Variable Cat Reactions

[Guest Amber]

Hi
just out of interest, wonder if people those with experience with greyhounds who show variable reactions to cats can comment?

 

My Fey was deemed as cat safe by the rehoming group ( on the basis of a cat test) and apparently spent 4 days in a home with cats without a problem before I adopted her. I do not have a cat. So, with me, on seeing cats outside, she was at first v v interested and rooted herself, staring at the cat. On one occasion she did chase a cat (the orange cat who lives 2 doors up), but it got well away.

 

One time the orange cat came inside my house when my front door was open!! Fey was shut in the lounge but she saw the cat passing by through the glazed door and ignored it...until it went outside and she saw it through the window and was then excited.

 

She is now after 18 months quite good at passing cats (especially this same orange cat who we see quite often...more interest in random other cats) in the street and will walk on past with minimal correction.

 

The other day we went in my back garden together and the same orange cat was lying on the grass (cannot see this from back door). Yikes. I saw it before she did and grabbed her collar really quick and the cat sauntered off up the garden but fey was quite non plussed. She did look at it, but not keenly and once I was sure it had gone when i let go her collar she did not even go to investigate.

 

I suppose she is 'cat trainable ' and as long as she is discouraged from chasing, may be ok?

 

There is no knowing when that instinct can kick in i know, but just slightly worried now about her encountering the cat in our enclosed back garden. Though I think fey would be more likely to injure herself chasing than anything else! She is quite injury prone!

 

Has anyone with a medium chase drive greyhound doesn't own a cat managed to train their grey not to chase random cats in the garden?

 

Or is it possible she has got used to this orange cat who hangs about a lot...she seems now to ignore it more than other cats we encounter?

 

ps most people in UK let their cats wonder outdoors, so there is no point in my asking the neighbours not to...they can't stop it coming into my property, unless they keep it inside their house 24/7.

 

Are there any cat deterrents (sonic?) that work and aren't expensive?

Edited August 19, 2015 by Amber

[Guest DarkHorse]

This is pretty typical, in my experience. Both Araley and Dexter did this until they were about 9-10 years old. The cats inside (ours and our parents') were all more or less ignored. The ones outside were interesting. But the one time they did chase and "catch" an outdoor cat, all they did was sniff it. They didn't even catch it with their teeth or mouths, but stood over it. We sometimes take Amadeus out on a leash, and when they were outside, they would run over to him, sniff and say hi, and then wander away.

 

Sounds to me that your Fey is completely cat safe, and you don't need to worry too much about her eventually hurting the cat. If you still want to deter the cat, this site has some ideas: http://www.alleycat.org/Deterrents

[Guest Amber]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply!

 

My previous greys were not at all cat safe - especially the bitch was a real hunter, in fact there were a few cat fatalities. Which was horrible. So i know the real intense cat-killer body language but with Fey, i think she was initially very confused about cats outside, and i do still feel that she may grab one if loose or hurt herself chasing....my garden is heavily planted, lots of trees and shrubs to hurt herself on ! She def chased the orange cat at full tilt that one time.

 

So...i don't trust her...in part because of my previous cat hating greys probably. Will look at the link, thanks

[NeylasMom]

Outside and inside are two separate things entirely. We have sadly had cases where the greyhound and cat lived in perfect harmony until one day they were accidentally in the yard together.

Regarding the orange cat, it's possible she's acclimated to him. Also possible that it was the limited/slow movement that kept her prey drive from being triggered. I wouldn't rely on the former. Just check the yard before you let her out. Better than having an injured or dead cat and/or an injured dog. Wounds from cats can be nasty and get infected easily so just another reason to exercise caution.

Edited August 19, 2015 by NeylasMom

[Guest Amber]

Hmmm yes if it had ran i think that would be a different story.

 

I can't really check the garden as it's pretty large and heavily planted. But i do normally go out with her as I'm trying to save my grass being peed on. (She is escorted to the designated pee area up the back)

Edited August 19, 2015 by Amber

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Tell your neighbors you have a greyhound and if they continue to allow their cats to roam freely, your hound may kill their cat. Simple as that. Its not your responsibility to protect a roaming cat. I had the same issue and one day brought back their cat with lots of wounds (cat was able to make it under my deck, but did get grabbed on the way in) to the owner. Last time that cat was outside.

