Resident cat not getting along with new dog

[rad65]

Sorry that this got long, brevity is not my strong suit.

I have had two cats, Memphis and Tails, for 10 years. Outside of a betta fish a few years ago, they have been the only pets in my apartment. I recently adopted a mini australian shepherd, Cassie, from the shelter that I volunteer at and have been keeping her separated from the cats. Cassie gets the living room and front bedroom, and the cats get the kitchen, dining room, and back bedroom.

Memphis has been reacting normally, only hissing at Cassie when she's close to him and being extra bouncy and loud, and I'm pretty confident that he will come around eventually. Tails is not reacting so well. He often sits by the baby gate in the hallway and hisses/angry meows at Cassie whenever he sees her. He will also rush at the gate and swat at Cassie if she gets too close. There's a blanket over the gate so they can't see each other, and that's helping to limit how often they see each other. I did some light introductions by having my sister come over and hold/pet Cassie to keep her calm while I hold Tails in my lap a few feet away, since I'm sure Cassie's boundless energy and wiggliness are adding to the stress. Tails wasn't able to swat because of the way I was holding him, but he was constantly making angry meows and shedding profusely (he's already a shedding machine).

Tails' general behavior has gotten a little better over time, but only marginally. The first day that he saw Cassie, he was extremely upset for the next 30 minutes. He was growling and hissing at me, and even swiping at me a bit, which is not normal for him at all. This was all after I had put Cassie back in her bedroom and closed the door. Since then, he seems to be fine as soon as he stops seeing her, but his reaction to her is still very bad when he does see her.

Tails has always been a bit skittish of new situations, starting as soon as he grew out of his kitten phase. He still growls and runs away when he hears my front door buzzer, and even scares himself when he sees his own shadow on the ground. I live alone and am a very quiet person, so he must have gotten used to that over the last decade.

I have a feliway plugin and a thundershirt, but neither seem to be working that well. Tails is still angry and swatty when he has the shirt on, and the feliway plugin doesn't seem to be working as well as it did when I introduced the cats to each other 10 years ago. I adopted Cassie at the end of February, so it's been 7 weeks. My goal is to have three pets who get along well enough that I can remove the baby gate and let them interact freely while I'm home. I understand that there's a good chance they will never be friends, but I don't want them attacking each other all day (it would be a pretty even fight, Tails is 16lbs and Cassie is only 21lbs).

Does anybody have tips/tricks/advice for how to deal with this? When I search for "resident cat attacking new dog," I only get results about dogs attacking cats. Apparently the world doesn't recognize how viscous our little kitties can get when they're upset about something!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Did you check out the TCS article about introducing cats and dogs? If not, maybe there are some tips in it that will help you until other members who have dealt with this come along and offer their first-hand tips/experiences.
How To Safely Introduce A Cat And A Dog

 

[rad65]

Thanks for the link, I did check that article out before posting. The article still focuses more on large dogs who present safety concerns to cats, rather than cats who display aggression toward dogs. It kind of rehashes the information that I already know: start slow, go in stages, go back a stage if the current stage isn't working. I wasn't sure if there were any other tips or tricks for the cat side of the equation when the dog is relatively calm and completely non-aggressive. The only issues I have with the dog are that she's becoming a little scared of the cat because of the aggressive behavior.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I figured you had seen the article, but it was worth a shot just in case. I do think holding Tails against his will while having Cassie in the same area in relative close proximity is probably not helping matters any. Unless Tails loves being held, I am sure this makes him feel like he is completely helpless and out of control. For some cats, the thunder shirt has a similar affect. Tails could see both of these things as 'torture', particularly under the circumstances.

Have you done the site swapping routine, just like you would do with two cats? It doesn't sound to me like they are ready to be in the same room at the same time just yet.

fionasmom and Animal Freak might have some suggestions for you. I know I read threads from them about introducing a dog to residents cats, and I think in both cases it was the cats who were being aggressive not the dogs. Here's hoping they see your post soon!

 

[rad65]

Thanks to the current work from home guidelines in my state, I have been doing some swapping every day. I bring Cassie into my work room for about half my work day every day, which is where the cats spend a lot of their time. At the same time, I keep the baby gate open so the cats can wander into the front section where Cassie spends most of her day. The front room is where all the sunlight is, so I know the cats go in there.

I hadn't considered that Tails might really hate being held in the same room as Cassie. He loves being held by me all the time and usually crawls onto my lap within 5 seconds of me sitting down anywhere, so I thought it would be a calming experience for him.

Things were so much easier last time, Tails was 8 weeks old when I brought him home and he just annoyed Memphis into submission until Memphis stopped hating him

Do you think it would help if I started feeding Cassie and Tails on opposite sides of the baby gate every day so they associate each other with something positive? I already put Tails' wet food plate about 15 feet away from the gate since that's where I always fed him and eats without any problem, but Cassie isn't usually on the other side of the gate when he's eating.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I hadn't considered that Tails might really hate being held in the same room as Cassie. He loves being held by me all the time and usually crawls onto my lap within 5 seconds of me sitting down anywhere, so I thought it would be a calming experience for him.

Since he doesn't seemed to be 'calmed' by it in the presences of Cassie, I would say it is not having the same affect as normal - especially since you said you were kind of restraining him, correct? However, make sure he gets to do that without Cassie's presence since he likes it. Could lead to something beneficial down the road...

Do you think it would help if I started feeding Cassie and Tails on opposite sides of the baby gate every day so they associate each other with something positive?

