I have had my cat, Sara, for 2years and she has been nice and cute to pretty much everyone. She has only had problems with a relative’s little girl(8years old): she kept hissing at her, growling and even jumping to bite her for no apparent reason.
Yesterday i bought a 2 month old rottweiler and i tried to separate them for a while. Today i introduced them to eachother and the dog was quite happy and playfull…but of course my Turkish Angora shits bricks every time the dog comes around, then she starts to act just like with that little girl. She gets really aggressive when he tries to even get close, let alone sniff her. Ever since they met my cat won’t even think about leaving my side: she obviously loves me and knows i’ll protect her.
I’m really concerned they won’t ever get along and when Max grows up he’ll one day eat her alive…afterall he is a rottweiler and they are naturally aggressive and territorial. I’m not even sure what to worry abou: my cat not scratching the dog’s eyes now? or My dog killing the cat later because of the bad experience in his infant stages?
Please help me figure out how to get Sara to like Max better.
-Andrew
EDIT:
My cat feels threatened by the dog and goes into full defensive Rambo mode whenever she hears him scratching at the door. As i have said she is genuinely scared and feels the absolute need of being in my arms when Max is around. Not to mention today, when she saw him she started growling at him so we just removed him from the room and made sure he wouldn’t possibly be able to bother her but she kept on growling for 15minutes staright, being obssesed with having me hold her.
P.S.:i have visited lots ov websites giving info on this sort of problem but none describe a scenario as violent as my cat is one.
Worth Mentioning: my cat is fully DEFENSIVE she is really afraid of him and she won’t seek a fight, and he only wants to play/smell/get to know her.
Make sure she has plenty of high things to climb on. And you need to correct him to be polite around other animals, although he’s a bit young to assume it sticks. But Rottweilers learn fast.
I’ve never owned a Rottweiler, and have no dog (groan) in this fight, and so aren’t defending them, but they are generally not the most aggressive dogs. Maybe more so than a Corgi or something. Supposedly it’s mostly against strange humans if it happens. I’ll try to dig up the study that I can’t find right now.
We own the most aggressive dog breed, and didn’t specifically train him around the cats (4). He knows to stay away from the girls. The boys he will knock over and gnaw their ears (softly) and one seems to like it. His main problem is owner aggression and some with other dogs.
ETA: A Yelp that is a repost of a news story says: “According to the Telegraph, the Rottweiler, which is widely believed to be an aggressive dog, scored average to below average ratings for its hostility toward strangers.” I know that doesn’t say about small other species animals.
Too late to edit. The extremely dense paper I was looking for is Duffy, Hsu, & Serpell (2008). Breed differences in canine aggression. *Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci./I].
I might’ve understated their aggression, but again they aren’t the worst. Just scarier in this situation because of size. They are basically at mean for vs. owner and other dog, and above average and high for strange humans.
Thanks for taking your time to respond but some things are unclear: i have close to no experience with training dogs and have only oned one before, but i do know how to treat a dog and respect it’s needs, things my family completely ignores and i feel that if i don’t get actual physical help from an experienced person i am afraid that eventually things will get “chaotic” to put it nicely…and i have no idea how to “correct” his inquisitive nature around cats and teach him to respect my cat’s needs.
Anyway if you have any other advice about what i could do to pottytrain him and teach him to give privacy to my cat until he is old enough to send him to an actual trainer…i’m open for suggestions.
I realized my cat can go through this for a few months (even though she is terribly unhappy) but i am still concerned that he will one day decide she is too much of a pain to keep around and will attack her. So i guess the only way to solve the problem is train him properly and let them figure it out more or less by themselves.
You don’t realize how much your response calmed me down lol, and after reading up a little it’s probably just gonna be like this for the first 2-3 months.
You just told the cat that it should be scared of the dog.
Cat was saying “The dog is just on the other side of the door, make it go far away - for ever, !”.
How about throw the cat out when the cat misbehaves. Then the cat learns right from wrong.
In general, how about throw the X out when X misbehaves. Then X learns right from wrong.
The cat will see (and smell ) the dog is your friend, and probably will get to trust the dog. Dog will learn the cat is your friend and decide its better to get along than be punished…
That’s not how pet psychology works. And you think that cats consider the outside to be punishment? :dubious: When someone is forced to convert a cat to indoor-only, tell the sleepless person that.
