, and having seen how Lizzy attacks her toys and does not react to being thumped about the head by a hard plastic ball on a string when she is trying to kill by shaking it really violently during play convinces me she would kill a cat or anything like that she caught in seconds.