It certainly can't hurt to try. Initially with the blanket just enough off of the ground to enable a 'peek'. And, far, far away from each other at this point. And, if Tails goes crazy, put the blanket back down. Then, keep trying.

EDIT: what kind of perches, cat trees, high places could Tails go to when you get to a place that you bring Cassie into the same room for a minute or so? Letting Tails watch Cassie from afar - on his own terms - might help, when you get to that point.

 

[goingpostal]

Have you had Cassie and the cat loose together at all? Preferably somewhere the cat has high ground. Curious how they react to each other. I occasionally have strange dogs through and brought both my current cats into a house with two high energy pest dogs of my own. We just had a friends aussie for a week recently. That dog wanted to chase the cats pretty badly and the cats had their own little freakout at strange dog but I had them around each other loose by the end of it and with my two ornery mutts to boot. Aussies are smart and trainable so it shouldn't be too hard to teach the dog to ignore the cat, lay down or come to you on command even with distraction, have her on leash with either a saavy helper or attached to something during intros though. The dog will forgive an attack by the cat but not as likely vice versa and you don't want to allow any chasing behavior.

 

[fionasmom]

I don't think that you are necessarily doing anything wrong, but Tails is not comfortable with the dog and it could take some time for that to happen. He is afraid of the dog and feels that he needs to defend himself, especially from a high energy dog like an aussie.

The first dog I ever owned that was really mine was an aussie rescued male. He was the most intelligent dog that I ever owned despite years of GSDs. He probably knew 100 words and sometimes DH and I had to speak in a foreign language until he mastered that. BUT he was also the most persistent about bothering the cats despite the fact that he completely understood what he was not supposed to do. I had to put him in timeouts until he complied, but then things were fine and he obeyed his command, "kitty no no."

When I have brought a new dog into the house, I have always placed the burden of behaving on the dog, even if the dog is a lovely, kind one. The cat will not adjust to the dog and it is important that the dog be trained to become obedient around the cat. The fact that your new pup is bouncy and loud is enough to put the cat off from forming a friendship. If you allow them in the same room which may not be a bad idea, the dog has to be under control and the cat has to have someplace safe to sit, as was said. Putting the dog on a leash so that you can restrain and train him and having a cat tree that the cat can access might help. Tails may never like the dog. I have had that scenario as well. One of my calicos years ago never walked by my GSD without smacking him in the face just for good measure but he was trained not to react so she just went on her way happily.

 

[Animal Freak]

To be honest, if you're only seven days in and they can be within sight of each other without a fight, I'd say you're doing pretty good. I have three cats and a Chihuahua x Pom. The dog is around the same size as the cats, so that helped, but it was still a long road. I know how scary it is to see your animals fight and how frustrating it is when it doesn't feel like you're getting anywhere, but this really is just the beginning. It took a year before my most skittish cat stopped lunging and swiping at the dog. Not to see that there weren't improvement or that it didn't decrease, but it was probably over a year before it really stopped. We're now four years in. Ash has just recently finally stopped walking up to the dog, head-butting her, and then jerking back and smacking her as though he has no idea where she came from. Ember (my most skittish) pretty much pretends the dog doesn't exist. She'll walk on her, lay on her... Sometimes Ember does roll over on her back in front of Stella (dog) as though she expects the dog to pet her. Oh, the cats will still slap the dog every now and then if they're particularly touchy or if Stella runs a little too close to them, but they're all fine now.

I wish I could tell you some magic secret to make this easier, but it just comes down to time. I had no idea what I was doing when I brought Stella into the household and didn't really follow the typical introduction process. I didn't separate them or anything, but Stella came with some basic commands and a strong attachment to me so it wasn't difficult keeping an eye on her. She wasn't allowed in my room because that was the cats' safe room. She wasn't allowed to approach the cats or get in their space. My recommendation is to keep the dog away from the cats, on leash if needed, and let the cats come around in their own time. Stay calm, act like things are normal, and make sure the cats get time with you with no dog around. Make the cats always have escape routes and try to give them high spaces so that they can be in the room with the dog without having to be on the floor with her. You can use food to try to entice the cats to be around the dog, but don't force them. If you do feed them on either sides of the baby gate, start further away and work up to it. Don't push it if the cats don't want to eat so close to the dog. Try to keep the dog calm in the house, focus on play outside, do lots of training to really wear her out. It's really more about managing the dog's behavior and giving the cats the freedom they need. Then you just wait.

 

[rad65]

Thanks for the advice everybody, it sounds like I'm doing the right things but just need to have more patience and need to find better outlets to tire out Cassie before I can expect the cats to come around.

To be honest, if you're only seven days in and they can be within sight of each other without a fight, I'd say you're doing pretty good.

Just wanted to clarify that we're at 7 weeks, not 7 days.

 

[Animal Freak]

Thanks for the advice everybody, it sounds like I'm doing the right things but just need to have more patience and need to find better outlets to tire out Cassie before I can expect the cats to come around.



Just wanted to clarify that we're at 7 weeks, not 7 days.

Ah, sorry. I've no clue where I got days from. Either way, though, it's not a very long time. As I said, it took a year for my skittish cat to stop going after the dog. It can get very frustrating when it feels like you aren't getting anywhere, but you learn to look for the little things. Celebrate the days that you've had one less fight or when the cat gets an inch closer to the dog. Keep your spirits up and don't push it and it'll get better. It really is a waiting game though.