# Cat & Dog



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

How old are they? And who is teasing whom?


----------



## CarolSmith (Dec 23, 2020)

If you told me their age, I will help you.


----------



## eeeeeek (Dec 13, 2020)

fjm said:


> How old are they? And who is teasing whom?


The cat is almost 7 months old, and the dog is 12 weeks old. Both are females. The cat is okay with my puppy, but my puppy likes to go after the cat. They tolerate each other but dislike each other at the same time.


----------



## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

My best advice: make lots of places the cat can escape where the dog cannot reach her. The cat needs to feel safe and not forced to interact. The dog will get better as she ages but puppies have no maturity to be sensible about boundaries. Some good options are tall cat trees and baby gates. Either short gates the cat can jump but the dog can't (or won't) or tall gates with gaps large enough for the cat to fit.


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

High places and escape routes for the cat, as Raindrops suggests, and lots of supervision for the puppy. Supervise interactions and distract and redirect chasing or pouncing onto a toy or a game with you; if you can't supervise have the pup in a pen or on a leash. The more often she practices teasing the cat the more embedded the behaviour will become, and he more likely it is to end in tears if the cat really loses patience and uses teeth and claws to protect herself. Praise and reward both animals for calm, polite behaviour and play, and be ready to separate them for a few hours if things begin to get fractious. It takes time for them to learn about the other species' body language and play style, and if your puppy is only 12 weeks old it is still early days.


----------



## Starla (Nov 5, 2020)

My puppy is a few weeks older than yours and just wants to pounce with the cat (8 years old) all the time. The cat is not at all amused by this. She also tries to poke him with her snoot, I guess to initiate play, but he does not like that at all either. I redirect and distract, and the cat spends a lot of time snoozing in his cat tree. That’s pretty much how he spent his time before the puppy as well, to be fair. He will get on the couch even if the pup is on it now, which is an improvement over a couple weeks ago where he tried to avoid her completely. I can imagine it would be more difficult with both of them being youngsters.


----------



## eeeeeek (Dec 13, 2020)

T


fjm said:


> High places and escape routes for the cat, as Raindrops suggests, and lots of supervision for the puppy. Supervise interactions and distract and redirect chasing or pouncing onto a toy or a game with you; if you can't supervise have the pup in a pen or on a leash. The more often she practices teasing the cat the more embedded the behaviour will become, and he more likely it is to end in tears if the cat really loses patience and uses teeth and claws to protect herself. Praise and reward both animals for calm, polite behaviour and play, and be ready to separate them for a few hours if things begin to get fractious. It takes time for them to learn about the other species' body language and play style, and if your puppy is only 12 weeks old it is still early days.


Thanks! Most of the time, our puppy is in a playpen and when she’s out, she is on a leash. The cat always jumps on a counter and watches from afar. She has lots of places to hide too


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

The watching from above is excellent - it is how cats feel safe while they come to terms with things. Hiding under a bed all day, or leaving home altogether, would be more concerning. I think they just need time to grow up together - in a year or so you will probably be posting photos of them sharing a bed.


----------



## eeeeeek (Dec 13, 2020)

fjm said:


> The watching from above is excellent - it is how cats feel safe while they come to terms with things. Hiding under a bed all day, or leaving home altogether, would be more concerning. I think they just need time to grow up together - in a year or so you will probably be posting photos of them sharing a bed.


Hopefully!  Sometimes, our cat will come and challenge the puppy. She’ll start biting the puppy and swatting (fairly hard) at the dog’s face


----------



## Ava. (Oct 21, 2020)

.. read the posts above.. When we introduced our cats we kept the dog and cat seperated for several days by a baby gate that the cat could go through but the dogs cannot follow.. Catify your house (google jackson galaxy)... high places your cat can go to get away from the dog.


----------



## eeeeeek (Dec 13, 2020)

Our cat is now getting to like the dog, but Stella’s puppy energy makes her rethink it sometimes...


----------



## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I was lucky; the cat's breeder had already introduced her to dogs. Our dogs had already been taught that cats were to be respected. Things were fine from the first day.


----------