 

As far as cat-safe/cat-workable, when they are outside a typical rule of thumb is all bets are off. Outside greyhounds seem to kick into hunt mode as opposed to when they are inside a house.

 

My boy Bart lived with 2 cats for nearly 5 years of his life, and he was a cat zapper of stray cats that made it into our back yard. I feel for the cats, but you cant fix stupid.

[Guest Amber]

I know these people wouldn't keep their cat inside. It even accompanies the husband and their 2 cocker spaniels out on walks sometimes !!

 

The orange cat lives with (and probably bosses around) 2 dogs, it's bold and thinks all dogs are under his dominion...

 

these type of people would not understand and would likely think i was threatening them with my ' vicious' dog.

 

So that cat will just have to take its chances, i just don't want fey to get hurt

 

ps i asked for a cat safe grey because of tne neighbourhood cats and especially this orange one, as it's on my property quite often - but mostly front garden where my dog is not free. It's been staying away for past year or so, so i was shocked to see it there on my back lawn

Edited August 19, 2015 by Amber

[turbotaina]

You could try spraying the cat with a hose to see if that discourages him from coming into your yard. Unpleasant for the cat, but ultimately not harmful and may save its life.

[Remolacha]

They do react differently to indoor v outdoor cats, and self confident v spooky cats. Most likely you are fine with the orange cat, since your dog is familiar with it and it doesn't run. You can never be 100% sure, so it's a good idea to continue to be cautious.

[krissy]

Kili lives with 3 rabbits and has lived with 2 different cats short term (they were both fosters). The rabbits get her excited, but not in a real prey drive way where I worry she's going to try to kill them. More in a "what are you? Can we play?" kind of way that makes me worry she's going to accidentally hurt them in her zeal for friendship.

 

Outside she will chase anything that moves. I let her chase birds and squirrels because they're safely up and away quickly and then the game is over. I don't let her chase rabbits or cats because they stay on the ground and the chase could go a lot longer, and a lot further. Also she could actually potentially catch them and I'm not sure if her reaction would be to kill or just be curious as in DarkHorse's experience... and I don't want to find out. She did once chase a wild jackrabbit that I didn't see. It ducked under a fence and she was frantically trying to find a way through. I wouldn't trust her for a minute with an outdoor rabbit or cat.

[GeorgeofNE]

Your dog most likely is "cat safe." I think that designation is applied to a dog who has shown that it understands that a cat, indoors, is part of the family and to be left alone.

 

A cat outside is prey.

 

Long-time GreyTalk users have seen many photos of my two greyhounds with my cat, Mister Bigglesworth, literally sleeping on them. Either of them would happily chase and no doubt kill a cat they encountered outside.

 

Here in the US, if you let your cat roam, you take your chances. The law is not on your side if someone's dog kills your cat. I don't know what it's like there, but you better find out. If your neighbor chooses to risk their cat's life, you need to know how diligent you have to be about making sure it's not in your yard when you let the dog out.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

My Jayne has lived with two cats from the time I adopted her until one of them died earlier this year. They occasionally land on her face while she's sleeping as the little idiots run around without a care, and she's never even snapped at them for it. She also plays with my cat, she annoys him until he chases and slaps her, and she loves it. She's even safe outside on the deck with her cats.

 

From day 1, however, she has drooled over and targeted the feral cats that live behind our place. She wants to sink her teeth into them so very badly.

 

 

I took in a foster once who had killed the family cat. I got a call from our Humane Society with whom my group works, and they needed a foster home for this boy who had nearly died from the wounds he received from the cat so he could recover away from the kennel environment. My foster homes were full, except for me. So I took him in planning on being super vigilant to protect my kitties. Got him home, and nothing. Never so much as looked sideways at the cats. I learned a week later that it was an outdoor kitty he got. Within another week he was snuggling on the couch with my husband, his face inches from a cat. He now lives with another greyhound and an indoor kitty, and they get along beautifully.

[dostacos]

the indoor cat is part of the pack, the ebil outdoor cat is the enemy, since the INDOOR cats hate the outdoor cats. The enemy of my enemy is NOT my friend

 

Queen would let our {3 at the time} cats sniff and be sniffed in the usual manner, but would chase the outdoor cats. The youngest cat was a rescue out of our front yard, BUT she was only 4 months or so old.

