Cats and dogs living together, (hopefuly not) mass hysteria!

TwoQuestions

We've had a cat a the house for a good 5 years now. He's been neutered and declawed, and almost never been outside. Enter a new dog, when a couple more people moved in. She's a nice dog, and plays well with other cats so no problem there.

However, the cat is deathly afraid of the dog. He hides underneath the upstairs bed and refuses to come out while the dog is anywhere in the house. The mere sight of the dog drives the cat into a panicked frenzy to GET OUT by any means necessary.

Is there any way to make a scaredy-cat not so scaredy?

JustinSane07

If my cat is any indication, repeated exposure will eventually make them used to the other being's presence, whether it be a dog or a cat or a person. I'm not saying you should be flooding, because that can go bad, but just let the cat work it out naturally.

Werewolf Gamer

it took 3 years for my cat and my dog to become friends. We had our cat a few years before adding a dog. It took time but they just worked things out on their own.

Erandus

If you have sections of the house where you can seperate them, do so.

Twice a day, take a towel and rub down the dog with it. Place it under the cat's food bowl. The cat will become used to being exposed to the scent and associate it with pleasant things like eating. When the dog is outside, let the cat out into the dog's half of the house to sniff around. Occasionally swap them into the other animal's half of the house for a few hours. If you want to go this route, you need to keep it up for at least 3 or 4 days, possibly as much as a week, for it to have an effect.

If possible, have them meet through glass or screen door a few times. Keep a tight leash on the dog so it doesn't get excitable. Ideally have it sit or lie down if it's trained enough to stay that way around the cat, or hold onto it's collar and keep it stationary while the cat inspects it.

Elin

My cat ignored the dog for the first 2 weeks. Now he's started swatting the dog's butt when Alton (the dog) can't see him. I think there's an evil plan in the works but for now all is calm. Just let your cat work it out, it's important that the cat doesn't see you lavishing too much attention on the dog or it will go sulky and feel unloved.

TwoQuestions

@Erandus, that's a great idea. We already have them separated, but I didn't think of the towel thing. I'll have to try that.

@Elin, I make sure to pet the cat as I'm on the computer, so I'm making sure he's plenty loved. The last dog liked to chase things and hog attention, and the cat almost died from fear/loneliness. It sucked.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Kistra

Erandus wrote: »

If you have sections of the house where you can seperate them, do so.

Twice a day, take a towel and rub down the dog with it. Place it under the cat's food bowl. The cat will become used to being exposed to the scent and associate it with pleasant things like eating. When the dog is outside, let the cat out into the dog's half of the house to sniff around. Occasionally swap them into the other animal's half of the house for a few hours. If you want to go this route, you need to keep it up for at least 3 or 4 days, possibly as much as a week, for it to have an effect.

If possible, have them meet through glass or screen door a few times. Keep a tight leash on the dog so it doesn't get excitable. Ideally have it sit or lie down if it's trained enough to stay that way around the cat, or hold onto it's collar and keep it stationary while the cat inspects it.

Mostly really really good advice but I would do a few things slightly differently:
I would start by putting the towel a few feet away from the cat bowl and make sure the cat is eating before you move it closer. You don't want the cat to starve itself because it is deathly afraid of the dog smell.

Do not have the dog on a tight leash. That changes the dog's body language dramatically towards the aggressive (they tend to lean forward into the leash if it is tight) and the cat will read that (appropriately) as a scary sign. You can have the dog on a leash but it should have at least a few inches of slack unless something goes wrong with the meeting.

Richard_Dastardly

Cats and dogs have totally dissimilar body language, plus dogs are smelly, loud and hyper bastards.

Don't be surprised if they never get along. But the cat'll probably at least learn to tolerate the dog.

Erandus

Kistra wrote: »

Do not have the dog on a tight leash.

Sorry, I was using "tight leash" in the figurative sense, with a halfass attempt at a pun. I meant just don't let the dog do as it pleases and jump all over the cat, or get overly excited and move around a lot.