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No chasing the cats!!!

J

Jenny37

Well-known member
We are getting our 1st cavalier in about 5 weeks named Tinker Bell. We have 2 cats that know nothing about our newest addition being a dog, but might suspect something is up. Due to the fact that we stare at this website and ooohhhhh and ahhhhhhhhhh.

I am not worried about the cats being afraid of the new puppy. But I do want to make sure that I am doing everything correctly when it comes to teaching the puppy not to chase the kitties, if that is at all possible.

Does anyone have any advice on these animals living in harmony?
 
If my house is anything to go by it won't be the dogs chasing the cats that's the problem :sl*p: 2 of our cats regularly chase the dogs, Thomas actively seeks out Abigail to taunt her and trys to intimidate her by staring at her in the hope that she runs away so that he can charge after her. Tinga is a bit more full on and twice this week i've had to rescue Gavin from her evil clutches, on one of those occasions she chased him around the house, out through the cat flap and cornered him at the end of the garden :yikes

Just be careful during initial introductions to make sure the puppy can't charge up to the cats to say hello or they may well do some damage to him with a swift swipe of their claws. Don't force introductions, let the cats approach him in their own time and, as Karlin says, give them a quick manicure beforehand.

It took our cats about a couple of hours to come around to Cody's presence at first and about the same with Gavin's. They didn't even notice Abigails arrival, or simply didn't care :sl*p:
 
Peter couldn't call her Ruby so we needed something close and went for Abby. Abigail is kept for when she's trying to steal my dinner :lol:
 
Am I a bad mum? :yikes I let little Ollie chase and play fight with annabell because it gives them both exercise! icon_whistling Annabell doesn't seem to mind too much, she'll still share a bed with the little munchkin (of course sleeping about metre away)
 
I have 3 cats and a dog, and the dog gets along better with the cats than the cats get along with each other! :lol: My oldest cat is 16 and does not tolerate the younger boys (both 4yrs) getting within two feet of her. However, Bella can lay right under her nose, and she doesn't mind. Bella does chase the boys (not the oldest - Bella knows she is the alpha cat!), but they also chase her, and all in good fun. None of them have ever so much as hissed at her. One of my boys even goes to rub against Bella when he comes into the room. It did take them a little while to get used to her being around, but they fully accept her now and even cuddle with her.
When I first introduced them I did it gradually with Bella in an excercise pen (so she wasn't a threat to them) and fed them all a yummy meal all right next to each other so they would associate each others smell with good things. That seemed to help alot. :D
Best wishes and congrats on your new puppy!!
 
Different dogs, different reactions.

Wallis has known our cat longest, since he was a member of the household when we got her. They will sleep in her bed together, or sometimes she gives it up to him entirely.

Tibby is jealous when he wants to lay in the chair with her and Bubba. Or when he tries to get between her and Bubba in bed. She may curl her lip a bit, but there isn't a lot of effort behind it.

Then there is Sasha. She thinks the poor old cat is put on this earth for her to chase away. We've done everything we can think of to keep her from chasing him but it doesn't do any good. I've often wished he'd give her a good whack on the nose to get her attention.
 
We just did our introductions slowly and carefully when each of the pups came home for the first time and watched everyone's interactions for a few days. Right from the start Audrey (kitty) wanted nothing to do with the pups and let them know that she was boss.

Our Blenheim Molly greets the day with little hello kisses for two of our three cats...and I am sure would kiss the third, Audrey, but Audrey will have none of THAT! I taught her to just give a quick lick then move away, because at first Molly wanted to smother the cats in kisses, and that annoyed them. (Max, our Tri boy isn't interested in kissing the cats at all...he's not very kissy in general like Molly is)

Our two dogs get along great with the three cats...and Audrey is finally warming up to having the puppies here. She now joins in when we are snuggling the puppies, and sometimes even play time.
 
shy our cat used to be a bit of a recluse until jadan arrived...now she wants to get in on the attention and will come and sit right on top of jadan to get to us. the only time there is a scuffle is when shy runs from the hoover and jadan thinks its play time icon_whistling she just runs upstairs away from him and when she comes down hes waiting for her with a big kiss ;) i must admit it did take a while but i think it was because when we first moved here she was surrounded by dogs in the park and it frightened her to bits, she knew what jd was but he didnt know what she was. she kept away for a while and would slink into the room if she knew he was there. she soon realised he was no threat as a puppy and that she was and is the boss so they get along fine. isnt it funny how cat and dog are made out to be such enemies though!! :D
 
Sorry, I have no experience with cats (Mike's allergic), but just saying hello from a fellow North Carolinian! Lake Norman is a beautiful area; we have a lot of friends in Charlotte. We're in Greensboro but have also lived in Chapel Hill. :flwr: -Natalie
 
One of the true loves of my life is my 12 year old 18 pound Main Coon cat, KC.
He is a one man show for sure!

He is very sweet but he has gotten to that age where he will come to you if he wants any attention.

We decided we needed a dog when my little girl was trying to play fetch with him and he of course didn't participate. :roll:

We got Griffin when he was 3 months old and let him find out on his own about KC.
I didn't lock one in a room or do anything special I just let nature do it's thing. He would sniff KC's huge tail and would get swatted and hissed at, and that would be it.
A year and a half the swatting and hissing is still going on but I can really tell they like each other's company.

If Griff is off getting groomed KC is looking all over the house for him. :lol:

My advice, just let the animals work it out.
If your cat still has claws of course monitor them but soon or later everyone will just adapt and be comfortable.
 