 

She sleeps with Conrad and trade sniffs daily, the other cat is rarely out with the younger since they have started fighting since the male cat went to the bridge.

 

Conrad might chase the other cat, but only because she did not stay still for a proper sniff fest. OUTSIDE, ground squirrels never make it through the fence, neither do cats, the tree squirrels ONLY make it up the pine tree IF I am late taking him out...oh and Conrad has TWO squirrel tails to his collection.

[Guest Amber]

Wow all this extreme indoor/outdoor cat discrimination!

 

As my previous grey would've gone for any cat, anywhere, anytime I'm not used to this notion of cat safe - but only indoors.

 

Mind you my male grey Oscar was more variable like that but veered from manic barking and lunching, ooops no i meant LUNGING , that was a typo ! To one time in a good phase visiting a friend who had a cat and being very polite.

 

I'm not tooooo overly worried as i hardly ever see orange cat in my back garden, and fey is not at all territorial, she doesn't go around checking under bushes for cats and any moggy has several good escape routes.

 

just quite perplexed about her attitude and what it all means

[Remolacha]

There are people who let their cats and dogs out in the back yard together with no problem. I think, as long as the dog isn't high prey, the keys are, 1, being familiar with the cat, and 2, the cat not running or showing fear. It really varies for each dog and cat, but it sounds like your Fey is fine. I know people let their cats outdoors a lot more over in England.

[Banjoman]

Even with my whippets I have told every neighbour with a cat that if it comes into my garden I cannot guarantee its safety. I do my best to ensure that any cat has fair warning before I open the back door but recently there have been a couple who seem to have a death wish, sitting under the Jasmine right outside the back door, waiting to catch the birds or the Field mice.

 

In my daily newspaper recently there was a letter requesting greyhound owners to put a muzzle on their dog when letting it out into the garden 'cos somebody's cats had be caught and killed by some greyhounds. Whilst sorry to read about it I thought it was a bit cheeky considering the dogs were in their own garden!

[peglywegly]

Boy I love this Greytalk forum!

My foster that was cat safe went to a furever home yesterday.

The adoption group had two people waiting for a cat tolerant hound.

I called the Adoption Director to see if the dog named Bunny, deemed cats W/W (with work), could come for a sleepover. It was in the cards. We met the other foster parents and got Bunny at 8:15 pm last night. We have 4 indoor only cats. if they go outside they become food for coyotes, and Bobcats. Bunny likes cats, but as a thing to chase. my relaxed cats are safe. The white fluffy cat, likes to tease and run, and jump near the dog. She has been in her muzzle, she takes redirection. My bossy kitty has punched her in the muzzle. But I want to give her a few days, I think it's all too new. She broke her leg in April and has been in cat free home. She was tested and labeled W/W.

So now we have a thunderstorm rolling in and she is freaking out. i texted the foster dad and yep she is a thunderphobe. she got some Bach's but i have no thundershirt. poor baby.

i have no real question or input, just, talking about the new foster. Bunny aka hashtag blondie

[Guest Rubbles_Mom]

 

In my daily newspaper recently there was a letter requesting greyhound owners to put a muzzle on their dog when letting it out into the garden 'cos somebody's cats had be caught and killed by some greyhounds. Whilst sorry to read about it I thought it was a bit cheeky considering the dogs were in their own garden!

😱

[Guest Amber]

No i def won't be muzzling my grey in her garden ! I don't muzzle her anywhere. But I'd like to sue the cat owners if my dog gets injured because of their cat coming into my property.

 

That wouldn't happen over here tho, we are not very litigious and by law cats have carte blanche to do as tney please. Cat owners are not held legally responsible for any accidents or damage caused by loose cats. So they can't have it both ways. If the cat gets injured or killed by whatever, then it's the risk they run, unfortunately.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Amber

[Guest GreyOrchard]

Having cat-socialised a good number of greyhounds before homing them to people who had cats, I wanted to weigh in on this.

