Our Bichon puppy is only 10 months old (exactly 10 lbs), and loves cats. He is great friends with our 10 wk old kitten, and still I keep the pregnant cat we took in in the bathroom with the door closed. She gets very upset when the dog is around, and hissed at our kitten and swatted at her, even tried to chase her once. This was after they seemed to be getting along well. Our kitten would slowly come to try and be friends with this cat sniffing it and trying to sit nearby, and the cat would ignore our kitten until she got tired of it being around and would hiss or growl at the kitten, showing no interest in her. So now this cat stays by itself in our bathroom, and is only about 1.5 wks from having the kittens. She seems unable to be around our other pets at all.
What concerns me is when I'm in the bathroom, sometimes our puppy will come to the door and whine or whimper because he wants to be with us at all times. As soon as the cat in the bathroom hears him anywhere nearby, she hisses and growls and goes crazy. Now she is peeing and pooping out of fear. I'm worried the stress could cause her to give birth too early, not properly care for her kittens, or even kill them because the scent of the dog is everywhere in the house and may find its way onto the kittens.
This cat was unbelievably friendly at first with us, and would purr a bit when we pet her. Then she would be purring and suddenly hiss at me and run away, sort of to say she wants to be left alone. Now it has reached the point where whenever I'm in the bathroom and the dog makes a noise, she gets upset. She even growled at me for the first time yesterday, and pooped and peed again on herself.
What can I possibly do to make sure this cat knows that the dog can't come into the bathroom to bother her (or her kittens once she has them)?
Finally one more question. She doesn't clean herself and after the peeing and pooping on herself she really stinks. I gave her a bath last night, but she went on herself again today and I'm worried that bathing her too much could stress her out too much. Any suggestions?
If this thread belongs in the multi-animal forum, please move it. I wasn't sure which forum is more fitted for this type of question.
What concerns me is when I'm in the bathroom, sometimes our puppy will come to the door and whine or whimper because he wants to be with us at all times. As soon as the cat in the bathroom hears him anywhere nearby, she hisses and growls and goes crazy. Now she is peeing and pooping out of fear. I'm worried the stress could cause her to give birth too early, not properly care for her kittens, or even kill them because the scent of the dog is everywhere in the house and may find its way onto the kittens.
This cat was unbelievably friendly at first with us, and would purr a bit when we pet her. Then she would be purring and suddenly hiss at me and run away, sort of to say she wants to be left alone. Now it has reached the point where whenever I'm in the bathroom and the dog makes a noise, she gets upset. She even growled at me for the first time yesterday, and pooped and peed again on herself.
What can I possibly do to make sure this cat knows that the dog can't come into the bathroom to bother her (or her kittens once she has them)?
Finally one more question. She doesn't clean herself and after the peeing and pooping on herself she really stinks. I gave her a bath last night, but she went on herself again today and I'm worried that bathing her too much could stress her out too much. Any suggestions?
If this thread belongs in the multi-animal forum, please move it. I wasn't sure which forum is more fitted for this type of question.