How do I take my dog and my cats relationship to the next level?

[Legendaryfrank]

I've had my 3 yr old greyhound Starry I adopted just about 1 year ago as well as my 10 year old rescue cat at home, and I'm wondering what the next best step is to get them to meet. He's my first dog and I've done a lot of reading online and can't seem to find the right solution.

Their first meeting at our home visit, my cat gave him a good swat to the nose and absolutely terrified him. Since then, We've had the dog have access to upstairs and the living room, the cat gets the basement up to the kitchen. They are seperated via baby gates.

They've been separate from each other until now, the dog always stays away from the gates and if the cat comes running up to the gate he will get scared and run away. I've tried to have them meet in the same room but what will happen is my cat will corner/stalk the dog and charge at him making him yelp and howl, then she'll back off. IDK if she's just reminding him whos boss or if shes actually trying to fight him. I know that the dog will clearly win that fight and it's not one I'm trying to have happen.

If the dog is upstairs in my room laying down and I let the cat come upstairs, he will be wary but he will continue laying down and even dare to sleep when shes roaming and sniffing around. Here it doesn't seem like she's trying to attack or stalk him but it seems like she could at any moment.

I have no idea what I should do next. Do I just let them be animals and hash it out and try to stop anything from happening before it's too late before it happens? Or do I keep taking tiny baby steps and have them get closer and more comfortable with eachother?

[HeyRunDog]

I think the last option is the way to go. Separating them before either gets over stressed.

[LBass]

What an interesting situation.  I'm more used to hearing about hounds being too interested/threatening to cats rather than the cat being the aggressor.  I think you are quite right to avoid letting your confident cat push your hound too far.  My bet is that if you can calm the cat and give her a chance to check out the dog without feeling threatened things will sort themselves out.  You dog is doing just what I'd want to see in a hound living with cats.

Things I might try:

1) For a while, set up a crate large enough for your hound.  This setup allows you to give them some time in the same room--I'd prefer something like a LR or BR where you can hang out with them so it's the family all together and you're there to supervise. Change up who is in the crate--sometimes the cat and sometimes the dog.  That gives each time with the scent of the other, and keeps everyone safe while allowing them close to each other.  I'm hoping that there will be lots of sniffing rather than swatting.  It may be that the cat's aggression is driven by a bit of fear and if the dog is clearly not a threat (crate), the need to prove that cat's have fangs and claws my diminish for her.

2) If your cat will wear a harness and leash that might be a way after, the crate experiment, to transition to having them together while still giving you control of your cat's aggression.  It could also be a substitute if the crate is an impossibility.

3) The other thing I would probably do even if they become safe together when you are home, is to separate them when you leave.  I have provided my cats with several areas babygated with gates that have a cat sized opening in them so the cats can always get away from the dogs if something goes wrong.  It may be more difficult to find a way to confine a cat but it can absolutely be done.

 

My first Greyhound, Piper the Perfect, was a gentle sweetie who was no threat to my confident, assertive Oriental Shorthair cat, Yoda.  They mostly ignored each other initially.  A few weeks after Piper came home, I was sitting on the floor petting him.  Suddenly Yoda, a large muscular cat, came racing through the length of the house, bounded onto Piper, dug in, and bounded off.    Yoda had done that to me and I knew it hurt a bit and was quite startling.  Poor Piper was startled and puzzled and a bit worried.  I think that Yoda, who had lived with dogs before, felt the need to demo to Piper just exactly who the boss was.  After that incident they continued to ignore each other.  I did DIY a door across the hallway that lead to the bedrooms and the cat's bath with litter box ,in order to keep them apart when I was not home--and additionally to keep Yoda from utilizing the dog door to get outside. The DIY door had to cover every inch of the width and height of the hall opening because Yoda was an extraordinary athlete and a cat firmly determined to get what he wanted.  

I think you have the building blocks of a peaceful house.  Good luck!

[Legendaryfrank]

On 8/1/2021 at 10:15 AM, LBass said:

What an interesting situation.  I'm more used to hearing about hounds being too interested/threatening to cats rather than the cat being the aggressor.  I think you are quite right to avoid letting your confident cat push your hound too far.  My bet is that if you can calm the cat and give her a chance to check out the dog without feeling threatened things will sort themselves out.  You dog is doing just what I'd want to see in a hound living with cats.