 

- I actually don't believe in "cat testing" because it is not a good enough assessment for adoption into a home with cats

 

- yes, your greyhound sounds like a very good candidate for cat-socialising

 

- many greyhounds can be socialised to living with cats if they can understand the cat as being a member of their own pack

 

- cats outside the pack are often viewed as fair game

 

- training or conditioning your greyhound to be good around stray cats needs a different strategy than socialising your greyhound to live with them

 

- both training and socialising needs to be done in stages

 

- forget about the assumption that all greyhounds have always had high prey drive and want to kill.....for example even in a book on greyhounds and coursing from the 1800s, the author complains

 

“…for the young animal [greyhound] plays with his hare instead of trying to kill her, and this tenderness is apt to be continued to an inconveniently late period…I have known some dogs which never could be taught to kill their hares, even by the example of others, and yet were good enough to win many courses in good company…"

 

another of many such examples; there is also a line from a work written by a Roman historian 2000 years ago (not Arrian, he was Greek), which is similar to this, where he describes the greyhound/sighthound as a hound who

 

"hunts not for himself but for his master, and will bring you the hare unhurt in his teeth"

 

 

- you can start by conditioning your greyhound to a "leave it!" command in general ; also start exposing her increasingly to cats in some proximity to her under controlled conditions, thereby making cats "normal"....if you are visiting a friend with a cat, bring your greyhound and keep her on a leash while visiting. Don't do anything, just act normal. Now and then alternatively stroke the cat and stroke your greyhound's face, spreading their scents on each other. If all is calm, alternatively hand feed them treats, the cat on a chair, table or worktop, and therefore at eye level with you dog....this is a good start towards creating a non-reactive greyhound.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Amber]

Thanks that's interesting, i like the quotes.

 

She already knows and responds to leave it (on leash...) . Unfortunately i don't have any stunt cats available for practice. If we pass one that is sitting quietly i practice leave, but that doesn't solve off leash chasing in the garden, if that situation arises. She is quite biddable though in general.

 

We are practising ignoring bunnies, but with less success!

Edited September 3, 2015 by Amber

[DocsDoctor]

I'd work on deterring the cats from coming into your garden - especially Orange Cat, who by the sound of it is trying to incorporate your garden into his regular territory.

 

Turning a hose or water pistol on the cat is effective, if you get the chance. There are also motion-triggered deterrents which you can leave set up in the garden. Some spray water, but more often they emit a high-pitched beep which you can't hear but the cat hates. A friend who was plagued by neighbours' cats coming and pooing in her garden tried one of those and found it worked well, provided she remembered to change the batteries. Of course your greyhound might hate the sound too!

 

My lovely neighbours here have a cat and I have always warned them that if she comes into my garden it is at her peril as both Ken, and Doc before him, have a keen prey drive. (She will pass through but is canny about checking first that the coast is clear.) I was interested to note that in the 2 months or so after Doc died and before Ken came home I began to see many more cats and indeed squirrels in the garden. Word must have got around the neighbourhood grapevine that 'it's safe to go in, no greyhound on patrol any more!'. Now that Ken has arrived they have all cleared off again, or at most are to be seen running across the trellis at the far end of the garden. Still he looks for them every time he goes outside - he takes his Garden Monitor duties seriously!

[Guest Amber]

Yes i deffo had more cat visitors in the brief period i was dog-less.

 

funny, as today when i was tidying up the front garden, i kept getting a nasty whiff and then found a large amount of cat poo in the border Orange Cat is the culprit I'm sure.

 

I used to throw things like gardening gloves at him when i got the chance, I've never been quick enough with the hose, sometimes i chase him off myself...but he's hardly been visible recently, or maybe cunningly does his biz early doors before we're up.

[dostacos]

 

Here in California, hit a dog with your car, you need to help it, or try to find the owner. hit a cat...it is road kill. Same with dog on dog kill or attack is a bad thing, dog on cat oh well

[Guest GreyOrchard]

Thanks that's interesting, i like the quotes.

 

She already knows and responds to leave it (on leash...) . Unfortunately i don't have any stunt cats available for practice. If we pass one that is sitting quietly i practice leave, but that doesn't solve off leash chasing in the garden, if that situation arises. She is quite biddable though in general.

 

We are practising ignoring bunnies, but with less success!

 

For the moment, it might be best to stick with just cats. Ignoring bunnies is admirable but a bit ambitious! It sounds like you are doing fine so far. If you see your greyhound begin to chase the cat (which is different than being curious about it) then try the "leave it" command just to see what she does.

Edited September 9, 2015 by GreyOrchard