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Ani, that makes me think of the many years of having cats with Christmas trees. Previous cats used to knock down the tree regularly; I gave up using glass ornaments. Now, all of my ornaments are unbreakable, but, China (the current cat) is declawed, so, she couldn't climb on anything anyway.
As far as the two getting along, you should put them both in a small room, such as a bathroom or somewhere where you can keep an eye on them for as long as it takes for them to get to know one another. Gitmo, being a kitten, will be easier to adapt to the dog. If it is really bad, you could break it up into sections...5 minutes today, 10 tomorrow...etc. But, they have to learn to get along to keep your furniture safe!
Hey, CHIcubs!!!
Well, so far have tried doing the meet and greet in the laundry room. And Gitmo seems really eager to be friendly but Scarlett just acts vicious. So Gitmo has a safety retreat area in b/n the freezer and dryer. However, Gitmo seems so shaken after Scarlett gets him cornered to that spot . . . and I can't get Scarlett to settle down. She gets so agitated she runs all over the house and skids and hurts herself. And every encounter is like this.
I have also tried taking dog in when cat is in carrier, talking to them quietly, but dog just goes ape and jumps at the cat carrier and barking like a wild beast.
Tried just letting the cat stroll around during a quiet time when Scarlett was sitting and looking outside . . . when dog saw cat scurry by . . . once again, went nuts and that is when she nearly punched a hole in my suede sofa (bottom - where she was trying to get the cat out from under the sofa). Nearly knocked over my Waterford lamp wh/ would be DISASTROUS - not about to spend the $$ to replace that lamp.
All my other cats and dogs have always gotten along famously - even sleeping together and being good buds. But dang, Scarlett scares me w/ the kitten b/c I am so afraid she could easily breaks its little neck - even if she didn't mean to. Dear me.
We are nuts about Gitmo - simply adorable kitten. Seems very bright and a very loving little fellow. Sooooo cute!!! Kitty has been here a little less than a month now and things are no better than they were from Day One w/ the dog.
Well, so far have tried doing the meet and greet in the laundry room. And Gitmo seems really eager to be friendly but Scarlett just acts vicious. So Gitmo has a safety retreat area in b/n the freezer and dryer. However, Gitmo seems so shaken after Scarlett gets him cornered to that spot . . . and I can't get Scarlett to settle down. She gets so agitated she runs all over the house and skids and hurts herself. And every encounter is like this.
I have also tried taking dog in when cat is in carrier, talking to them quietly, but dog just goes ape and jumps at the cat carrier and barking like a wild beast.
Tried just letting the cat stroll around during a quiet time when Scarlett was sitting and looking outside . . . when dog saw cat scurry by . . . once again, went nuts and that is when she nearly punched a hole in my suede sofa (bottom - where she was trying to get the cat out from under the sofa). Nearly knocked over my Waterford lamp wh/ would be DISASTROUS - not about to spend the $$ to replace that lamp.
All my other cats and dogs have always gotten along famously - even sleeping together and being good buds. But dang, Scarlett scares me w/ the kitten b/c I am so afraid she could easily breaks its little neck - even if she didn't mean to. Dear me.
We are nuts about Gitmo - simply adorable kitten. Seems very bright and a very loving little fellow. Sooooo cute!!! Kitty has been here a little less than a month now and things are no better than they were from Day One w/ the dog.
If you can keep all heck from breaking out between now and Gitmo's adulthood, Gitmo will actually take things into her own hands, err paws. A few well placed nose slaps by a cat will usually settle things quickly.. my boston has a strong prey drive and when we got our persian, Fiero, Buddy attempted to chase Fiero and frighten him. Fiero slapped Buddy across the nose and spit at him, that was the end of that LOL
Hopefully things will settle down before then. How old is Gitmo anyway?
If you can keep all heck from breaking out between now and Gitmo's adulthood, Gitmo will actually take things into her own hands, err paws. A few well placed nose slaps by a cat will usually settle things quickly.. my boston has a strong prey drive and when we got our persian, Fiero, Buddy attempted to chase Fiero and frighten him. Fiero slapped Buddy across the nose and spit at him, that was the end of that LOL
Hopefully things will settle down before then. How old is Gitmo anyway?
Parti - that is EXACTLY what we have been thinking. We assumed if we could just get Gitmo bigger . . . that eventually he would whack Miss Scarlett and that would be that. Gitmo is a rescue - DS found her under our house in Boone - was nearly freezing and starved. Appeared to only be less than four weeks old (very small). Fit inside DS's g/f's shoe.