Things I might try:

1) For a while, set up a crate large enough for your hound.  This setup allows you to give them some time in the same room--I'd prefer something like a LR or BR where you can hang out with them so it's the family all together and you're there to supervise. Change up who is in the crate--sometimes the cat and sometimes the dog.  That gives each time with the scent of the other, and keeps everyone safe while allowing them close to each other.  I'm hoping that there will be lots of sniffing rather than swatting.  It may be that the cat's aggression is driven by a bit of fear and if the dog is clearly not a threat (crate), the need to prove that cat's have fangs and claws my diminish for her.

2) If your cat will wear a harness and leash that might be a way after, the crate experiment, to transition to having them together while still giving you control of your cat's aggression.  It could also be a substitute if the crate is an impossibility.

3) The other thing I would probably do even if they become safe together when you are home, is to separate them when you leave.  I have provided my cats with several areas babygated with gates that have a cat sized opening in them so the cats can always get away from the dogs if something goes wrong.  It may be more difficult to find a way to confine a cat but it can absolutely be done.

 

My first Greyhound, Piper the Perfect, was a gentle sweetie who was no threat to my confident, assertive Oriental Shorthair cat, Yoda.  They mostly ignored each other initially.  A few weeks after Piper came home, I was sitting on the floor petting him.  Suddenly Yoda, a large muscular cat, came racing through the length of the house, bounded onto Piper, dug in, and bounded off.    Yoda had done that to me and I knew it hurt a bit and was quite startling.  Poor Piper was startled and puzzled and a bit worried.  I think that Yoda, who had lived with dogs before, felt the need to demo to Piper just exactly who the boss was.  After that incident they continued to ignore each other.  I did DIY a door across the hallway that lead to the bedrooms and the cat's bath with litter box ,in order to keep them apart when I was not home--and additionally to keep Yoda from utilizing the dog door to get outside. The DIY door had to cover every inch of the width and height of the hall opening because Yoda was an extraordinary athlete and a cat firmly determined to get what he wanted.  

I think you have the building blocks of a peaceful house.  Good luck!

Thank you so much for the long and thoughtful reply and sharing your story! 

 

I've been exchanging bedding and items the whole year so I'm sure they both get the idea that they are not going to be going anywhere  I have had them swap crates in the first couple of months as well to get them used to each others scent. They will actually coexist with each other as long as one of them is lying down and not active/playful. If they are lowkey and chilling then they will keep an eye on each other but won't bother getting up to do anything, and the cat hasn't tried giving him a swipe yet if he's been calmly laying down/sleeping and I'm around.

 

The story you shared with Piper and Yoda is hilarious; it's exactly what my Luna did with Starry. I was sitting with him and petting him in one corner of the house, when my slightly overweight unathletic 10 year old rescue cat decided it'd be fun to run up and give him a good claw, then run away. She seemed like such a jerk! Since then I haven't tried the same scenario since but maybe it's worth another try seeing as it looked like Yoda only did it once to show PIper whos boss. Starry doesn't even try to fight or bark back he will just shirk into the corner and start yelping or howling because he's so scared. I feel so bad for him but it's almost comical to see such a big dog intimidated by my otherwise sweet cat. My biggest fear is if he decides enough is enough and just goes at her. The winner of that fight would be pretty clear, unfortunately and I'm not trying to find out!

Edited August 2, 2021 by Legendaryfrank

[Legendaryfrank]

On 8/1/2021 at 2:57 AM, HeyRunDog said:

I think the last option is the way to go. Separating them before either gets over stressed.

Thanks for the input! It takes a lot of close monitoring and it's a pain to keep an eye on them at all times and be afraid to even run to the bathroom without them in sight of each other, but I think you're right, it's going to keep taking small baby steps and a small leap of faith per day.

[LBass]

I will mention one other possibility, since you, to my untrained eye, have done such a great job of introductions yet things are still tense between your pair.  Earlier this year I worked with great success with a pair of ladies--one a trainer and one a certified animal behaviorist.  I turned to them for help with my 4 y/o Greyhound, Nate.  Nate is blind (PRA) and was doing a lot of growling around space, beds, petting, other living beings simply moving in his general vicinity when he was in bed.  He went into full on Cujo mode far too often for my comfort and peace of mind--snarls, teeth, lunging, even touching me with his nose at those times--pretty much everything short of actually biting me or my elderly hound, Spirit.  I needed help!  Because of his blindness, I wanted more than a trainer but there were no animal behaviorists in my area.  I found https://behaveatlanta.com/.  Amy and Lillian were great.  They DO work with cats.  They are insightful and thorough. They provide detailed written feedback after each session to support what we talked about.  We worked via Zoom, which worked out far better than I had assumed it might--I could set my PC up to give them a view of me and Nate working together.  Not inexpensive, but worth every single penny.  I haven't had Cujo in my house in months!