6 month old puppy OBSESSED with our cat. I’m feeling defeated
- Thread starter curtis697
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occanondenomchurch
New member
@curtis697 Oof, this is gonna be a tough one. Husky/Cattle Dog? Your puppy is practically purpose bred for chasing cats. I wish you guys the best of luck!
@occanondenomchurch Yeah... hoping we can find a happy balance with her instincts. Thank you!
@curtis697 This sound like my house 6 months AGO! My puppy is almost a yr now...my cat is 10....
My cat was FAT...so fat....the puppy scared her so much she hid all the time...she would not come out to eat...she lost SO MUCH WEIGHT.
A time came she started to reclaim some areas of the house...she would come out and lay in the same room as the dog....they don't PLAY by ANY MEANS.....but now if the dog goes near the cat...and jumps and barks (just wants to play)....sometimes I sit down and talk to both of them...or if I am not in the room....I hear my cat hissing and pawing at the dog...and the dog eventually backs off and my cat now stays laying wherever she feels like it.
I never thought they would be able to be in the same room.....My cat still prefers not to SEE the dog....BUT the cat has learned the dogs schedule and has her time alone outside...or her time alone in the kitchen or living area......
My cat has my bed and the dog has my son and his bed.....My son said he woke up in the middle of the night one night and my cat was laying on his rug in his room (testing her boundaries)? Being a trouble maker?
Or just warming up to the dog? Who knows but I promise it will get livable...they just have to "learn" each other.
My cat was FAT...so fat....the puppy scared her so much she hid all the time...she would not come out to eat...she lost SO MUCH WEIGHT.
A time came she started to reclaim some areas of the house...she would come out and lay in the same room as the dog....they don't PLAY by ANY MEANS.....but now if the dog goes near the cat...and jumps and barks (just wants to play)....sometimes I sit down and talk to both of them...or if I am not in the room....I hear my cat hissing and pawing at the dog...and the dog eventually backs off and my cat now stays laying wherever she feels like it.
I never thought they would be able to be in the same room.....My cat still prefers not to SEE the dog....BUT the cat has learned the dogs schedule and has her time alone outside...or her time alone in the kitchen or living area......
My cat has my bed and the dog has my son and his bed.....My son said he woke up in the middle of the night one night and my cat was laying on his rug in his room (testing her boundaries)? Being a trouble maker?
Or just warming up to the dog? Who knows but I promise it will get livable...they just have to "learn" each other.
@curtis697 Yeah, they will never be best friends with a cat that old...but you never really know.....
I used to have 2 cats that laid on my dog to go to sleep..but the dog was here first.
I used to have 2 cats that laid on my dog to go to sleep..but the dog was here first.
@curtis697 They will....it upset me greatly too...I lost sleep over it....worried about my cat...feeling it wasn't fair to my cat....loving the new dog as well.....
Sometime in about another month when they are close together (maybe in the same room) sit in the middle of them and say hey...look at this you two are near each other...praise them both and get up and walk away, I did that a couple times too.
If it came with MY CAT??? Who hates people ALSO....I am the only person my cat likes, she scratches or bites anyone that tries to touch her...so no one does try....they say "hi" to her that is IT....
So if MY CAT has warmed up to at least laying in same room now....you will be ok....give them time to learn.
Sometime in about another month when they are close together (maybe in the same room) sit in the middle of them and say hey...look at this you two are near each other...praise them both and get up and walk away, I did that a couple times too.
If it came with MY CAT??? Who hates people ALSO....I am the only person my cat likes, she scratches or bites anyone that tries to touch her...so no one does try....they say "hi" to her that is IT....
So if MY CAT has warmed up to at least laying in same room now....you will be ok....give them time to learn.
@curtis697 I agree with all of the things everyone else has said, just want to add really reinforcing the “leave it” command, and the cat is always “leave it”. I have two huskies and a lab that learned that cats are “leave it” while dog toys are okay. Best of luck to you and your furry friends.
joannabrazeal
New member
@curtis697 I think plenty of people here will have great tips on your puppy. I want to focus on kitty for a sec. 1) kitty NEEDS a safe haven away from your pup that you regularly hang out in. 2) SHELVES. I cannot emphasize it enough put up lots of cat shelves with lots of places your cat can get up onto them. Make it so your cat can traverse entire sections of the house without touching the ground. 3) baby gates and “air lock” systems are your friend. Put them up everywhere you can even get ones with openings for smaller pets. 4) finally, please don’t give up kitty if in the worst case scenario it doesn’t work out. Your puppy is probably beautiful and is a very popular mix. She will be snatched up SO quick. Your kitty will not be and may not make it out of a shelter at all. This is pretty close to my heart cause our cat is almost 9 and her family gave her up at 7 and she spent 4 months in the shelter just terrified.
We experienced something similar to your situation and now our fur children happily live separately. But I will also say that this behavior sounds predatory, not necessarily just herding type behavior. Our dog has only ever shown interest in playing with cats and has done well with confident cats. Your dog sounds like she’s hunting your kitty. If it were me I would just never feel safe. It just takes one mistake and your cat will be gone and then you have to cope with the dog who killed your cat. I know that things feel impossible and you’re dead set against surrendering but I would really urge you to not totally discount it. As much as it’s painful to consider, your puppy will be fine. Obviously there’s no right decision here but being completely honest this sounds very serious and if it were me I would rehome my pup. I’m sorry you’re going through this.
