Growling At Cats

[Guest lasharp1209]

Our foster usually completely ignores our cats, but once or twice he has growled if one of our cats brushes up too close to him while he's on his bed. I was close enough to give a warning "uh-uh" and move the cat, but what if I hadn't been? I understand that it is natural behavior and that another dog would understand it, but my cat didn't seem to know what a growl means.

 

This is a rare occurrence for him, but I'm curious how cats perceive the growling - do they get it? Dogs understand warning growls, and kids understand not to approach the dog on its bed, but what do you do about cats? I would hate for something to happen just because I wasn't close enough to prevent it.

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

Yes, my cats know if the dogs warn with a growl they move because they understand what that noise means.

[Guest Hoolyghans]

My cat knows. He doesn't necessarily *care*, but he knows

 

It's pretty funny actually. He takes Abba much more seriously than Spike. If he gets in Abba's personal space, all she has to do is curl her lip at him -no sound- and he takes off like he was hit with a cattle prod. He doesn't mess with her much.

 

Spike is another story. He taunts & ambushes Spike. Spike loves this. They genuinely play together but I do referee if it gets rowdy. Spike has been here since he was 7 weeks old (oops puppy) so he grew up with the cat.

[lilythetigerdog]

Our cats get it. Never any problems.

 

I think they understand each other more than we do.

[ZoomDoggy]

My cats clearly get it, but often choose to ignore it. I can tell, because they stiffen when they hear the warning growl, and then they slowly proceed with whatever transgression they were committing anyway.

 

Similar to the above story, the cats definitely take Tipper's growls far more seriously than either of my girls' objections. They know grumpy ol' man Tipper doesn't kid around.

Edited March 22, 2010 by ZoomDoggy

[Trihounds]

Mine does as well, though I can't say he really cares either. He knows the dogs are all talk...

[Guest LindsaySF]

It depends on the cat. One of my cats is very dog-savvy and he gets it. My other cat is not too bright, I often have to rescue him from potentially bad situations. Then there are cats that know what a growl means, but they still try to push the envelope until they get snapped at. I would muzzle the Grey until you're sure.

 

 

 

 

[Guest krystolla]

I think my cats would understand a dog growling at them, given that they growl at each other. Possibly my cats are crazy.

 

Hack, however, doesn't growl at the cats. He mostly runs away from the cats. My mom's golden retrievers tried barking excitedly at the cats, which the cats understood as "Look, look I'm crazy". Play bowing at cats does not appear to work.

 

I think interspecies body language translates the best though -- standing head on or sideways, averting the gaze, showing teeth, yawning, ear orientation even whisker orientation is the approximately the same for dogs and cats.

[Guest IrskasMom]

My Morty completley ignores Pumpkin.But there where maybe two really fast shuffles between the Two and it got a little hairee .

Edited March 22, 2010 by IrskasMom

[Guest Hoolyghans]

The other funny thing Bob-cat does is get confused which dog is which. They are both white & brindles, very similar markings. I sometimes catch him peeking over the edge of the couch, clearly puzzling to verify which dog is there before doing something stupid.

[GeorgeofNE]

Oh, depends on the cat!!

 

Two of mine absolutely get it, and now typically give George a wide berth. For some reason, he is not terribly tolerant of Tiger and Miss Parker, and yet he puts up with all KINDS of rubbish from Mister Bigglesworth!

 

Now, Mister Bigglesworth could not care less if George growls at him! Perhaps there is a connection? Perhaps it's because Mister Bigglesworth arrived after George as a kitten, and the other cats wanted nothing to do with him, which left him to bond with George. I don't know. But just last night, Tiger walked up to George, who was enjoying an ear rub courtesy of me. I didn't notice him, and suddenly George let rip with a scary snarl and I turned to see Tiger bolt from the room.

 

So yeah, I think that means he gets it!

 

Your cat might not CARE, but I imagine they understand.

Edited March 23, 2010 by GeorgeofNE

[Guest Swifthounds]

All but the least dog savvy of cats gets it when a dog growls. Whether that changes their behavior is usually another story. Although we might commonly think that dogs growl and cats hiss, cats do growl and do it for the same reason a dog does. Some cats just don't take the dog seriously because: the dog gets corrected and the cat doesn't (not the best approach IMO) and because the dog doesn't back that growl up like a cat would if an offender didn't comply.