Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We've had a dog for 2 years who is wonderful but I have always been a cat person (ironically I am the guy and the dog belongs to my girlfriend). anyhow, we got a cat a few months ago and they seem to get along OK when we are around but when we are not looking we often catch the cat abusing the dog. the dog is a miniature pincher - completely benign and sweet. the cat is about the same size.

i constantly catch Frank (the cat) holding our poor minpin in the death grip - biting down on her neck. he doesnt bite hard enough to draw blood or cause injury (i hope) but enough that the dog is scared and it feels mean spirited. within a few months he has taken total dominance. how do I correct this error and teach the cat to play nicely? please email me if you can help or advise at:

mrobertson@offspringent.com

thank you!!

Oh man, I can only guess at what's going on here since I don't have any dogs. Since cats, especially male cats, have a pecking order and one cat is always the KING, I would say that Frank the cat, is telling your dog that he is the dominant one here. And the dog, who's name I don't see, is letting the cat dominate him and is becoming afraid of the cat.

Why not try a Feliway Plug In or at least the Feliway spray. Feliway mimics the happy pheremones that cats give off and seems to calm them down. I use it myself for my four cats and really like it. And....Feliway is also recommended for dogs. You can buy it many places, like your local petstore and it costs about $25 for a months supply. It's certainly worth a try for a month or two.
Feliway...Drs Foster & Smith

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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

There's not a whole lot you can do here other than the Feliway that was suggested. If you try to interfere you could actually make things worse.

The dog seems to be OK with the cat being the dominant party and probably the cat is not coming off as mean as you think to the dog. If you let nature take its course more than likely they will work things out and you should see less aggression as time goes by!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

I completely agree with the other two messages about the spray being the first course of action. But if it doesn't help, and it may not, you might want to do what I do and INTERFERE!!! Yes, I know about natural animal behaviour and support minimal interference wherever possible. Sometimes, however, it's just not doable. What we can't forget is that we are also an animal, and have as much right to interact with our animals as they do. Indeed, they expect it. The trick is to do it in a way they will understand. I can't stand people who allow their pets to get away with blue murder under the pretence of "not interfering". If they really didn't want to interfere they would never issue any commands, feed or groom their pets! Any communication is ultimately interference, and my pets and I "interfere" with eachother all the time! Anyway, back to your issue. I have a cat and two dogs (the cat came first) and also went through weeks of kitty fits and nasty feline behaviour. After the dogs learnt their place, kitty went on lording it over them and generally behaving like a pain in the proverbial, so what I did was to wait in the wings until it happened and stepped in. While kitty was busy clawing my terrified pup I pressed down on the back of her neck and hissed at her, followed by a stern "no", which she understands is my ultimate "I'm not happy with what you're doing" stance. She never touched the dogs again. She's now the one who pines for them and tries to get their attention to play. I think once she understood that mummy loves the pups too and that they're staying for good, it actually forced her to develop a different, more harmonious bond with them. Of course, you'll have to decide on a course of behaviour suitable for you, but for God's sakes don't tiptoe around being scared to tell your kitty off when she's going too far. Cats have personalities too, and sometimes they are mean and nasty, just like humans, and there's no point in treating them like they're sacred cows who will fall apart if you show them bad behaviour is unacceptable. My cat certainly knows where she stands with me, just as I do with her, because we both show eachother what is O.K. and what isn't. All the best.