fiwen30
Well-Known Member
Can’t believe I’m having to write this!
My rough collie/Jack Russell just turned 11. He’s starting to feel his age, and has been on Gabapentin for arthritis for a year now. He was raised alongside my old cat since he was a puppy, and learnt and was taught to be very respectful of cats - I taught him ‘leave it’, to take his eyes & focus off the cat if he was being too intent; and the cat followed it up by standing his ground rather than running away, and giving out a smack on the nose if the pup got overly sniffy. The result was a grown dog to whom a cat is as interesting as a grey rock, as long as they leave him alone.
The dog and my old cat lived in harmony for 7 years, till the cat had to be PTS. We then went on to adopt an older adult cat, who was initially petrified of the dog, but once she realised he had zero interest in her, they both mutually ignore each other, and cohabit just fine.
We then adopted a kitten, who is now a 3 year old cat. Again, we refreshed the dog on ‘leave it’, and made sure to play with the kitten in ways which did not include the dog, his toys, or his beds. They weren’t left alone together for about 6 months, at which point the kitten was old enough to start going outside. We moved house a year ago, and both cats have been kept indoors. It was a year ago that our dog had his cruciate surgery, and started on Gabapentin.
In the last few months, I’ve noticed that the dog’s tolerance level for the younger cat is decreasing. The younger cat picks on the older cat a bit - she actively dislikes him, and has no desire for him to be anywhere near her, and so he pretends to pounce on her, and tries to poke at her to make her run, and is generally a bit of an obnoxious young cat with tons of energy.
When the younger cat is feeling particularly frisky or excited, he’ll try to sniff the dog’s face as he’s lying down, or try to rub up against him - generally looking for attention or interaction. The dog never wants to interact with cats, and so always looked worried, but has started lifting his lip at the cat, who has no clue what that sign means. When I’m around, I keep an eye on the cat, and can tell when he’s thinking about bothering the dog, and can usually head him off, or come over and body block between them and scoot the cat away. But this morning, I wasn’t quite quick enough, and the cat was already sniffing at the dog’s nose as he lay on the rug, and I saw the lip going up.
I said ‘oi!’ at them both, which would usually result in the cat darting away, and the dog taking himself to his bed where he doesn’t get molested, but this time the dog also chanced in a bit of a growl and an air snap at the cat as he went.
I don’t like seeing my dog snap at my cat. I also don’t want the dog to think it’s his job to keep the cat from molesting him - shouldn’t that be my job? But then again, the cat doesn’t understand what an initial ‘leave me alone’ sign is (lifted lip), whereas he DOES understand a growl and being snapped at - can this ever be a tolerable level of communication between a cat and a dog? I also don’t want the dog to think that it’s acceptable to escalate his behaviour towards the cat - it felt like the snap was a reaction to my telling the cat off, as if the dog thought it was ok to have a go at him, because I was having a go at him; but I’m not sure if I’m humanising that too much!
This is maybe a once every few days occurrence, but I really don’t want this pattern of behaviour to escalate, but I’m not quite sure what I should be doing?
Partner doesn’t want the cats going outside, as the garden isn’t secure yet. His solution would be to get another kitten for the younger cat to play with(!). While I’m sure that the younger cat would greatly enjoy his own playmate (humans can only be available for so long, after all), the older cat would be absolutely horrified, and I’d be worried that both young cats would gang up on both her and the dog, rather than ignoring them in favour of each other. But if anyone has any ideas on a 3rd cat, then I’m open to hearing them!
I’ll also speak to/take the dog along, either to our regular vet or our vet physio, and make sure he’s still on an appropriate amount of pain medication - he’s on a low dose of Gabapentin right now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if his tolerance has dropped due to discomfort.
Sorry, that was a very long winded way to say ‘my lovely natured, well-adjusted dog snapped at my cat, and it freaked me out more than I expected’!
My rough collie/Jack Russell just turned 11. He’s starting to feel his age, and has been on Gabapentin for arthritis for a year now. He was raised alongside my old cat since he was a puppy, and learnt and was taught to be very respectful of cats - I taught him ‘leave it’, to take his eyes & focus off the cat if he was being too intent; and the cat followed it up by standing his ground rather than running away, and giving out a smack on the nose if the pup got overly sniffy. The result was a grown dog to whom a cat is as interesting as a grey rock, as long as they leave him alone.
The dog and my old cat lived in harmony for 7 years, till the cat had to be PTS. We then went on to adopt an older adult cat, who was initially petrified of the dog, but once she realised he had zero interest in her, they both mutually ignore each other, and cohabit just fine.
We then adopted a kitten, who is now a 3 year old cat. Again, we refreshed the dog on ‘leave it’, and made sure to play with the kitten in ways which did not include the dog, his toys, or his beds. They weren’t left alone together for about 6 months, at which point the kitten was old enough to start going outside. We moved house a year ago, and both cats have been kept indoors. It was a year ago that our dog had his cruciate surgery, and started on Gabapentin.
In the last few months, I’ve noticed that the dog’s tolerance level for the younger cat is decreasing. The younger cat picks on the older cat a bit - she actively dislikes him, and has no desire for him to be anywhere near her, and so he pretends to pounce on her, and tries to poke at her to make her run, and is generally a bit of an obnoxious young cat with tons of energy.
When the younger cat is feeling particularly frisky or excited, he’ll try to sniff the dog’s face as he’s lying down, or try to rub up against him - generally looking for attention or interaction. The dog never wants to interact with cats, and so always looked worried, but has started lifting his lip at the cat, who has no clue what that sign means. When I’m around, I keep an eye on the cat, and can tell when he’s thinking about bothering the dog, and can usually head him off, or come over and body block between them and scoot the cat away. But this morning, I wasn’t quite quick enough, and the cat was already sniffing at the dog’s nose as he lay on the rug, and I saw the lip going up.
I said ‘oi!’ at them both, which would usually result in the cat darting away, and the dog taking himself to his bed where he doesn’t get molested, but this time the dog also chanced in a bit of a growl and an air snap at the cat as he went.
I don’t like seeing my dog snap at my cat. I also don’t want the dog to think it’s his job to keep the cat from molesting him - shouldn’t that be my job? But then again, the cat doesn’t understand what an initial ‘leave me alone’ sign is (lifted lip), whereas he DOES understand a growl and being snapped at - can this ever be a tolerable level of communication between a cat and a dog? I also don’t want the dog to think that it’s acceptable to escalate his behaviour towards the cat - it felt like the snap was a reaction to my telling the cat off, as if the dog thought it was ok to have a go at him, because I was having a go at him; but I’m not sure if I’m humanising that too much!
This is maybe a once every few days occurrence, but I really don’t want this pattern of behaviour to escalate, but I’m not quite sure what I should be doing?
Partner doesn’t want the cats going outside, as the garden isn’t secure yet. His solution would be to get another kitten for the younger cat to play with(!). While I’m sure that the younger cat would greatly enjoy his own playmate (humans can only be available for so long, after all), the older cat would be absolutely horrified, and I’d be worried that both young cats would gang up on both her and the dog, rather than ignoring them in favour of each other. But if anyone has any ideas on a 3rd cat, then I’m open to hearing them!
I’ll also speak to/take the dog along, either to our regular vet or our vet physio, and make sure he’s still on an appropriate amount of pain medication - he’s on a low dose of Gabapentin right now, and it wouldn’t surprise me if his tolerance has dropped due to discomfort.
Sorry, that was a very long winded way to say ‘my lovely natured, well-adjusted dog snapped at my cat, and it freaked me out more than I expected’!
