Cat Attacked Our Greys!

[Guest brandi007]

As the proud owner of an 'attack' cat I'm going to let you know what I've done to keep the peace. Give the cat his own floor - I've given Scrizz the basement and the dogs are only allowed in it supervised with me. It keeps my kitty sane and I find he doesn't attack the dogs, myself, my DBF and my roomy as often. Always have an escape route and let your cat use high spaces to get away from the dogs.

 

I love my cat Scrizz and wouldn't change him for the world - just like I wouldn't change Hannah (other than wishing she was more comfortable with dogs) growling every time I change position (but not snapping). You may learn to love him for his quirky behavior and he will learn that the dogs aren't enemy #1.

[JAJ2010]

Train a cat :rotfl :rotfl :rotfl :rotfl I'm dying over here! Honestly keep his nails trimmed and let them work it out. Sounds like there's no fear of the dogs eating him. :rotfl

[Guest gecko_foot]

One of my cats likes to hang out on the chairs under the table and tablecloth. When Bonnie walks past, a foot will reach out and swipe at her. Bonnie, for her part, likes to play tag with Mango. When Mango gets fluffy, Bonnie turns around in triumph, "ha, made you fluff! I'm done now."

 

That's hilarious! My household is very similar - Mako (the cat) likes to play "ambush the greyhound" with Tumnus and will swipe (no claws) at Tumnus as he walks by. Mako just thinks he's a dog, and I have yet to see him puff in defense at anything...He's a little special...

 

To the OP, I have no clue how to train a cat...Good luck though!

[tydyelady]

Just reading all this. How did the dental go? Hopefully everything was fine.

Re the cat - I decided many years ago not to have any more cats, after losing 1 too many to coyotes. They always wanted to be outside. Training a cat is not a concept I understand either! But I do wish you luck since you seem determined to keep him. Seems a lot of good advice has been given here.

[Guest PhillyPups]

let them work it out. Sounds like there's no fear of the dogs eating him. :rotfl

 

I am thinking of the dogs safety - would this be the same advice if the situation were reversed?

 

As many have stated in prior threads with reversal situations, the residents need to be kept and feel safe at all times. This is my personal oponion here also. Cat scratches, bites can be very nasty.

 

It took a month for the last cat scratch I received to completely heal - this scratch happened while I was trying to save a feral kamikaze kat that decided to come over my 7' privacy fence while I was in my backyard with all 5 dogs.

[Guest krystolla]

The best bet to reduce kitty stress in the household is playtime for the kitty -- something active like chasing a teaser. Just like with dogs, a tired cat is a well behaved cat.

 

My first cat was very protective too. Dogs were not allowed near me under any circumstances, the other cats in the household were not allowed to hiss or threaten me (even during brushing and nail clipping!). It took a long time for me to figure out what was going on -- I thought he just didn't like dogs. He was fine with them so long as I wasn't in the room.

 

He got better about it as he got older, I guess he decided I could take care of myself? Calm dogs were okay, but excited dogs were still considered dangerous. I think cats don't distinguish between excitement and aggression. From the I'm-prey-and-small-enough-to-be-stepped-on point I guess they are the same thing.

 

I'd suggest training your greys to do something specific when they get excited -- sit, grab a toy -- so that the excitement is tempered a bit. Or if you know you are doing something to get the dogs excited make sure the kitty is somewhere else.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Cats are definitely trainable. People don't give them enough credit.

 

I don't agree with letting them "work it out". Someone is bound to get hurt. Best to nip this in the bud.

 

 

I am thinking of the dogs safety - would this be the same advice if the situation were reversed?

The advice will differ if the dog is going after the cat vs. cat going after the dog because the dog has the advantage by being larger and faster. In most dog vs. cat situations the cat will come out on the losing end. Cats can still cause damage though so the situation needs to be taken seriously (which the OP is doing).

 

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

 

 

 

[Guest krystolla]

I am thinking of the dogs safety - would this be the same advice if the situation were reversed?

 

Actually, it looks like the advice has been pretty much the same in this thread as the dog-chasing-cat, and dog-attacking-dog threads: Separate them, watch for triggers, consider rehoming the aggressor. Use calming techniques like more exercise, more training and hormone sprays (Feliway, rescue remedy, DAP).

 

If you live with multiple animals, especially multiple species, there is always going to be a chance that they will have a moment of disliking or misunderstanding each other. Living with animals means realizing that they can hurt each other, hurt us or even hurt themselves. Just because they are pets doesn't mean that they are without defenses.

