Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two cats, Sparky and Seamus. Sparky has lived hear since 8 weeks old and Seamus was born hear. they have never known any dogs, so it was a bit of a shock when we brought a puppy home!
On the first day, Seamus (red tabby moggie) was quite brave and came up to investigate the puppy. the next day, for no reason, he ran and the puppy chased him before we could stop her. Now, Seamus runs the second he sees her, and she chases him (although we always try and stop her chasing). Worse thing is that she's learned to use the cat flap, so she can chase them down the garden!

Our other cat, Sparky, is better behaved. He doesn't run but stands looking miserably at her and crying (his father was a farm cat so he's quite big and tough!). She jumps around him and barks, and gets jealous if he gets any attention, although she will eventually accept him sleeping on the couch.

One of the problems is that she is a very dominant dog. When she meets another dog she jumps at it's face, and she has no fear of big dogs like Rottweiler.

Any ideas on how to get the cats and dog to at least tolerate each other?

(the picture is of Sparky, Seamus and my sister, Bambi)

Unfortunately this appears to be a dog behavior issue rather than a cat behavior issue. The puppy will need to be trained not to bark at the cats or chase them. This may involve crate training. Also if you can get a baby gate and put the puppy into one room while the cats roam free this would help a lot.

Good luck!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

She is crate trained. She is not agressive with the cats, she just wants to play with them as if they where another dog. I will post in the dog forum, but i was wondering if there was anyway to stop Seamus from bolting every time he sees her? Also, she does not react like this with cats she meets in the street. She is very calm and submissive with them, so why not our cats?

>>She is crate trained. She is not agressive with the cats, she just wants to play with them as if they where another dog. I will post in the dog forum, but i was wondering if there was anyway to stop Seamus from bolting every time he sees her? Also, she does not react like this with cats she meets in the street. She is very calm and submissive with them, so why not our cats?

I don't think there is a lot you can do to train the fearful cat not to run from the puppy. And the puppy is probably aware that Seamus is afraid and is acting on it. A baby gate to keep the puppy in one room where Seamus can see him and realize he's not going to get chased might be the ticket.

Good luck!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Any ideas on how to get the cats and dog to at least tolerate each other?
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Time and patience.The pooch will catch one of them in a bad mood someday and the proplem will be solved.LOL
Lou

Hi! I had a similar problem a few years ago when I brough home a new kitten. I have two dachshunds that were already living with my cats, but the new kitten was terrified of the dogs and would run and hide. This sparked the prey drive in the dogs, and they chased her. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep the new kitten Pebbles, so I had an animal behaviorist come to the house to work with us. What I did was walk around the house with a treat bag on my hip at all times. (You can even use the puppy's kibble so he/she doesn't get too many treats.) Whenever the kitten would appear, I would ask the dogs to look at me and give them a treat if they paid attention to me rather than the kitten. The dogs soon learned that paying attention to my every move was much more gratifying than chasing Pebbles.

Once the dogs stopped chasing Pebbles, she had a chance to become comfortable in her new home with her new brothers and sisters. In a few short weeks, she was playing with the dogs' tails. Now, she will lie right smack in the middle of the floor even when the dogs are running around.

It does take patience, but the key is to teach the puppy to respect the cats. They don't deserve to be chased in their own home. Best of luck!