We experienced something similar to your situation and now our fur children happily live separately. But I will also say that this behavior sounds predatory, not necessarily just herding type behavior. Our dog has only ever shown interest in playing with cats and has done well with confident cats. Your dog sounds like she’s hunting your kitty. If it were me I would just never feel safe. It just takes one mistake and your cat will be gone and then you have to cope with the dog who killed your cat. I know that things feel impossible and you’re dead set against surrendering but I would really urge you to not totally discount it. As much as it’s painful to consider, your puppy will be fine. Obviously there’s no right decision here but being completely honest this sounds very serious and if it were me I would rehome my pup. I’m sorry you’re going through this.
@joannabrazeal We have tons of shelving, cat castles, hideaway boxes, and various routes around the house for the cat in addition to baby gates blocking the dog into a couple rooms. The dog will sometimes just the gates or plow through them, but not very often. Like I said in my OP I will not be surrendering either of them. If the behavior persists I will completely separate them in some way. I have had my cat since she was a kitten, so for 9 years. I would never give her up.
joannabrazeal
New member
@curtis697 That sounds like a really good set up. The fact that your puppy is plowing through the gates also gives me great pause. I know a lot of people are telling you to surrender and I know intimately how intense and difficult that decision can be. I want you to know that I am not here to criticize your choices or say that one choice is better than another. You are doing the best you can. Obviously too I am not in your home so I don’t know what exactly is happening. However, from what you have described I just don’t see how this could end in peaceful coexistence even with complete separation. Mistakes are going to happen. You’re in a rush and don’t fully close a gate but think you did. Kitty doesn’t quite make it up a shelf. And right now your cat is also probably in the most stress she’s ever been in and there’s no escape from the fight or flight state. Eventually too she will slow down and get much older and won’t be able to escape up if your now full grown dog burst through a gate. This is pure instinct your pup is working on. It’s not learned. Training it out is impossible and while curbing it is possible you just will never be able to fully relax with the two of them in the same house. I’m sorry I know it’s not what you want to hear. I would also urge you to get a behaviorist to come to your home and see how they interact because they will have more to say. I hope everything works out.
rachel_lynn07
New member
@curtis697 We have a 4 month old Aussie and 9 year old cat too! We have kept them entirely separated from eachother for the past 2 months. When we first introduced them he chased her and now we don’t ever let him have the chance or opportunity to chase her. We praise him for ignoring her.
The only downside is he may have developed barrier reaction because he can’t access her. We sometimes have to put blankets over the gate so he can’t even see her.
After 2 months of that we are finally allowing them to interact and it’s going ok, but Still keeping the barriers in case things don’t go well.
Good luck !!
The only downside is he may have developed barrier reaction because he can’t access her. We sometimes have to put blankets over the gate so he can’t even see her.
After 2 months of that we are finally allowing them to interact and it’s going ok, but Still keeping the barriers in case things don’t go well.
Good luck !!
skyburnsblack
New member
@rachel_lynn07 Hi, without intention to sound rude, but can you explain more why you decided to do it in that way? First 4 months of dog's life are most important for socialisation (not only with other dogs but with everything else). Why would you keep them separate in that period?
rachel_lynn07
New member
@skyburnsblack It’s a fair question. We tried to allow them to be together more freely at the beginning, but it was just not safe for the cat at all. The dog would chase and jump and since he was a puppy we couldnt control his behaviour enough. From then on, all of their interactions were highly supervised “training sessions” with the dog where the focus was ignoring the cat. The cat is a huge distraction though so its a bit counter-intuitive to all the other training you are doing. They were never allowed to be “free” together at the same time unsupervised. This was also at the recommendation of our dog trainer, who wanted us to set up our pup for success.
Our cat developed a growth on her side and has been in a flippin cone for about 6 weeks so we also had to make sure she was safe & didn’t tear her stitches. It may have been from our pup nipping her and it was unable to heal, which was another reason why its better to keep them separated. It’s been an extremely stressful experience for us, but we are dealing with it
We have started to give them more opportunity now to just hang out and what i will say is that our dog absolutely LOVES our cat and even though they were separated it has not stopped them from bonding. PICS for reference: https://imgur.io/a/dTiluHG
Our cat developed a growth on her side and has been in a flippin cone for about 6 weeks so we also had to make sure she was safe & didn’t tear her stitches. It may have been from our pup nipping her and it was unable to heal, which was another reason why its better to keep them separated. It’s been an extremely stressful experience for us, but we are dealing with it
We have started to give them more opportunity now to just hang out and what i will say is that our dog absolutely LOVES our cat and even though they were separated it has not stopped them from bonding. PICS for reference: https://imgur.io/a/dTiluHG
@rachel_lynn07 Wow, your pup and kitty are gorgeous! I can't even imagine my two sitting together like that, lol. Hopefully we'll get there one day!
@rachel_lynn07 We have multiple barriers up that block the puppy into 1-2 rooms (we also have a toddler, so we already had barriers in place. Sometimes she bust through them or jump over them to get to the cat. Hopefully with time things will get better. Thanks!
lightlovehope
New member
@curtis697 I don’t have a cat…. But I have a 13 year old chihuahua that is is like a cat basically behaviorally. I got a hound mix puppy, also has a lot of prey drive. Well they did not get along at Frist. I thought it would be bad forever but after a year it is so much better!
@lightlovehope This is reassuring, thank you! I may be expecting too much too soon. Hoping they get better together with time and persistence.
lightlovehope
New member
@curtis697 Yeah my pup was trying to be the chihuahuas friend so hard. My chihuahua was not having it lol. I just always made sure that I reinforced my chihuahuas boundaries and now my pup gets it. The chihuahua even comes up to the pup when the pup is clam