STRAY CAT AND MY DAUGHTER'S DOG.

Hello recently I brought in a stray cat which seems to be some what tamed as a house cat. The person who let me have him(a gentelman who normally feeds the strays in our area.)told me the cat did at one time have a home, but the owers abandoned him. The cat is a loving and affectionate one. Loves being pet and laying extremly close to me. I was even able to pick him up with no problems and give him a bath. I have named him General Fluffy Butt on the count that he is extremly Fluffy with a very fluffy tail. He eats well, likes to play, and loves lap time. Here are my problems.

1) My 6yr old has a boxer/pitbull mix almost 2 yr old puppy. We've had him fir about 3 or months now.(A well deserved birthday persent for my daughter.) The thing is she has identified me as his sole owner and my daughter and husband are just extra people to play with, so when i brought in a new pet he kind of started behaving weird. He is trained and i keep the cat in my room away from the dog to give them time to get use to each others scent, but every time Tux (dog's name) sees General he gets overly exicted and wimpers. I dont have a clue how well he does with cats, excpet he likes to chase them. I have even drilled into Tux's head to leave my mother-in-law cat alone.(her cat visits often. She live across from us.) I do fear for Generals safty when it is time for the face to face meeting of my two pets because they both seem to want me for themselves...lol. (both are males)

2) General doesn't like being left alone. He let's me know by me owing once I leave the room.

3) General meows all night long for attention. During the day he is fine, but at night he keeps me up.

4) General keeps trying to climb up everything.

Any help or advice would be welcomed.

General is very insecure right now, he has been defending himself for a while and is scared and thinks this wonderful person and home might disappear like it did before. Time will help with that, most likely 6 months or so, and time is what will help with the night time noise and clinginess. He needs time to adjust his night time alertness and wariness to that of sleep, not vigilance against night prowlers and other scary things.  Both the Pit Bull and Boxer are protective dogs and will attack if they think there is a threat to the one they love, imagined or not, and will definitely attack a cat if cats are unknown to them. Remember too that the hormones do not completely leave an animal until months after a neutering. I trained a lab to quit attacking cats by keeping him  on a leash at all meetings between the two for a couple of months, inside the house, and never letting them be alone together. If the dog growls or at the first sign of any aggression, a stern "NO" is given and a sharp tug on the leash. Pet both in front of each other, to exchange scents, and show the dog that the cat is is now a friend and must be accepted into the family. The dog MUST be taught that there will be no aggression allowed, YOU are the alpha and he has to be taught that your wishes are law. Give treats when the meetings go good to both, stern words and banishment for a short time out for the dog if they don't. My two turned out to be good friends but it was a lot of work in the beginning, old habits and instinct are hard to change, but with love, discipline, and lots of treats it works!

Give General a high place to escape to, put a blanket or bed high up some where where the dog can't get to. he will much appreciate it. Give him one of those corrugated 'scratchers' found at Walmart and Pet stores, he may not want to climb as much. Get cat nip to sprinkle on the places you want him to go. 

All the luck, don't try to rush things! Keep us posted!

Here is an article on introducing dogs and cats

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/introducing-cats-to-dogs

Also has your new stray been to the vet for a check up and to be sure he/she is spayed/neutered?  A full check up is in order before the dog and cat should meet.

Thank you so much. Surprisingly enough they can be in the same room together. (living room) General escaped from the bed room and has been hiding under the couch just watching and he pokes his head out every so often to let me know where he is. Tux has been a little excited when he saw him (like a playful excited.), but I quickly look at him and tell him no. The Kitty is not a new toy and he had to give some space. I have been petting and giving a lot of attention to both. Let Tux know he is not being replaced and letting General Know that he is safe and this is his new home. General did pee the couch and then Tux pee on the floor. I took General to his box and put Tux outside. I don't like to use cleaning products while the animals or my children are close by. All in all so far it's going okay, a little rushed face to face meeting, but so far there is no aggressive behavior from either one of my boys.

ladyKP said:

Thank you so much. Surprisingly enough they can be in the same room together. (living room) General escaped from the bed room and has been hiding under the couch just watching and he pokes his head out every so often to let me know where he is. Tux has been a little excited when he saw him (like a playful excited.), but I quickly look at him and tell him no. The Kitty is not a new toy and he had to give some space. I have been petting and giving a lot of attention to both. Let Tux know he is not being replaced and letting General Know that he is safe and this is his new home. General did pee the couch and then Tux pee on the floor. I took General to his box and put Tux outside. I don't like to use cleaning products while the animals or my children are close by. All in all so far it's going okay, a little rushed face to face meeting, but so far there is no aggressive behavior from either one of my boys.

