Aren't all ferals afraid of dogs?

zinc

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Does anybody know if all ferals are scared of dogs? Two colony cats moved out (one is the one in my sig, he's not a feral but a stray..they changed his name to Omar, can't think of him as Omar) to somebody's backyard one block away. The family likes them, feeds them, made a shelter under their shed for them and they're trying to befriend Omar to take in. Paulette, the kitty that went with him, is a true feral so she'd live in their backyard. All's fine except I wonder why would Paulette the feral choose a backyard with 2 dogs in it? I thought ferals considered dogs predators to stay away from, we have 2 former ferals that are housecats now but they will run and hide when they hear a dog outside or a dog sound from T.V or radio...
I'm a bit baffled by that. These are the only two that moved out when the house in the colony's property was torn down last summer, all other cats came back. Or is it one of those "all cats are different" deal? Paulette is a real feral that only gets along with the colony's patriarch (another oddity, why would she go with Omar? She didn't get along with other ferals I thought, just with Blacky, the patriarch and he 'adopted' her as a teenager)
Thanks
 

momofmany

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It all depends on the dogs reaction to the ferals. I had a feral colony at my old house where all of the neighborhood dogs ran free. They stayed totally clear of those dogs but would come up and rub against my dogs. Some would follow us around the yard (10 acres) when we took the dogs for walks.

When we moved to our new house, I moved the ferals and they didn't come out from under the deck until they saw that the dogs had cased the place out for them and judged it safe. The first time they came out into the yard was to follow the dogs on their walks. They fundamentally knew that our dogs would protect them from other dogs.

So if your ferals have moved in with 2 dogs, perhaps they understand that the dogs will protect them.
 

sharky

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My former feral loves dogs and evan ran with the dogs at the shelter
 

bnwalker2

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My former feral, Sasha, LOVES our dogs. She follows them around, rubbing against their legs, and giving them head butts.
 
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