Conference misery::feline

    
    My cat who is 14 yrs was introduced to my lab and they got along fine. My
    lab was 8 or 9 weeks old when I brought her into the house and the one
    thing I never did was separate the two.  The cat began to see the puppy
    everyday at her own pace and when she was bored she just walked away.
    
    Now the Lab is 100+ lbs and they both get along fine.  It's only when 
    she (the lab) see's me when I get home and gets all excited and my cat
    runs for cover.  Because my dog was brought up with cats she would
    never hurt them she just likes to play and the cat seems to know this.
    
    The other thing that spooks my cat is when the dog is on the Kitchen
    tile floor and slides every which way.  That sound gets both the dog
    and cat running in different directions.  Your cat shouldn't have any
    problems if they are introduced slowly. 
    
    
    Matt

    Yep - 
    
    My recommendation is to let mother nature do it's thing.
    The kitty will certainly be able to put the dog in it's place.
    
    I recall having a cat and a dog, and I think the cat spiked the dog
    once (once!), and the dog never forgot the dnagers involved with 
    pestering the cat.  :-)  I remember the cat growling at the dog, and
    the tails stopped wagging, and dog-ears went limp, and the dog made
    himself scarce.
    
                   

    I'll echo the advice given in .1 and .2, with one caveat:
    
    Some kitties are not the type to defend themselves.  My Sherry would
    not, never did, never would reach out and bop my Golden retriever in
    the nose even when she REALLY deserved it.  He's just sorta try to get
    away or worse, stay there and be trompled.
    
    Don't assume that just because you have a young cat that he'll defend
    himself.  Puppies (especially of the big breeds) can be clumsy, cluzty,
    nosy things and can do some damage in a hurry without meaning to.  Keep
    an eye on things, but be ready to step in and discipline the puppy
    yourself if the cat won't do it.  This also holds true if the cat just
    runs away and hides - you need to ensure that the dog knows that there
    are limits - we generally taught our dogs that chasing any cat was a
    really bad idea.  
    
    Good luck!  
    
    Dana

    kinda related to the subject...
    
    when we lived in the Charlestown Marina, a neighbor sailboat had a 
    golden retriever fully grown. Wellie, my cat, was about 6-9 months 
    old then. The goldie's sailboat was shrink-wrapped for winter so it 
    definitely was cozier than ours which was without. There were may sunny 
    days where I would find both Wellie and Goldie sitting in the cockpit
    sunbathing and napping!!
                                       
    It was amusing to watch!

    What about a 4 year old only cat and a sorta grown up sheltie dog.
    A have a situation where I might be getting a roommate, but she
    has a dog. How can I tell before she moves in what will happen? She
    is coming over tonight with the dog. If the cat just hisses or ignores
    the dog will be ok. What if the cat freaks out.  Is that a bad sign.
    I love Chief more then anything else and dont want to hurt him.
    
    thanks
    sandy

    Sandy,
    
    I understand your concern.  Last week my sister came for a visit and
    she brought her very small dog with her.  Bruce (the cat) had never
    seen a dog before and we were not sure what would happen.  We made sure
    there was a safe place for the cat to retreat to if he didn't like the
    dog.  Well, the dog walked into the house, completely ignored the cat,
    but they cat became unglued.  I've never seen anything like it!  He was
    so freaked out he literally s**t his pants!  He became all puffed up
    and made noises I've never heard before.  All the while the dog still
    ignored him (how to they know to be afraid?).  So I brought the cat to
    the "safe" room after I unglued him from the window frame.  I guess
    that answered my desire to get a dog some day -- no way!
    
    - Lauri
    

	Lauri, your cat wears pants????? :-)


Glen
    

    Well this is how it went.. Similar to Lauri's situation. Dog comes
    in house. Dog has no clue that cat is around. Cat puffs up and hides
    behind the couch, groaning sometimes. peaks out sometimes.   later
    in the night a bit better.  Dog downstairs with me, cat is upstairs
    and is looking down over the railing (My family room is two story
    with an overlook from the upstairs hallway).  Cat watches dog. During
    night dog is locked in room with his owner, so cat seems ok.  I am
    going to try to make this work,. The rule is that when both at in
    the house unsupervised the dog stays locked up for now. My new 
    roommate seems ok with this.  I am hoping that they will learn to
    ignore each other and all will be well.  The dog, by the way is
    10  years old and is a sheltie.  