I have yet to stop Belle from chasing the cats icon_whistling
Bambi doesn't seem to mind too much though, I think that they are good company for each other - they chase each other round all day!! I think that they are best friends really!
Whenever Bambi's had enough i'll just say "Belle leave her alone"
I have also got an african grey named Max now whenever Belle & Bambi are playing he'll tell her to leave her alone - it's so funny :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
My advice, just let the animals work it out.
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From years of doing rescue on both cat and dog fronts, I have to politely but strongly disagree. I have seen the results of doing this: dead cats, and dogs missing eyeballs or blinded. We have two dogs on this board whose eyes were damaged by a cat's claws.

There are many on this board (including me!) with cats and dogs who are good friends -- but normally this doesn't automatically happen, it takes caution and time. Please folks, ALWAYS supervise all introductions and keep a watch over all interactions for a good long while after that. In particular, not all dogs can be trusted around cats, EVER, especially adults introduced to cats (much easier for puppies to fit in usually) and it has to be a careful and long term process to make sure they are fine. DO NOT BELIEVE ON THE BASIS OF ONE GOOD INTERACTION THAT THEY GET ALONG AND ARE SAFE TOGETHER. The result if they do not can be a tragedy no one wants to contemplate.

There are fortunate situations in which introductions are easy but

* a cavalier can lose its eye in seconds from a well aimed or even accidentally aimed cat swat.
* cats are generally far more stressed than dogs by introductions and can react more drastically. A stressed cat may go off its food, go into hiding, or worse -- run away and disappear forever -- that is a key reason why anyone with cats should manage introductions carefully, especially if they have cats with access to the outdoors.
* there is no reason to allow a dog to learn by having it clawed by a cat. If introductions are well managed and the dog from the start learns not to chase the cat, then it wil,not come to a situation in which the dog's face could be the wrong place at the wrong time.
* maybe those here who have dogs blinded by cats will come in to comment -- but a lacerated eyeball is NOT something you want to see in your cavalier and is extremely distressing to both dog and owner. So is seeing your much loved cat torn apart by a dog. Do NOT risk it. Make sure they each get the carefully controlled chance to meet, greet, and be trained towards acceptance over time. With luck they will be great friends. But dogs have no innate sense of how dangerous a cat can be and often, vice versa.

(y)
 
When Scout came to live with me I had two cats. One has since passed away, but he greeted her with a swat (no claws) and a hiss and she pretty much left him alone. He (Shadow the cat) did feel, however, that Scout need an occasional reminder to put her in her place.

I also have a cat that's 12. He (Alex) is very docile. He gets along great with both of my dogs. Scout takes advantage of this at times and knocks him over. I do keep a very close eye on the two of them. I don't want Alex to get hurt. I know Scout just wants to play, but she's a little rough for him. My other dog ( a Newfoundland) was pretty much the same way until she was about 18 months old. Now they all get along, pretty much ignoring each other. I think they all believe that they are the only pet in the house. icon_whistling
 
I have 3 cats. Griffin is my alpha dominate cat Hunter is the big scardey cat and Dexter is the love bug mush. Ellie loves the 3 of them indiscrimnately and whenever she sees one she gets so excited and wants to run right into them and say hello. I worried for her eyes and with Griffin. Dexter was a cat we adopted from a shelter at the age of 4 and he ahs bounced from home to home and has lived with numerous cats and dogs so we knew he wouldnt be a problem. Within a few dyas Ellie was running over to sniff him while he slept on the couch and the two of them have fallen asleep side by side. Hunter and Griffin are the kittens we adopted at 6 weeks of age so despite the fact that neither of them has ever suffered any hardships they are our neurotic cats. Hunter fears everything and even after a month's worth of time he rarely is around on the ground floor. We have a loft in my condo where we gated off so that the cats have a place Ellie cant get to as well as Ellie cant get into their food or litter box. He comes down from time to time but he mostly stays on furniture so Ellie cant reach him. She has cornered him a few times and he has hissed but he never swats (its not in him to do that) and we quickly shoo Ellie away. With Griffin its a different story as he is the most aggreessive of our cats and though I know he wont hurt Ellie unless he feels he has to in order to escape I monitor them very closely. In time he will relax around her but right now its still risky in my opinion so if I see her bounding after a cat I usually go with her to see what she is doing and if necessary to shoo her away from them so the cat can make an exit. For the most part its been fine with only a few hisses. Ellie doesnt seem to realize the hissing means the cat doesnt like her as she moves closer at times with her tail wagging excitedly behind her. Until I feel comfortable I always watch her with the cats just in case as I worry for her eyes. I would say just watch them closely in the beginning until they find a way to co-exsist
 
We have an 11 year old cat named Kelly and Charley, our Blenheim, has been with us since July. He will be one years old in April. Kelly has always been very affectionate and used to follow me around the house. When Charley came along Kelly stopped doing that.

Fortunately, Charley doesn't go down to the finished basement and that's Kelly's domain. But at times when Kelly wants to sleep on the couch upstairs and Charley notices that she's there he barks at her with his tail wagging until she gets up and escapes to a higher place.

For some reason this goes on at night more than during the day. Charley won't stop barking and Kelly hisses and claws at Charley. Kelly was declawed - front paws only - but I have seen her scratch my daughter (when she was younger) when my daughter apparently mishandled her.

I wish they had the relationship that I've seen of the dogs and cats in the photographs sleeping together. But I don't think Kelly is ever going to like Charley and Charley is always going to think that Kelly is his toy.

I try to give them equal time but it's harder with a puppy because they need constant care. Cats are not stupid animals! Kelly has given us indicators that she is not happy. She's done some things out of character.

The other night Charley kept running after her and I kept telling him to stop. I picked up Kelly and I could feel that she was shaking. I felt so bad. I decided to put Charley in his crate to sleep for the night. I am not sure what to do to get him to stop scaring her but I now know that it really petrifies her and I have to take care of the situation.

If anyone has any solutions that would be great. I'm going to read the articles that were previously recommended.
 
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