[Guest BorzoiMom]

My cat is trained. She sits and lays down when told. She comes here, and goes away. The dogs and cat leave each other alone for the most part. The cat rarely uses her claws but she will smack a dog and spit if he gets too close to her. She can smack pretty hard too, lol.

[Sighthounds4me]

I didn't see the answer, but Feliway does not affect the dogs. I don't even know if they notice it.

 

You can get it in a spray and a plug in. You can use both if you want/need to.

[greyhead]

Just reading all this. How did the dental go? Hopefully everything was fine.

Re the cat - I decided many years ago not to have any more cats, after losing 1 too many to coyotes. They always wanted to be outside. Training a cat is not a concept I understand either! But I do wish you luck since you seem determined to keep him. Seems a lot of good advice has been given here.

Today has been the day from hell! The dental went "fine" -- no extractions, came through anesthesia. But Spencer has been vomiting bile and water for hours. I've posted for advice in H&M, but they must be sick of me over there cuz the silence is deafening!

[greyhead]

Cats are definitely trainable. People don't give them enough credit.

 

~Lindsay~

Exactly. Of course there's individual variation. But people think cats can't be trained, so they don't try to train them, so many cats don't get trained. Vicious circle.

 

Btw, Mosby got boarded at the vet's today, to avoid the intensely noisy tree work we were having done. (Spencer had his dental today, timed for the same reason.) The vet wrote a note about how calm and affectionate Mosby is. Basically, that's true. I really think it was a resource-guarding thing.

 

The best bet to reduce kitty stress in the household is playtime for the kitty -- something active like chasing a teaser. Just like with dogs, a tired cat is a well behaved cat.

 

My first cat was very protective too. Dogs were not allowed near me under any circumstances, the other cats in the household were not allowed to hiss or threaten me (even during brushing and nail clipping!). It took a long time for me to figure out what was going on -- I thought he just didn't like dogs. He was fine with them so long as I wasn't in the room.

 

He got better about it as he got older, I guess he decided I could take care of myself? Calm dogs were okay, but excited dogs were still considered dangerous. I think cats don't distinguish between excitement and aggression. From the I'm-prey-and-small-enough-to-be-stepped-on point I guess they are the same thing.

 

I'd suggest training your greys to do something specific when they get excited -- sit, grab a toy -- so that the excitement is tempered a bit. Or if you know you are doing something to get the dogs excited make sure the kitty is somewhere else.

Thanks much for this post. This sounds exactly like what our situation feels like. I don't want the dogs to have to suppress their excitement, so I guess we'll train ourselves to make sure the cat is contained -- or a spray bottle is conveniently located in all the major rooms!

[Guest budsmom]

Another thing to keep in mind is that cat and dog language are usually the opposite of each other. For example, staring isn't rude or threatening to a cat, but it is very threatening/aggressive to a dog. Tail wagging means a dog is happy excited, a cat wagging it's tail means they are aggresive/excited. Tail straight up in the air means a cat is happy and confident, a dog who has it's tail up over it's back is fearful/aggressive. Stanley Coren talks about this in detail in one of his books, I found it really interesting having lived with cats all my life. I think it's the communication style differences more than a prey/predator thing that causes issues between cats and dogs. Cats are predators even more than dogs are, they are nature's ultimate killing machines, and given the choice most cats aren't scavengers whereas dogs aren't nearly so picky.

[Guest krystolla]

Thanks much for this post. This sounds exactly like what our situation feels like. I don't want the dogs to have to suppress their excitement, so I guess we'll train ourselves to make sure the cat is contained -- or a spray bottle is conveniently located in all the major rooms!

 

Be careful with the spray bottle, you don't want Mosby deciding that excited dogs mean unpleasant wet sensation.

[greyhead]

Be careful with the spray bottle, you don't want Mosby deciding that excited dogs mean unpleasant wet sensation.

Hmm, good point!

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that cat and dog language are usually the opposite of each other. For example, staring isn't rude or threatening to a cat, but it is very threatening/aggressive to a dog. Tail wagging means a dog is happy excited, a cat wagging it's tail means they are aggresive/excited. Tail straight up in the air means a cat is happy and confident, a dog who has it's tail up over it's back is fearful/aggressive. Stanley Coren talks about this in detail in one of his books, I found it really interesting having lived with cats all my life. I think it's the communication style differences more than a prey/predator thing that causes issues between cats and dogs. Cats are predators even more than dogs are, they are nature's ultimate killing machines, and given the choice most cats aren't scavengers whereas dogs aren't nearly so picky.

Wow, Cheryl, I'd never thought of this. Very interesting and necessary to know in this situation! Would you happen to remember the approximate title of Coren's book that deals with this? In any case, many thanks for pointing this out!