    Well here is the latest. Went home for lunch and it was raining so
    I brought the cat in.  When I did the dog starting barking. Chief
    "puffed"  and moaned and then the dog stopped and each sorta went
    their own way. From a distance Chief will watch the dog. The dog
    does not seem to care.  I am still afraid when I am not home to
    have them both roam the house though I have not seen any agression
    yet.  I did put the dog in a room and let Chief have the run of
    the house.  At least they are not killing each other
    
    sandy

    re .7 - Glen
    
    I wish my cat wore pants, it would have saved me from washing the
    curtains :-)
    
    - Lauri
    

    Well now Chief has decided that under my bed is the best place. Though
    this morning he was on the bed with me.  I cannot let him out due
    to the really bad wet weather here.  The dog though, is going at
    around noon today until probably tomorrow night (she is taking it to
    her boyfriends for a while).  I am hoping that this under-the-bed thing
    eventually stops. According to my roommate though, Chief did briefly
    pop his head out.  I dont think this is going to be too bad.  We do
    have a new problem though. THe dog eats the cat food.  I dont want to
    have to make "feeding times" or move the food to my bedroom all the
    time (I do have a bowl there right now).  I guess we are going to
    have to water-squirt the dog when he goes near the food
    
    Sandy

	Lauri, <grin>..... :-)
    

>    have a new problem though. THe dog eats the cat food.  I dont want to
>    have to make "feeding times" or move the food to my bedroom all the
>    time (I do have a bowl there right now).  I guess we are going to
>    have to water-squirt the dog when he goes near the food
    
>    Sandy

     Sandy,

     In our house, we have dogs and cats (multiples of both) - we found with
     the dogs, they *really* like the catfood but the vet said it's not
     good for them - so we have one room in the house where the cats' food
     is put down and the dogs are restricted from going in there (very
     easy actually, just a couple of small boards placed in the doorway
     that they *know* they can't cross/jump over !) - it works fine in
     our house because we've got the extra room, but when we didn't have
     the extra, we'd put the cats' food up on a table that they could jump
     up to but the dogs couldn't reach.

     just some ideas for your perdicament !
      Debbi

    
    
    
    	When I brought my puppy home I knew I would need to change the
    	location of the kittys food. I placed them on the dryer and it
    	works great!
    
    	SueJ

    We trained our dog that the cat's food was *off limits*.  It can be
    done.  Just like anything else you don't want the dog to do, you have
    to be consistent and eagle-eyed until she gets the message.
    
    In our case Cally go so good that even if the tennis ball rolled near
    the cat's food, she would not try to retrieve it.  She'd give you this
    really funny look like 'I *know* I'd get killed if I got any closer
    than here!'.  She wouldn't even *look* at the cat's food - she'd make
    this really exaggerated hesad gesture away from the food dish.
    
    Dogs can be trained - cats, well, you know.
    
    Dana

    Well at one point this weekend cat was sleeping on chair tucked under
    dining room table. and maybe 5 to 6 feet away the dog was sleeping
    against the wall. It was cute, but still if the cat and dog are both
    up and about the cat will arch his back and fluff. He still spends
    plenty of time under my bed as well. We also had to put a small gate
    in the hallway upstairs to prevent the dog from coming into my
    bedroom where I now have the cat food. The other issue is that the
    dog pooped in my closet. I think that was a territorial thing.
    other than that, they just keep their distance for the most part and
    noone has attacked anyone yet. I just hope for the day when the cat
    will not be afraid at all and will feel happy to always be in the same
    room as the dog.
    
    Sandy

    I don't think the cat will ever be "happy" in the same room with
    the dog, but will certainly learn to relax and share the room with the
    dog.  I have 2 cats and 3 dogs.  They all learned to share the same
    space with each other, and some get along quite well.  But the
    slightest bit of disturbance in the room will put them all on alert -
    the cats think the dogs made the noise and are going to target them
    next, and the dogs are pretty sure the cats made the noise and are
    going to attack them and scratch their eyes out.  
    Sarah  

    When we first brought our Sheltie (Julie) home, our cat Shadow didn't
    pay too much attention to her.   Julie was real curious about Shadow
    and would keep going up to her.  Shadow would put on this great big
    show of growling and hissing and slapping Julie in the muzzle. (No harm
    done, since Shadow has no front claws).  So, basically, Shadow ignores
    Julie, except for when they want to play.  And I believe it is all fun
    and games for the two now.   Julie tries her best to get Shadow riled
    up enough to chase her.   Usually, Shadow, just sits in one spot and
    holds her ground while Julie runs around frantically trying to get
    Shadow to play.  Julie will come up and nose Shadow, Shadow will put up
    this big hissing/growling/slapping display.  Julie will then run around
    in a circle, and come back at Shadow.  This is so funny to watch.  
    
    As far as Shadow being able to get away from Julie, we have her litter
    box in the cellar with a cat door in the basement door.  So Shadow does
    have a way out, if Julie gets too excited, but for the most part, it
    appears that Shadow enjoys the game as much as Julie does.
    
    Sarah

    Well Chief does spend an awful lot of time upstairs in my bedroom. We
    have put his food up there as well. What we have done is that once
    you get up the stairs my roommate's bedroom and bathroom is on one
    side of the hall, and the other 3 bedrooms/bath is on the other side,
    so we use her step aerobic thing across the hall on one side. It is
    about a foot tall. Stolie cannot/will not jump it, and Chief has not
    problem. As long as I dont mind the dry food in my bedroom (I can
    put in the closet) this works out well. It also gives Chief a way
    to get away from the dog. They do ok unless the dog starts barking.
    Then Chief goes and hides.  Overall, everything seems to be ok.
    
    Sandy