Dog vs Cat

[Michelle Motorola]

Hello!!!

Ive had my puppy for 3 weeks now and it my dog and cat are still fighting constantly!

The breeder told me to let them be, but because im scared of one of them getting hurt i have been giving Chloe (dog) a time out or putting the cat in a room for a bit if it gets to out of hand. Should i really just let them be, even if they are playing a little rough. So far no injuries but ive heard a couple of yelps, BTW my cat is declawed.

If there are any suggestions as to what to do to make them get along well in the future id love them!

[Michelle Motorola]

Thats what im unsure about! if they are playing although roughly which im sure they are because the cat never hisses and rarley goes higher up, but its just never ending, so i think im going to stop it all together!  but then by stopping them from playing together completly will that teach them to play nice in the long run? no idea!!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Michelle, this is a video that another DK'er posted showing her doodle and cat playing or fighting or whatever! LOL Does this look familiar? You might ask Jen about how Pixel and Lachlan's relationship evolved. She might have some insight.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Oh, I thought it would show her user name, sorry. Here is a link to her page:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/profile/JenAndLachlan

[Michelle Motorola]

Thank you! i am going to message her and see if she has any pointers:)

[Michelle Motorola]

hahaha yes this looks about right! except chloe is a lot smaller still, im going to try the no play at all approach for a couple of weeks and see what happens! i just dont want one of them getting hurt

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Well that will give Chloe a chance to get a little bigger too! She's still such a baby I can see why you are concerned for her welfare. They don't have much life experience at that age!  Hope you 3 can work things out soon! :) Keep us posted!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Well, I'm beginning to agree with your breeder. If they are both enjoying it and they both have a safe place to retreat to then it might be best to let them play. Even when puppies play together you sometimes hear an occasional yip when one bites a little too hard. It would be good entertainment for them and a way to work off energy as long as they don't destroy the house! As long as Chloe continues to approach the cat for play it is a good sign that she in not getting hurt and is not in over her head. 

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I had 2 cats when we got Cooper, then we introduced a third. We made sure that Cooper knew the cats were higher up in the pack - if we were playing with Cooper and a cat approached, we stopped giving Cooper attention and gave the cat attention. the cats got fed first. Cooper has always respected them (she plays with the kitten but not the older 2), but it did help when the gave her a few swipes. Im sorry to hear your cat has been declawed. Along with the usual negative effects of being declawed (it is illegal in many countries for a good reason) your poor kitty cannot defend himself. you need to be extra careful with them together and watch them like a hawk. With the right training your puppy will learn to respect the cat

[Michelle Motorola]

yes, sadly it had to be done, She was a scratcher (not the furniture i wouldnt have done it over that)

But she scratched my son one too many times including face, so it was something that had to be done. He is an indoor cat though and still scratches with his back claws if he really wants too, he also still bites if hes in the mood so i couldnt imagine him if he still had claws, we would really have to watch our backs (and feet!) he is a feisty one thats for sure!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

It took months before Tara and our cat Amber worked things out. I had a baby gate set up that the cat could get through  but not Tara so Amber could have a safe area. Also, Tara liked to charge the cat so I kept her on a leash but not attached to me so I could just step on the leash to stop her when she started to charge. I always treated the cat as Alpha to Tara by feeding her first, giving her treats before Tara and in front of Tara and always letting the cat through doorways etc before Tara. Also at times I would take a protective stance between them to let Tara know that the cat belonged to me and she wasn't to mess with it!  I just kept repeating this things and ensuring that the cat always had an escape route available. Now Tara is very respectful of the cat and there are no issues.

[Pat and Traveler]

I had a pair of visitor cats for a couple of weeks, which wasn't enough time for Trav to learn to leave them alone.  He'd been in these cats' home when he was younger, and seemed a bit intimidated by them then.  Not so when they arrived on his home turf!  I could leash him and distract him with treats and get him close to the cats, but otherwise he'd go after them.  I gated the house into catland and dogland, which was about the best I could do in two weeks.  I think if he'd been around them full-time when he was a puppy, they would have learned to coexist, but when the cats arrived here Trav was just entering his territorial stage and had apparently decided cats and squirrels were designed solely for doggy predator games. 

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

Hiya, Michelle! I just saw your thread. You've got your hands full! It sounds to me like your cat might be well on her way to developing a relationship with your puppy, and personally I think that's wonderful.

I think every cat/dog dynamic is a little different and depends a lot on the personalities of both. I have a two different sets of dynamics here now, so it makes it a bit challenging. I can't really give you "advice", as such, but I have a lot of thoughts on the matter. *grin* I've always had a mix of cats and large dogs, so I've developed lots of opinions over the years.

First, my current cat ... Pixel ... is pretty much completely fearless. He's the instigator and has absolutely zero common sense when it comes to "this might hurt me." Tackle a puppy? Yeah, okay, sounds like fun! Lachlan's naturally gentle (for definitions that include "gormless puppy") so it's worked out well, although I still supervise their interactions 100% of the time.

Declan, not so much. He's much rougher and more likely to hurt the cat just out of enthusiasm, so I don't let them play at all. As far as Declan's concerned the cat is a "leave it, and I don't care that he started it!" That doesn't stop Pixel from running up behind him and whacking him on the bottom to try to start a game of chase, of course, but Declan's learning to curb his impulse to land on the cat in return. I did leash him in the house for the first few weeks (with a flat buckle collar only) so I could grab him quickly and enforce the "leave it", but now I just have to growl a warning if he starts.

I have a set of very strict rules that I've followed and enforced from the beginning:

• The Cat, who is not declawed, gets his nails trimmed every weekend.

• The Cat always has at least one, preferably more than one, escape route. He has a tree in the living room that reaches nearly to the ceiling, baby gates between the main floor and the basement and between the living room and the kitchen that are always closed that he can escape over, and he's allowed on the counters and bookcases.

• They are never, ever left alone together. Interactions are always supervised and refereed if necessary.

• If either of them starts to "wind up" and get too rough the game ends and they're separated (with redirection if possible).

• If either of them squeaks like there might be pain involved the game's over Right Now and very firmly. No coddling of the squeaker or punishing of the causer-of-squeaks, just firm and immediate separation of both.

Outside of that I hold my breath and bite my tongue a lot, knowing that accidents can happen and praying they won't. I also know that they have learned through play to communicate with each other and that, when they're older, they'll hopefully curl up and rest together too. There is obvious affection between Pixel and Lachlan, displayed on both sides.

Here's another video that might give you a better idea how Lach and Pixel have interacted since the beginning:

You know their personalities so you're the only one able to really judge the best way to handle their interactions. To me it's a lot like dealing with toddlers - does little Johnny need his toy truck taken away, or does Suzy need to be removed from the sandbox for a while until she can learn to share her toys?