So, i'm looking after a friend's cat, i've never met it before because I haven't been around to his place since he got with his new girlfriend (actually her cat). It's incredibly friendly and smoochy with humans, however it's an absolute cunt to my dogs.
Basically, I have 2 Australian Shepherds, and they are super friendly. The first couple of days I let the cat do it's own thing and left it without introducing the dogs for more than a few seconds. It hisses and my dogs know it doesn't want to be disturbed and they keep their distance/leave.
but after a couple more days, this cat has realised that my dogs will not hurt it or anything, so it just attacks them from hiding spots whenever it can. And even chases them down hallways and etc.. whenever they come near it.
My male dog doesn't really care, he seems to be handling it better, sort of standing off sometimes when he doesn't want to move, or really wants to get from downstairs to my room upstairs and the cat is up the top, he'll slowly make his way past it and it won't hiss and slap at him for being cautious. (i've never seen him so tense in my life when he does this)
However my female dog (who ironically is usually the most ready for a confrontation outside of this situation) is just uttely terrified of it, and here's the kicker, she grew up with a cat, the male didn't.
I can see the utter fear in her face when I hear her whinging and come downstairs where she's hiding under a table, and looks at me with pitiful eyes of abandonment.
So basically I am forced to lock either the cat away in a room by itself, or the dogs in my room with me.
I don't want to risk sleeping again and letting them loose to sort their shit, because that just resulted in an escalation of this cat's shitty beheaviour the last time I did it. (no scratch marks on noses or anything yet, but if this cat causes my dogs any injury with his shitty attacks, i'll be locking it in a room for the entire month it's staying here)
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>>2061690
Another issue is that it's unpredictable as fuck, one moment my boy will actually lay down next to it in my room, and it'll look at him, then lay back down to sleep, and the next minute it will get up, he'll move his head to see what's going on (hearing that the cat moved) and it'll hiss and slap/scratch him. One minute it'll walk past them and they it without a problem, the next it'll get near em, haunch it's back, hiss and slap/chase them.
I get that the cat is new to the house and will be anxious, so i'm basically keeping the dogs with me and letting the cat wander around and get more confident/comfortable before I make any major decisions regarding what I do next.
But any tips on handling this terrorist cunt of a cat? I'm not letting my dogs develop some anxiety problem or unnecessary fear of cats just to give this cat a nice month of staying here.
Christ you sound like a little faggot
>>2061692
Explain.
>>2061695
Cat lover I assume.
>>2061700
*presume
>>2061691
>>2061690
GET RID OF THE FUCKING CAT YOU AUTISTIC CUNT
>>2061799
I've resorted to hissing when it hisses, and slapping it when it slaps the dogs. They're now sitting in my room together semi-calmly.
If all else fails, go down to their level, I guess.
>>2061804
just put it in the other fucking room and close the door
how are people this retarded?
just separeate the fucking cat
>>2061804
>hitting animals
wow. autistic didnt cover it.
>>2061804
You slap the cat? wtf?
I hope you get reported you asshole.
The cat feels insecure and is being territorial. It doesn't want to show any weakness to the dogs because it knows the dogs could eat it if they wanted to. Help the cat feel like she owns the house by giving her places to hide and escape and high up places she can be.
Fuck you for hitting an animal though. That is in no way helpful to anyone and you are just contributing to the level of stress.
>>2061813
>>2061810
Geez, triggered much. Hyperboled guys, all I do is pick him up and put him in the other room for an hour when he does something. He seems to behave more each time I do it, I dunno, I just don't think locking an animal in a room for over a month is the most humane thing to do.
But look, no serious replies until some trigger shit is posted. At least I know everyone is reading it but has no fucking idea what to do then "just separate them", yeah, thanks.
