This is a long term, on going issue for my household. I'll try to keep it somewhat short; I'm sure I'll fail that.
I have a 4 cat, 1 dog house hold. All cats are DSH and spayed/neutered, none are declawed. The two eldest cats, Callista (female/spayed, 14 years old) and Jasio (male/neutered, 8 years old) were both established in my household before I adopted a senior dog (female/spayed, now 15 years old, medium sized mongrel of about 45 pounds) who is good with cats. Callista is familiar with dogs and mostly disregards them unless they invade her personal space, she then swats them, growls and goes up on to one her cat trees.
Jasio initially tolerated the dog, Kiska, just fine, even to the point where he would play with her. After 3 years though we had an incident. I'm not sure what the trigger was because I was napping on the couch but I awoke to Callista, Jasio and Xerxes (now deceased) absolutely wailing on the dog. They actually had her knocked over and were just ripping into her. I immediately started grabbing cats and putting them into carriers and crates so I could check the dog over. After treating Kiska's wounds which were thankfully minor I had hoped that every one had enough time to cool off. I started with letting Callista out of her crate. She grumbled a little at the dog and went atop the tallest cat tree for a good grooming session.
Then I let Xerxes out. He went and sat on the couch and continued growling in the dog's direction for a good 5 minutes. Once he had cooled off and started grooming himself I let Jasio out, who instantly went after the dog again in a screaming, howling rage.
Once again all three had to go back into crates and I called the animal hospital for emergency doses of alprazolam (Xanax) to get us through the night until I could bring them in for exams the next day.
It should be noted that I had 2 foster kittens in the house at the time (one who failed and still lives with us). It appears that at the time of the initial attack they were sleeping on the love seat, and they didn't move from their spot until well after all the other cats were drugged.
I bathed the dog since she had rolled in the dirt during morning walks and I thought perhaps they were threatened by her smelling weird.
The attacks continued, and I could not leave the cats and dog alone with out separating, which is hard in an apartment with no doors other than the bathroom. In every instance Jasio initiates the attack, and I have been unable to tell what triggers it. The dog might be sleeping and he will attack. Coming back in from walks? Attack. Drinking from the water dish? Attack. Looking out the window? Attack. When Xerxes was alive he would come in the moment Jasio howls and attack along side him, which would bring Callista into the fray.
My two youngest cats, The Niblet (female/spayed, 2 years old) and Hector (male/neutered, 9 months old) have never shown any aggression or participated in any attacks. Indeed, they often sleep with the dog and will play with her tail.
Jasio is the cat that always starts it. He is big, over 13 pounds and not fat, a resource guarder and a bully. He will bully the other cats to take sleeping spots, and if I didn't put everyone in crates for meal times he would bully them away from food. Right now he is trying to bully me into feeding him dinner early, and will nip (while purring the whole time), paw me, get in my way and generally be annoying to get what he wants. If another cat were to come up and try to beg from me while Jasio is doing so he will swat them with claws in and give a warning bite while vocalizing what I can only describe as a complaint.
When this issue first started after a week of Xanax for the cats and keeping every one separated unless supervised I decided that Kiska needed to stay somewhere else long enough for everyone to calm down. She lived with my friends for over a month and we very slowly re-introduced her the household with play dates. When she finally moved back in everything seemed nervous but OK, but after a couple of months the attacks resumed. The vets and I finally decided that drugs were going to have to be involved long term. Xerxes was on Prozac for nearly a year before we were able to wean him off of it. Jasio did not respond well to Prozac so we switched him over to phenobarbital and that seemed to work for nearly a year. Then he broke through it.
Now he is on lorazepam (ativan) and while he is always a little drunk and extra cuddly he seems to be doing rather well.
I don't have anything against medicating for behavior issues in the short term, but I would strongly prefer that in the long term he gets off the drugs and we solve this behavior issue without them.
When Jasio attacks he usually starts with a long, drawn out howl. He will puff his tail out and stalk while hissing or more usually howling, then launch himself at the dog. They have somewhat ritualized the confrontations, where the dog puts her head down and mostly closes her eyes and assumes an appeasement posture until Jasio attacks. Then she snaps in his direction while trying to back away or run past him and he swats, bites and screams at her.
In every case that I witness this I will scoop him up (and yes I am very aware of the risks of him re-directing the aggression to me. So far I have been very lucky) and hold him until he calms. Usually I have to pet him to de-puff his coat along his spine and tail, and once his coat is flat again I can usually set him down without the attack resuming. When he attacks he is so amped with adrenaline that his legs shake uncontrollably and he is totally focused on the dog. I never use a "reassuring voice" when he is in attack mode (or really ever, now that I think about it) but just try to keep my tone conversational and light.
Posture wise he stands straight legged in the back end, ears off to the side, tail up at the base then draped straight down to slightly back and he approaches low in the front end with his head up.
I am at my wits end with this situation. It isn't fair to my dog, it isn't fair to Jasio or other cats, it isn't fair to me. Despite the medications Jasio has been more reactive lately, and the dog's health is in the decline overall. She is hypothyroid, has IBD, gets recurrent urinary tract infections (common enough in older female dogs) and has some other issues that are undiagnosed at this time. She is in early liver failure (and vet can't figure out why) so probably doesn't have much longer for this world. Sometimes I wonder if Jasio is reacting to her poor health, sometimes I wonder if he has just gone off the cliff.
If anyone has some advice I'd love to hear it. At this point I just want to make my dog's final year or so as comfortable as possible, and for Jasio to not be so stressed out in general.