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I wonder if the dog is just curious.  He surely feels the cat is full of your scent, and thus, the cats is no prey nor enemy, but does belongs to the pack.  Just be sure you show the dog the cat is part of the household and under your protection, and it will be OK.  Especially as the dog does identify you as his owner, his alpha master.

The other explanation could be he is protective - which he would of course if necessary.   But that in bold makes me think he simply knows there is a protege of yours inside the home, and he gets interested.

So, be watchful and present at their introduction, but I think you may let them meet offically quite soon now.

Talk much to them both at the meeting.  Let the dog lie down on order (have a leash on if you so wish), and let the cat  examine him...

Usually, the best is if the cat has a position above the dog on the sociale ladder.  Most cats manage this excellently, if necessary teching the dog a few lessons by striking him on the nose.  Soft paw if he tries to behave and clawed if necessary.

It sounds like things are going well, and time, patience, and being respectful of each animal's wishes are going to go a long way.

I do want to point out that some of the theories mentioned in this thread and that article about dog training are based on the "alpha" or "dominance" theory of dog training, which was developed by watching a group of wolves who were not related in captivity react to each other. This has long since been disproven. Wolf packs in the wild work as a family without the tension and aggression exhibited by these strange wolves who were forced together in the 1940s, and furthermore dogs are very different from their wild counterparts because of domestication. I make this correction because the idea that dogs need to "know who's boss" very easily leads to stressing dogs out unnecessarily at best, and at its worst leads to Cesar Milan-style abuse. Training methods based on compassion, respect, and positive reinforcement training yield much more consistent results and happier dogs.

That's not to say there can't be levels of hierarchies among animals living together, but this results from a more pushy personality setting boundaries with a less confrontational personality and not from set rules ingrained in any sort of ancestral pack instincts.

Update:Tux and General can be in the same room together, but Tux can't get too close. General doesn't like a giant dog in his face. General seems to like sleeping under the couch in the day time and comes out when he wants food, drink, or attention. General no longer lays in a curled up ball and he loves to be scratched behind the ear and neck.He does however still cry when left in my bedroom by himself. He has used the box twice with the exception that he pee the couch and my husband only once I say we are making progress. I have left both boys by themselves and nothing went wrong. In fact Tux was sleeping in his spot and General was in his own spot. I did notice however that Tux tried to pee on General went they we're close to each other. Then he tried to pee on me which made me a little upset. Sigh. General did OK though, as long as I was there to keep General relaxed and Tux in check about boundaries. I have found that I rather have General company over Tux though just because even though they both crave attention General seems to understand when to walk away for a while let me have space, while Tux will keep at it no matter how much I tell him to calm down or go lay down for a few. Sigh...Tux craves way too much attention sometimes and I find that General is more my pace. I do love them both, I just don't see us letting Tux come sleep on the bed at night like we do with General. That wouldn't work out so well.

Believe it or not but dogs that constantly seek attention are showing signs of dominance. Doesn't matter if its barking, jumping, doing something destructive, and so on. What you need to do is show the dog that when he acts out you don't pet him, talk, whatever you have been doing. Just wait until they either calm down and stop whatever they are doing, and or wait until they sit or lay down. I say this because a dog that likes to take control usually are the ones that if a cat is running around one day end up attacking the cat trying to gain control of them. I think for the in the cats face side of things just teach the dog the command 'Leave it' This simply means don't go any closer to it, don't touch it, etc... You can probably find a Youtube video on it, but really just getting a clicker and using some regular kibble as a treat during a training session will work just great. Just take the piece of food and stick it out with your fingers about 4in away from the dogs face and just wait them out, don't say or do anything until that dog backs off from the kibble then you say leave it. Do this over and over for 3-4 days. Then start taking that piece of food and going about 4-6in closer to the ground from where you started everyday until the kibble is on the floor and the dog leaves it alone and is acknowledging the command. Then with a semi short lead on a leash walk the dog by people and your cat and when they approach the person or cat even if it looks like play or affection say leave it. Do it 6 or so times a day no more than that until your dog backs off as soon as you give the command. I did a lot of gun dog training and we used E-Collars a lot so if you notice anything really bad in the future I would suggest using one. This simply teaches the dog to respond to pressure. Pressure on and pressure off. I won't really get into it. But yeah keep that in mind as kind of a last resort. They aren't really as cruel as many people think they are, just make sure you get a good brand collar like $130+