>>2061810
>being a dirty hippie
>>2061816
Like I said earlier, cats care a lot about territory. You want to isolate her so that she can feel like she owns that room. Sort of like her own sanctuary. Once she feels like she owns that area, she can be eased into the transition of being around dogs without feeling threatened. It's a whole thing, but it starts with making her feel safe to shit in her own area.
>>2061816
>but has no fucking idea what to do then "just separate them", yeah, thanks.
maybe because that's what you should do you fucking idiot.
are you literally 15 years old?
>comes to /an/ for advice
>everyone says separate them
>guys be helpful stop telling me to separate them
holy shit.
>>2061824
>she owns that room
>cat owning part of your house
>my sides
>>2061825
One person said separate them. The other person said let the cat do what it wants and attack my dogs while it settles in. How about no? my dogs don't need to feel scared in their own damn house, especially when they've given this cat literally no reason to fear them. It just decided to bully them in an escalating fashion because they are so non-aggressive.
>>2061824
That's basically what I did the first day, what that resulted in? it's the room right near the stairs, and the cat (a male, not a her) decides that anything near the stairs that isn't human needs to suffer it's wrath. So it charges the dogs every time they go near the stairs, or use them, ie. to get to my room. So basically, that idea fails in this instance.
I'm well acquainted with animals, i've loved and lived with them all my life, but i've never met such a friendly cat that also likes to beat the shit out of friendly dogs for no real reason. As far as the owner has told me, he grew up with dogs and after being a little bit flighty on meeting, he generally likes other pets and gets along with them. Unless she thinks "flighty" and "wants to OJ Simpson their asses" are the same thing, there's obviously something else going on here.
Might very well be some signal my dogs are giving off that has him on edge, maybe the fear response makes him want to attack to stop them from acting him (as he might assume) in their fear, being the usual animal instinct really.
But in that case the only way I can think to fix it is supervised exposure, so they get used to each other and stop fearing each other's fear.
>>2061835
>It just decided to bully them in an escalating fashion because they are so non-aggressive.
Stop thinking like this. This is a huge problem for you in trying to solve this conflict and it's your personal bias against cats that you have for some reason. Cats aren't smart enough to "just decide" to be assholes because they feel like it. There's an instinct based reason and your purpose as the smarter animal is to understand and manipulate that instinct.
>That's basically what I did the first day, what that resulted in? it's the room right near the stairs, and the cat (a male, not a her) decides that anything near the stairs that isn't human needs to suffer it's wrath. So it charges the dogs every time they go near the stairs, or use them, ie. to get to my room. So basically, that idea fails in this instance.
I said isolate. That doesn't sound like what you did because you allowed the animals to make contact. In a perfect world, your animals would not even be able to see each other for the first several days or weeks. They would only make contact through smells. You need to try again and actually completely isolate the animals from making contact.
>but i've never met such a friendly cat that also likes to beat the shit out of friendly dogs for no real reason
This is bias again. You're assuming that there isn't really a reason when it's pretty clear it's territorial.
>But in that case the only way I can think to fix it is supervised exposure, so they get used to each other and stop fearing each other's fear.
Yes. You want supervised exposure but you need to work up to this. Cats can't just be thrown in a situation where they do not know the environment and they don't know the potential threats at the same time. This is too stressful and the cat will resort to their defenses. The cat needs time to feel safe first.
>>2061835
You don't sound like you have been around a lot of animals all your life, nor that you research introducing different species, nor do you take advice that is from more than just one person as you claim.
You let the cat have one room become their domain. You feed them on the opposite side of the barrier/door every feeding so they associate the scent with positive things.
There is so much you could have done by simply googling "how to introduce cat to medium sized dogs" or asking a vet or professional. Then you come on here to ask, people give you advice, and you refuse it.
Fuckity bye.
>>2061835
>>2061851
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_mgXHAMDZI
OP I think this video series will help a lot. The guy explains tactics for introducing a new cat and goes over cat behavior very thoroughly. I know it doesn't involve dogs, but it's still useful and interesting.
