As I mentioned in a previous thread, my friends very cute, very old cat (18) needs to come and live with me. I picked him up last night, and things are going ok I think. He’s had a wee in the litter pan, slept in the spare bed room and is following me around like a lost sheep.
However, when ever Schatzi sees Voltaire (my dog) he hisses at him in a rather unfriendish manner. Voltaire is a little scared.
Is there anything I can do to smooth things over? We’re trying to be really nice to both of them, but I’m not sure what I can do to help things along.
Is Schazi prone to chasing cats? If not, it will probably work itself out. Thenew/old cat is going to feel nervous and uncertain for a while, and will extend its “safe” territory a little bit at a time. As it feels more confident and secure, the hissing should go away.
Good on ya for taking in and old cat!
Earlier this year I got married and my husband brought his electron of a kitten with him to live with us and our stately older gentleman cat. For the first week I was sure I’d come home from work to find they’d killed eachother. The second week I just thought it might be kinder to send one of them to live with my mother. After that the growling lessened to being a rarity, though we still get occasional dust ups. Now they’ll have a nap on the same piece of furniture. Give it time.
In my experience a dog’s tenacity to want to be friends far outweighs a cat’s stand-offish-ness.
I used to have an older cat then brought a young pup into the houshold. The pup knew not to mess with the cat when it was awake but when ever the cat would try to get some shut-eye the dog would come over to and try to sleep with him. The cat would then wake up and chase the poor little puppy away.
Finally, after several weeks of this the cat tried to get some shut-eye. The pup then went over and layed his little head on the cats side. The cat then lazily raised it’s head up, looked over at the annoying little pup, let out a big sigh (and I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d say the cat then rolled it eyes sarcasticly) then went back to sleep with the pups head firmly at it’s side.
They’ve been friends ever since. At least that’s what the dog thinks. The cat has just learned to tollerate him.
Sorry. I got the dog and cat names confused. Anyway, the hissing is a defense mechanism, and a warning not to come too close. As long as the dog is not prone to chasing cats, they should get used to each other over time.
Well, the pair of them seem to be settling in. They spend a good deal of time canoodling together in bed or on the sofa. Then Schatzi wakes up and stretches, Voltaire starts licking his butt-hole (Schatzi’s), Schatzi slaps him accross the face and hisses, and all is well. Now both of them supervise me while I’m peeing in the morning.
Currently they’re both in for hair-dos. Voltaire is getting the usual, and Schatzi, who is very old (18) and hates water (oddly enough) - is getting a “dry fluff”. I’m hoping that the dry fluff will cut down a bit on my hacking and weezing.