kitty being mean to puppy!

hi guys,

i have 2 kitties, who were only pets until the last 5 months, when we got 2 ferrets and a puppy over that amount of time! the cats and the ferrets are great together. no problems there, unless you count the cat wanting to eat the ferret food at every chance he gets! the problem came when the puppy came. iorek was super under socialized. we got him at 4 1/2 months from a breeder and before we took him home he wasn't even out of the house! he had no idea what grass was! he didn't do stairs...needless to say, it has been a long road but we are traveling it together and the puppy is making leaps and bounds while doing leaps and bounds! anyway, blue, my little kitty, is not bothered by the puppy. she is siamese and i don't know if it has anything to do with that or not, but she is just like, whatever, i don't like him, but i will go about my business and ignore him. but frodo, he is a different story. he is a huge cat! he is 24 lbs! the vet says he should be about 18 lbs, he is on a diet and has lost 1 lb so far. anyway, he started by hissing and growling for about a day or so, and then that went away and everything was good. then he decided to start chasing the puppy and smacking him on the bum. this was really damaging to the puppy's self esteem, he was already afraid of so many things. it got so bad that he didn't want to come into our apt and then would press himself against the door when he was in. we would have to carry him to the living room where he wouldn't get off the couch. anyway, we moved to a new apt and we thought that maybe the neutral ground would help. i was giving them natural anti-anxiety drops in their water for about a week and things were going well. the puppy was happy, the cat was happy and it was good for about a month. until about 3 days ago. frodo started intimadating the puppy again. he is staring at him (so much so that he can make the puppy cry from across the room) and he will run at him with a poofy tail and make a motion to smack him. he will corner the puppy. poor puppy is starting to get scared again. this is a huge step backward!

so! does anyone have any ideas as to why the kitty has started acting like this again? the time before was because of the stress of the move, i am sure of it. frodo does not like to move and i think he was taking out the frustration on the puppy (usually he licks his armpits bald). i don't know what has changed. my husband is gone back to work now that the school year has started again. i am still waiting for my first substitute day so i am home. maybe frodo is mad about the fact that daddy is not home all day too? he is a HUGE mamma's boy so i don't know if that would change his life too much. what do you think i can do to help them both through this stage?

thanks for your time! thank you in advance for any advice you might have!

mindy

My brothers dog moved into my house and I have cats, my one oldest male cat Molasses didn't like Corkey at all. He also would hiss and growl and swing at him. What I did was I put a few of those baby fences up, enclosing Corkey into a nice enough area and the gates were tall enough so the cats couldn't jump over it. They were able to look at each other and get use to each other being there. But each felt safe being in their own areas. Corkey likes cats and he would jump all around them wanting to play but the cats especially Molasses (he's the top banana around here) took the jumping as aggression. After awhile they got so use to each other they just ignore each other now, but it did take some time. Some one will probably be along with some other ideas for you. Good luck.

thank you for your help.

i don't know if separating the cat and the dog will be helpful or practical now. my apt is kind of small and i can't separate them that easily. also, they have been living together now for almost 3 months. aside from the first 2-3 weeks they have been living together quite peacefully. it just has been the last few days that it is upset again. i think that separating them really won't do much. it just seems like frodo wants the doggy to remember that he is the top around here. but the dog is not challenging him. he is crying and running away. i would think that that would satisfy frodo. i just don't know.

thank you again. sorry that i am not sure that it would work for our situation. these guys know each other already and don't really need to get to know each other through a safe barrier.

Honestly I don't know what would help! It sounds like you have your mind made already. I think you have placed a challenging situation for your pets, and some behavioral problems with the constant challenges is to be expected. You will figure out whats best in how to approach the situation. Good luck!

you mean my mind made up that i don't want to change anything? i don't think that is fair for you to make that assumption. i want all my pets to be happy, and they were, but something has changed and i can't figure it out. i just thought that someone here might have some constructive ideas that i can try. separating them at this point makes no sense to me.

It sounds like something new has upset Frodo (maybe being left alone by his daddy, your husband, long hours everyday) and he is taking it on the puppy who unfortunately is too submissive or skittish.
I also got a puppy recently. The cats all greeted him with hisses, growls and several smacks on the face even though this very sociable puppy was trying to make friends. I am training him to respect the cats (no chasing, barking or biting) and slowly life is returning to normal.
However, I don't think it is hopeless for you. Continue with the anti-anxiety drops and for Frodo add Feliway. With Frodo calm, you can go on helping Iorek to find happiness. Also ask your husband to reward Frodo everytime he is being good to Iorek. Good luck!

thank you!

we always praise frodo for being a good boy with iorek (and every other time he is a good boy! ) but we will make sure that we are super observant for it from now on. i will put the anti-anxiety drops in his water again for a bit.

i am worried that frodo is jealous.

thank you for your advice.