I have a 4 cat, 1 dog house hold. All cats are DSH and spayed/neutered, none are declawed. The two eldest cats, Callista (female/spayed, 14 years old) and Jasio (male/neutered, 8 years old) were both established in my household before I adopted a senior dog (female/spayed, now 15 years old, medium sized mongrel of about 45 pounds) who is good with cats. Callista is familiar with dogs and mostly disregards them unless they invade her personal space, she then swats them, growls and goes up on to one her cat trees.
Jasio initially tolerated the dog, Kiska, just fine, even to the point where he would play with her. After 3 years though we had an incident. I'm not sure what the trigger was because I was napping on the couch but I awoke to Callista, Jasio and Xerxes (now deceased) absolutely wailing on the dog. They actually had her knocked over and were just ripping into her. I immediately started grabbing cats and putting them into carriers and crates so I could check the dog over. After treating Kiska's wounds which were thankfully minor I had hoped that every one had enough time to cool off. I started with letting Callista out of her crate. She grumbled a little at the dog and went atop the tallest cat tree for a good grooming session.
Then I let Xerxes out. He went and sat on the couch and continued growling in the dog's direction for a good 5 minutes. Once he had cooled off and started grooming himself I let Jasio out, who instantly went after the dog again in a screaming, howling rage.
Once again all three had to go back into crates and I called the animal hospital for emergency doses of alprazolam (Xanax) to get us through the night until I could bring them in for exams the next day.
It should be noted that I had 2 foster kittens in the house at the time (one who failed and still lives with us). It appears that at the time of the initial attack they were sleeping on the love seat, and they didn't move from their spot until well after all the other cats were drugged.
I bathed the dog since she had rolled in the dirt during morning walks and I thought perhaps they were threatened by her smelling weird.
The attacks continued, and I could not leave the cats and dog alone with out separating, which is hard in an apartment with no doors other than the bathroom. In every instance Jasio initiates the attack, and I have been unable to tell what triggers it. The dog might be sleeping and he will attack. Coming back in from walks? Attack. Drinking from the water dish? Attack. Looking out the window? Attack. When Xerxes was alive he would come in the moment Jasio howls and attack along side him, which would bring Callista into the fray.
My two youngest cats, The Niblet (female/spayed, 2 years old) and Hector (male/neutered, 9 months old) have never shown any aggression or participated in any attacks. Indeed, they often sleep with the dog and will play with her tail.
Jasio is the cat that always starts it. He is big, over 13 pounds and not fat, a resource guarder and a bully. He will bully the other cats to take sleeping spots, and if I didn't put everyone in crates for meal times he would bully them away from food. Right now he is trying to bully me into feeding him dinner early, and will nip (while purring the whole time), paw me, get in my way and generally be annoying to get what he wants. If another cat were to come up and try to beg from me while Jasio is doing so he will swat them with claws in and give a warning bite while vocalizing what I can only describe as a complaint.
When this issue first started after a week of Xanax for the cats and keeping every one separated unless supervised I decided that Kiska needed to stay somewhere else long enough for everyone to calm down. She lived with my friends for over a month and we very slowly re-introduced her the household with play dates. When she finally moved back in everything seemed nervous but OK, but after a couple of months the attacks resumed. The vets and I finally decided that drugs were going to have to be involved long term. Xerxes was on Prozac for nearly a year before we were able to wean him off of it. Jasio did not respond well to Prozac so we switched him over to phenobarbital and that seemed to work for nearly a year. Then he broke through it.
Now he is on lorazepam (ativan) and while he is always a little drunk and extra cuddly he seems to be doing rather well.
I don't have anything against medicating for behavior issues in the short term, but I would strongly prefer that in the long term he gets off the drugs and we solve this behavior issue without them.
When Jasio attacks he usually starts with a long, drawn out howl. He will puff his tail out and stalk while hissing or more usually howling, then launch himself at the dog. They have somewhat ritualized the confrontations, where the dog puts her head down and mostly closes her eyes and assumes an appeasement posture until Jasio attacks. Then she snaps in his direction while trying to back away or run past him and he swats, bites and screams at her.
In every case that I witness this I will scoop him up (and yes I am very aware of the risks of him re-directing the aggression to me. So far I have been very lucky) and hold him until he calms. Usually I have to pet him to de-puff his coat along his spine and tail, and once his coat is flat again I can usually set him down without the attack resuming. When he attacks he is so amped with adrenaline that his legs shake uncontrollably and he is totally focused on the dog. I never use a "reassuring voice" when he is in attack mode (or really ever, now that I think about it) but just try to keep my tone conversational and light.
Posture wise he stands straight legged in the back end, ears off to the side, tail up at the base then draped straight down to slightly back and he approaches low in the front end with his head up.
I am at my wits end with this situation. It isn't fair to my dog, it isn't fair to Jasio or other cats, it isn't fair to me. Despite the medications Jasio has been more reactive lately, and the dog's health is in the decline overall. She is hypothyroid, has IBD, gets recurrent urinary tract infections (common enough in older female dogs) and has some other issues that are undiagnosed at this time. She is in early liver failure (and vet can't figure out why) so probably doesn't have much longer for this world. Sometimes I wonder if Jasio is reacting to her poor health, sometimes I wonder if he has just gone off the cliff.
If anyone has some advice I'd love to hear it. At this point I just want to make my dog's final year or so as comfortable as possible, and for Jasio to not be so stressed out in general.
