# Cat and puppy - I'm at my end with this!



## tessalover (Nov 29, 2009)

Ok Smokey (the cat, 2 and 1/2) loved Tessa before she went on to Heaven. They played together all the time. The would chase eachother and attack eachother, but it was all in play. The loved eachother and owuld NEVER hurt eachother!! When we first brought Smokey home 2 and 1/2 years ago Tessa tried to show him who was boss right then and there and there was some tention bewteeen them for a few days, but they became equall and bestfriends. Having a cat was something we needed living the counrty (mice) and after we lost are old cat that Febuary Tessa was really missing her ompanion even though she wasn't there half time anyways, but there was a difference in her attitude. 

Now we have little Saadiah, who will be 5 months on Thursday. I figuired give it a few days Smokey will tell her who's boss, but no. Smokey RUNS AWAY FROM HER IN FEAR!!! Smokey can't even walk around the house much anymore unless she's in her kennell or alseep. Smokey likes the basement a lot and that's where his litterbox is and where his food is and he likes to go in the room with the wii and dvd player and lay in the comfy chairs and sleep of come in my room (in the basement) and sleep in my window or on my bed. That's now where he spends most of his time, now right now with the Christmas tree up Smokey would rather sit and stare at the tree from the back of the couch or from under the tree. Now he can't do either because she'll sttack him. The room where the tree is can't be closed off unless we confine her to the room where the tv is because are house is all open concept. 

So she will chase him around the house and finally he'll find a spot to hide or I'll rescue him and she'll be mad (barking at me) for a few minutes then play with a toy. But no Saadiah went to far this morning she was chasing him arounf the house and I grabbed him because I was going to go down to my room and leave her up there for a little bit to play with my brother and have some alone time with Smokey and she see's that I have Smokey in my arms jumps up on me (we're working on that in general) and grabs his collar and trys to pull on him. I tried to get the collar out her mouth but she wouldn't let go and was pulling hard. So I bent down a little grabbed the collar from her mouth held Smokey tight and from there my dad told her to sit and then she acted all innocent once she sat. So I brought Smokey down and right now he's alseep on my bed.

Smokey's not hurrt at all, but probably tramatized for life. I have no clue what to do they have there good moments and then there horrible moments. And now that she discovered that Smokey sleeps in my window (he spends about 1/2 of his night in my room, by choice and always has because he use to sleep the whole night in my room with me and Tessa till he was about 6 months old) she jumps up on my wall and barks at him.

Smokey does nothing to defend himself he never has and he never will that's him, his a calm mellow ragdoll who would never hurt anyone. All he does is moew at her, hisses and makes like a growl noise under his breath. We also need to remember this cat is between 5 and 8 pounds!!! (that's normal wieght for him, it's a healthy wieght for him) But he'll always be tha small and Saadiah's gonna be BIG!! I want this done now and am doing all I know what to do, end it as soon as it starts.

I hate to have written this, but I need help!


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

1) It is not your cat's job to defend himself. 
2) It is your job to keep your cat safe. It is your job to teach your puppy to be calm around the cat.
3) When your cat has free run of the house, your puppy should be contained in another room OR on leash actively working with you. Be doing "calm dog activities", like chewing on a frozen stuffed kong (...puppy not you! But you're holding the leash!), or practicing down stays/settling, and reinforcing your puppy for staying still.
4) When you KNOW your cat is somewhere your puppy can't access him (downstairs!) then your puppy can have a bit more freedom in the house... but remember she's young, so supervise!
5) Reinforce choices. If your puppy bark bark barks at the cat and then turns away, RUN up and feed! We want to reinforce that choice! If your puppy watches your cat but stays still (HALF a second for now!.... reinforce. We want to be teaching your puppy to be making those choices!
6) Make a list of the things that are hard and come up with a training plan. My dogs also have found it hard to see someone carrying a cat/small dog. So what did we do? Our helper held a stuffed animal (...'cause we didn't want a real cat or dog to be distressed!). And I walked with my dog on leash FAR from the helper. When my dog was great, we moved about a foot closer, walking back and forth b ack and forth... closer closer closer. Until we could pass. And then repeated with different stuffed animals and then real dogs and real (calm!) cats. 
7) If you know something is too hard for you puppy and that she will display inappropriate responses.... DONT do it. Add in more intermediate training steps. Get your puppy in a crate with a chew or on leash with a responsible person and THEN go find your cat to play or cuddle. 

Think about management and training.


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## Phillyfisher (Jan 9, 2008)

Red Dogs has great advice as usual. I will tell you what we did when Tucker was a pup, with our older kitty, Tess.

1. Tess always had a safe place to get away from Tucker. Her's was our basement, off of our family room. We kept the stair to the basement gated so she could come and go on her terms.
2. Tucker was never, ever allowed to focus on Tess as a puppy. When I would catch him staring at her, I would immediately correct him with a poke in the side and tell him "no" and redirect him. 
3. We never allow Tucker to chase Tess. I did keep him leashed when she would be around so I could prevent him from chasing her. 

This let Tess become more comfortable with Tucker. She has learned how fast she can walk by him and not trigger his prey drive. Tucker learned that Tess was higher on the pecking order than him. He now is very loving to her and other cats and small animals. I attribute it to we trained him to act around Tess.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

Agree with everything posted above-your family needs to manage the environment teaching the pup good manners and having safe zones for your cat. One way I managed with fosters was to use baby gates, instead of making the cat jump over I positioned them with a small gap between the floor and bottom of the gate, the cat could duck under and the dog could not. I'd also leash the dog if the cat and dog were in the same room to help better manage the situation. It can get better, just don't expect the cat/pup to resolve the issue on their own.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Phillyfisher said:


> Tucker was never, ever allowed to focus on Tess as a puppy. When I would catch him staring at her, I would immediately correct him with a poke in the side and tell him "no" and redirect him.


I think this is so important, it really is nipping the behavior in the bud by addressing where the problem really begins -- in the thinking stage.

You have to really pay attention to do this successfully. Another advantage of doing this is you get to prevent Saadiah from praticing the problem behavior ... this will go a long ways towards extinguishing it.


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## Jax's Mom (Oct 16, 2009)

I have had a cat, Izzy for the past 8 years. Izzy has seen 4 dogs in his lifetime, move into our home (one left, as she was a foster). All of these came here as pups. Over time, between corrections and just basically settling in, these puppies have learned to not "chase" the cat, even in fun. This is NOT the way to approach Izzy. Izzy will remain calm when one of the dogs walks over to him. Then they interact well. If yu see your pup running up to your cat, stop him. Encourage slow interactions. Make sure your cat always has a way of getting away, either by open door, or high furniture. I found for the first couple of weeks a new dog came into our house. Our cat opted to stay away, separating himself to the basement area (where my kids have their rooms so he is not alone). Once the new pup settles in as is less "bouncy" he wanders up in short intervals until he realizes the dog is not looking at the cat as a "novelty", but part of the household. As with anything else, your pup must learn to respect his home and the people/animals already there. It takes time and repetition but in time yur pup will get there too! Don't be discouraged, it is not unusual.


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## kwhit (Apr 7, 2008)

When I adopted Lucy, my Chihuahua/Terrier, she was about 6 months old and a total demon child with my cats. :satan: Seriously, she would chase them and try to corner them, aggressively. The really bad part was that my cats had never had a dog chase them, so it was very traumatic for them. 

I did a lot of what RedDogs suggested and it worked. Lucy now sleeps with my cats and plays with them all the time. Sometimes she still gets rough, but now they'll put her in her place. 

Follow the suggestions given here and hopefully, with time, they'll get along.


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