Dog bark causing redirected aggression/anxiety?

[catalinacat]

OK, can we all take a step back and a few deep breaths here? I do think catnap and catladyjan were just trying to understand the situation better and were looking at it from all angles to give you the best advice they could.

catalinacat I'm sorry you are dealing with the dog situation. I know you only gave the neighbor situation as context, but I really feel for you. I had neighbors that went through a quick succession of dogs that were really awful neighbors and really awful dog owners. I never had an issue with dogs prior to them moving in and by the time we moved I had a fear of large dogs. Yes, we moved because of them. I moved seventeen years ago and it took me years and years to get over it.

Can we keep the suggestions focused on how to help the cat and not how to change the neighbor or dog?

Yup that is exactly the situation, so excuse me if I feel a bit peeved when there are people wanting to defend this dog at all cost. I have zero patience left for the neighbors and anything that has to do with them, or anybody who thinks that dog ownership means letting them do whatever they want at the cost of your neighbor's sense of peace and safety.

 

[ArtNJ]

As far as no help goes, if you are correct and I think you probably are, its definitely a rare application of redirected aggression. I haven't heard of anything exactly like it, and neither has anyone else thats posted it seems. That doesn't mean your wrong. Its a reasonable theory.

So we don't know exactly what to tell you, apart from thinking about how we might handle it generally if redirected aggression caused problems with another pet in the house and analogizing that to your situation. Cat music and maybe keeping the cat in a room on the other side of the house from the dog for a day or two, is my best suggestion and should help. Its a very normal thing to give a break to reset from the redirected aggression, and it usually does help. I know you gave a bit of a break right when it happened, but if there is still stress linked with the dog, you might need a longer break.

If a break doesn't work, then thats a trickier issue and we might have to draw upon the "what to do if your cat is seriously stressed" for whatever reason guidance. But I'm not sure we are there yet. Have you tried a break from the dog noise for a day or a couple of em? Can you not do that given the size of your place?

 

[catalinacat]

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[betsygee]

MOD NOTE: Some of the posts in this thread have been edited or removed. The comments were getting too inflamed and becoming personal attacks against other members. The thread has been locked to further comments.