DS has a fully grown male cat and that cat had been wailing all morning so DS knew something was wrong - so he went out side to see what was making his adult cat so upset. Took him about four hours to catch Gitmo from crawl space (and in icy rain!!) Poor thing was shivering (next day it snowed about four inches). So DS hand fed baby and then brought him to me. We estimate he is about 8 weeks old now. He is very loving but we do suspect he is a feral cat. Perfect litter box habits. Seems very bright but dang - jumps long distances and crawls up furniture worse than any kitten I have ever owned. Fastest cat I have owned, as well. Plays w/ his little toys in his carrier as well as entertains himself w/ toys when out of the carrier.
Scarlett watches neighbors' cats (daily) out the door/windows and goes bananas. Would run after them if she were allowed out to do it, LOL. She is extremely protective of her territory and the cats torture Scarlett by coming right up to the windows/door and preening, Hee Hee. They are VERY good cats and we are happy to have them stay at our house (they sun on our decks) b/c they keep rodents from the house. But I think five years of being antagonized by those cats has made Scarlett very aggressive towards cats. Does that seem possible?
We are thinking about going to the shelter to get a kitten for my daughter. She absolutely adores cats and has wanted one ever since she could talk. I'm worried about my Husky though, she likes to hunt small birds in the yard and I don't know how she would react to a kitten.
How does one go about securing the safety of a kitty with two older dogs in the house?
We are thinking about going to the shelter to get a kitten for my daughter. She absolutely adores cats and has wanted one ever since she could talk. I'm worried about my Husky though, she likes to hunt small birds in the yard and I don't know how she would react to a kitten.
How does one go about securing the safety of a kitty with two older dogs in the house?
WHOA! Huskies have an EXTREMELY high prey drive!!! Would daughter be accepting of an adult kitty? AN adult has more defenses in place than a kitten to fend off prey driven dogs. I would be very hesitant to bring a kitten around a husky. I love huskies but their prey drive is off the chain. Think about an adult.. Especially if you are going to adopt from the shelter anyway.
Last edited by PartiPoodle; 12-07-2008 at 08:52 AM..
Reason: keyboard dyslexia
WHOA! Huskies have an EXTREMELY high prey drive!!! Would daughter be accepting of an adult kitty? AN adult has more defenses in place than a kitten to fend off prey driven dogs. I would be very hesitant to bring a kitten around a husky. I love huskies but their prey drive is off the chain. Think about an adult.. Especially if you are going to adopt from the shelter anyway.
I think you're right. She would love a cat regardless of age I think. We were leaning kitten so they could grow up together and bond but I think the dog situation is such that we won't be able to do that.
Sounds as if she is jealous of the attention that you give to Gitmo and she is trying to claim her territory. If Gitmo is feral as you think, he is just protecting himself as he did in the wild. Not sure if age will help this. They just have to be put together in controlled situations where one of you are bestowing love to Miss Scarlett and the other is petting Gitmo and switch it up each time. Over time, if Miss Scarlett did not feel as threatened by Gitmo, her mothering instincts will kick in and they will become the best of friends.
In the meantime, you might better pack up the crystal as it is probably going to be wild & crazy for awhile!
When I brought my lab mix (Chipper) home, I thought that China (the cat) was going to have a heart attack. Chipper only wanted to play and China would have none of it. What made it hysterical was that China would swipe at Chipper with her declawed paws and that only encouraged Chipper because she thought that China was petting her!!
Today, they tolerate each other. Chipper still wants to play, China still says "no!" but, they are not that overwhelmingly crazy like they once were. China actually tolerates Ashley a lot more because Ashely is so timid that she does not chase China or make a big deal out of her. This might also be because I created "dog zone" (downstairs) and a "cat zone" upstairs. The dogs know not to go upstairs because that is "China's house". Now, she can come downstairs, but, she does not have to stay there if the dogs are annoying her too much. I think that helped a lot. She knows that she can escape upstairs if she wants to and they will not follow her. When I was dog sitting recently, one of the dogs refused to listen to this and would come upstairs to be by me as I was on the computer. China stared at him with evil in her eyes and he looked at her and simply laid down and went to sleep. It was as if he said, "OK, I know that I am not supposed to be here, but, I want to be around Mom, so, we can both do that and leave each other alone!" China never moved, just sat on her perch staring and Buddy just slept. It was kind of funny.
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