OP, you might try, but don’t have to do all:
Get a training book
Take a training class (Petsmart at least does this, pretty cheap)
All family members need to be on the same page, as much as possible (e.g. little kids exempt beyond no cruelty). If one doesn’t ever punish it becomes confusing, like good cop/bad cop.
It’s unlikely that your dog will grow up to hurt your cat. He might do it by accident - he’s bigger and stronger - but it’s far more likely that your dog will grow up to be afraid of cats than a cat eater. I’ve had dozens of dogs and cats - they’ll get over it, if you’re patient.
They’ll get used to each other but it will take time. I would discourage physical aggression between them but otherwise leave them to figure it out. Give your cat somewhere to hide and but just ignore her when she gets vocal. She can swear all she wants, the dog’s not leaving. Feed them their favorite treats in the same room and at the same time and they’ll strike up a water-hole truce and you can all work from there.
Puppy classes sound like a good idea. You both might enjoy them, when he’s old enough.
Thank you all for your answers
I’ve tried the: “feed them their favourite treat in the same room” and the cat completely forgot he was there but beyond that she still only feels safe in my arms
I’m not sure if the dog is just reaaaaally tired after playing with me or has realized the cat doesn’t like him but he seems to have learned to leave her alone. He still tries to chase her from time time, thinking she is playing though.
Overall his behavior is getting better, while her behavior is only getting worse, i’m seeing a vet and a trainer tomorrow i’ll see if they can help at all.
it’s too late to edit but here’s another problem: my cat hasn’t peed ever since we brought the dog, we had to bring the litterbox in our bedroom in order for her to feel safe about it and she finally did…fortunately
Cat Hates Dogs Shock!
More at 11.
Has there actually ever been a case where something like this has not happened when a new puppy is introduced into the established home of a cat? I have certainly experienced it. Don’t worry, it will work out.
Don’t pick the cat up just because she wants to be picked up. I have 5 dogs (doberman, German shepherd, giant schnauzer, standard poodle and English setter) and 4 cats (2 siamese, 2 DSH) and they get along fine. I let them work it out.
When I did have a cat-aggressive dog (Airedale - very prey driven), the dog was outside during the day and the cat had the run of the house. When I came home, the cat went into a closed room and the dog got my attention. At bedtime, the dog was crated and the cat got to sleep with me. But all that was for a dog I knew wasn’t trustworthy around cats.
Some animals will never be OK around other animals or children. Sounds like your cat is one of these. Eventually she may be OK in the same room as him, but then maybe she’ll always be a bitch. You can’t force this. Some animals just prefer to be the one and only.
I try not to pick her up but she ends up on the desk and immediately after the dog leaves she jumps into my lap . Anyway i think you are right i need to give it a lot of time and it’s too early to even be concerned
That’s the ticket - it just takes more time. Do it every day at a regular time and they’ll come to expect it and start expecting each other to be there. And like StGermain said - don’t pick her up just because she wants up. If you start that you’ll be carrying her for the next ten years. Leave her to figure it out on her own.
As far as the litterbox goes, you might need to leave it there in your bedroom, now that she knows where to find it and feels safe using it. At least for a while.
When we had our Maine Coon he was a master diplomat around the dogs, so I can’t specifically relate to the OP’s problem.
My brother’s small black cat initially had a very bad reaction to his Labradoodle. In turn, the dog couldn’t initially decide whether to play with the cat or eat her. Eventually they grew tolerant of each other and now will nap together.
So there’s hope for your two (the aggressive cat behavior may already be teaching the Rott puppy to be respectful and keep a safe distance).
Keep a closet’s (with a high shelf) door open, and a clear shot for cat to get on shelf - a chair next to it would work - floor-to-seat, seat-to-back, back-to-shelf.
Many cats like high perches - they find security on them.
A bit more time and trouble - a bunch of 1x2’s or furring strips SCREWED and/or GLUED together to form ladders and platforms. make a box (preferably with carpet cover) or three for hides.
Then get rid of the damned dog - knowing that they are more likely to attack a human than a cat is not exactly a comforting thought to me…
Usually a dog will grow to accept the cat, but a cat may never accept the dog or even another cat. At best you’ll probably get a cat that totally ignores the dog and a dog that ignores the cat.
She has only had problems with a relative’s little girl(8years old): she kept hissing at her, growling and even jumping to bite her for no apparent reason.