Cat swatting at dogs

We adopted an approximately 6-YO cat in December. He came from the humane society but had been living at my vet's office hoping to get adopted. He was adored by the vet office staff. He is a dollbaby except for one big issue. We have 3 retired racing greyhounds, ages 12, 10, and 9. They all lived with our other 3 cats happily for a number of years until the cats passed on. As new kitty has gotten more settled in and realized he's now at his forever home, he has begun pestering our greyhounds. The dogs will always defer to him, have never shown any aggression towards him, and really are "cowed" when he swats and chases them. He will position himself on the basement steps when I call them to come down to eat and they won't pass him. When they do pass him for any reason he swats at them and chases them. The dogs go to great lengths not to pass in front of him. He will go up to the bed of the greyhound who is most intimidated by him and swat at her when she's just lying there. He's a wonderful cat otherwise, affectionate, healthy, absolutely no destructive behavior in the house, loves to play. I've tried loud voice, clapping. I can't carry a water bottle everywhere we go in the house, so I haven't tried that. Of course, if I use a loud voice or clapping, the dogs think they have done something wrong, or if I sprayed water I'd have to be very exact not to squirt a dog when I aimed at the cat. I've tried putting him in his food crate for a few minutes while the dogs come downstairs but that doesn't seem really to address the behavior issue. As I put him in and shut the crate door, he smacks out at me with his claws out. I'd like to know of any suggestions, and also can Feliway help this sort of thing? We have a 2500-sq ft house and I would only be able to afford 1 or 2 diffusers. I do not believe there is anything fear-related in his behavior. Any help is very much appreciated. Gayle

How about another cat? Zoey used to torment the dogs, her idea of playing with our 80-100 lb beasts, swatting/chasing them around. Now that we added Talley to the family, she leaves the dogs alone. It took two months to get Zoey to accept Tallet, but they are great buds now.

Sounds like a confident/dominate type of cat (nothing wrong with that). I'd just be very sure you keep the nails trimmed weekly so when he swats at them, he won't hurt them.

Might try the Soft Paws nail caps for better protection. I don't think there's a lot you can do. When Ling and Charlie get into the wrestling matches or swatting I just holler "guys CUT IT OUT" and they stop.

You haven't had the cat very long (2 months) so give it time. When he feels that the dogs are not a threat anymore, then he probably will stop a lot of the swatting.