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Manyana13's Avatar
Catsey Senior
 
Cats owned: MainecoonXSiamese boys & lucky dip
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 400
24-06-2010, 10:39 PM   #11

Re: Help please!! Cats not liking new puppy.


Quote:
Originally Posted by random
Lots of time and patience, it can take a while and is likely to be a slow development. On the plus side the cats are quite young so are likely to be more adaptable.

The more they are around the pup the quicker they will get used to her, so if they are never in, it will take longer. Try keeping them in the same room for a while each day and the pup out of her crate. Let her get hit on the nose if needs be, just supervise carefully and make sure the cats have somewhere (high) to get out of the way if they want to.
Thanks for your reply. I think you are right, I should let them spend bursts of supervised time closer together. When I read your reply I realised that I have been keeping them apart when possible (eg. keeping puppy in her play pen). To be honest I think all she needs is a smack on the nose and I rekon they will at least know where they all stand!!



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Catsey Veteran
 
Cats owned: 1
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 4,394
24-06-2010, 10:40 PM   #12

Re: Help please!! Cats not liking new puppy.


I dont believe that cats and dogs cant get on. I think its down to what an owner will tolerate, if they allow the bahaviour the animals will continue to exhibit it.



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Manyana13's Avatar
Catsey Senior
 
Cats owned: MainecoonXSiamese boys & lucky dip
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 400
24-06-2010, 10:46 PM   #13

Re: Help please!! Cats not liking new puppy.


Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsH
When we brought Morgan home our cats behaved just like yours, they stayed out more, were very suspicious and uptight. To be honest 2 weeks isn't very long, it's a big adjustment for them to make, but ours came round enough to spend the bulk of their time indoors again after a month or so.

My daughter reckons that it's hard for cats and dogs to trust each other as they speak different languages, their body language is different and so on. What sort of nature do your cats have normally? Our problem was that ours weren't confident cats but we thought that as they were still young (only 3 years) it would work out ok. We'd had cats with a dog before and the dog was either put firmly in her place or was pestered for a game by a particularly confident big-boned puss.

But (brace yourself ) 2 years further on and it hasn't got much better. If we see him, Morgan can be stopped with verbal commands but his intent is always to hassle them. He probably wants to play but his games are rather rough and not fair on the cats. They don't come into the sitting room unless the dog's asleep and they fancy taking the risk. Our boy cat will squeak to wake the dog up and then run off before he can get caught, a bit of a cheeky game I think!

There's a gate on the stairs so Morgan can't get up there and the cats, when they're indoors, spend practically all their time up there playing together or with their scratching posts and toys. It's not what we wanted but I'm not sure it'll ever change now, the cats just aren't confident enough, they've never hissed or struck out at the dog at all in the 2 years we've had him, and I'm not sure that they ever will. Fortunately my husband does all his art work upstairs so he spends hours up there every day and the cats enjoy his company.

I think we've been particularly unlucky with their relationship so far, I know loads of people whose cats and dogs have come to arrangements and get along reasonably well. All you can do is keep pupster under control so the cats don't feel too threatened, always restrain the dog rather than lifting the cat out of the way to "safety" so that she gets used to not being allowed to chase. Some dog breeds are of course more wired-up to chase but hopefully it'll all get better as time goes on.

(mine's a cocker spaniel too!)
Thanks for your reply. It has sort of put me at ease in terms of time and patience. I was expecting them to at least be tolerating each other within 2 weeks! And i think that was an ambitious expectation! The problem I have with Poppy (the puppy) is that she is dam fast too!! 2 of my 3 cats are pretty dominant and confident, so I thought they would be fine from the onset. They have been with bigger dogs of family. Amazing the chaos a small puppy can cause!x



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MrsH's Avatar
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Cats owned: 2 blue-eyed moggies
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 2,555
24-06-2010, 10:57 PM   #14

Re: Help please!! Cats not liking new puppy.


Quote:
Originally Posted by borderdawn
I dont believe that cats and dogs cant get on. I think its down to what an owner will tolerate, if they allow the bahaviour the animals will continue to exhibit it.
I quite agree. It's just harder with some animal personalities than with others.



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