[Guest Shermanator]

For instance, he's using the litter box, but he doesn't know how to stay in the box to cover his stuff with the litter. He gets out of the box and scratches on the mat in front of it, and he works really hard at it! But the vet was pleased/surprised to hear that he was even using the box. So now we need a longer box -- probably cardboard --so he can learn to cover with litter.

 

Sigh, welcome to my world. My girls (cats) are 14 years old the older the have gotten, the less successful the were at staying the the box. When I tried open little boxes, they would back up to a wall the litter box was next to, and pee on that. Their MO was getting into the box, and sticking their butts outside the box and going. I resolved that problem by getting a 40 gallon storage box, cutting a big hole in the side, so they can get in and out (and use duct tape all along the sides of the opening, so eliminate sharp corners.) It is a smaller opening, which lessons the size of the area the could be able to stick their butts out of and pee, and on the floor, I bought several cargo mats for the back of the car, the biggest ones I could find, so any pee would hit those, and not the floor. And it made for easy clean up.

Also, I scoop every day, since they are not very good about covering their stuff anymore, as well.

 

As far as mean kitties- I have one cat who as soon as one of the dogs comes near her, she hisses, swats, and spits on the dog. And the cat growls like a pit bull. Both dogs give her a wide berth, and she has already backed one dog from his food bowl. That cat is nuts.

 

It sounds like the kitty is still trying to adjust. Or, perhaps she is not feeling well due to her FIV status?

[greyhead]

Wow, Kelly, you have quite a cat-and-dog world. Thanks for the comisseration; I feel much less sorry for myself now!

 

By way of update, I concocted a larger (longer) cardboard litter box yesterday to see if he'd stay in it to scratch. He did, and he has covered all his emissions since I put it together yesterday morning! So today I'll try to find a plastic box that's that long and we should be good to go.

 

Also good news on the relationship with the dogs, at least tentatively. We restricted Mosby to the upstairs the last three days, to give all the animals time to chill and perhaps forgive and forget the unfortunate incident. Mosby is turning out to be a quick study, so today I let him come downstairs under supervision, and it went fine. The dogs are still hesitant to walk near the cat, but that's okay for now. We did have a group grope upstairs in the hall, where the dogs went to find DH in his office. With my body between them, I spoke soothingly and petted the dogs with my left hand and Mosby with my right, to demonstrate to everyone that I value each of them and expect them to treat each other accordingly! After a couple hours I put Mosby back upstairs behind the pocket door so the dogs could go out without worrying about whether Mosby would spring at them as they returned! We'll reunite later. I'm thinking to do this in smallish doses so I can supervise, since I can't keep track of each of them all day. There ARE other things that require my attention too. Here are a couple pictures of The Little (Would-Be) Dictator, if I can get them to post. If I can't, I'll figure out what I'm doing wrong today and add them later.

My link [/img]

[Guest LindsaySF]

 

He's cute. My cat Grady is that color too. Is that a cat bed he's on?

[greyhead]

Funny you should ask. It's actually a reversible cat pad with the heat-reflective interior that's good for chilly and/or ailing cats. It's left over from our former population of chronic-renal-failure cats. It's positioned atop a 19th C. chest of drawers in the bedroom which used to hold an antique glass-shade lamp. I figured Mosby would want to head to the highest reachable point in the room, so I removed the lamp and replaced it with that pad. That's his go-to sleeping spot when he's not in bed with us. He just uses the condo next to it as a stepping stone to get up there.

 

We had a setback in training today when DH allowed Mosby and Shane to surprise one another, and fright and hissing ensued. Re-sequestered Mosby for the rest of the afternoon. Now we're trying again to have him downstairs since all the animals just had dinner, the boys had their walk, and there should be naps all around.

 

How did you get my picture to post? I don't know why it worked for me yesterday but not today! Should I be clicking the "post link" or the "post picture" buttons? The latter just gave me a red-x box.

Edited May 29, 2010 by greyhead

[arandomchic]

By way of update, I concocted a larger (longer) cardboard litter box yesterday to see if he'd stay in it to scratch. He did, and he has covered all his emissions since I put it together yesterday morning! So today I'll try to find a plastic box that's that long and we should be good to go.

 

 

I wonder if one of those under-the-bed plastic storage boxes would work? They are kinda big, but low and long.

[greyhead]

That's probably the best idea, Jennifer, and I probably already have one whose contents can be transferred elsewhere. Thanks for reminding me.

 

And the cat and dogs are getting along!

[tydyelady]

Hooray for all the animals getting along! Peace in the household!