cats and dogs

[cris r]

my sister has a twelve week old puppy also a twelve month old cat the pup is now trying to chase the cat. my sister is seperating them I dont think this a good idea I say you should let them sort it out themselves. anyone else had this problem

[Illyria54]

Don't separate them completely, when they are in the same room always be there to supervise and to correct the pup when it begins to chase the cat, cats can do a lot of damage to a puppy's eyes, even causing blindness if the cat did decide to stand its ground and if it gets cornered it will retaliate, but separating them completely will cause much bigger problems on the occasions when they do meet.

[MikMar59]

Your sisters Pets are both young and are doing what comes naturely. Believe me, you are perfectly right. They will find their own level and will turn out to be friends or just get allong together. Don't worry.

[jules77]

I had a similar situation 15 years or so again. I only had them together when I could watch them and correct the puppy by saying no everytime he made his way to the cat.

As someone has already said if a cat is cornered by a dog, it can do a lot of damage to their eyes. When the puppy was asleep, I would let the cat come in and he would instantly walk over to the puppy and sniff him all over. After some months, although they wernt what I would call 'best friends', neither chased the other, and I was able to let them both have the run of the house without problems. I then introduced another dog twelve months later, and the cat was 'spitting feathers' at the new puppy. I went through the whole procedure again and they were fine.

[jules77]

I forgot to mention my friend had two cats 7, two brothers seven years old. She introduced a JRT, who was chasing the cats, one has since got run over and killed, and the other is a nervous wreck, bearly coming in the house. Partly because she thinks they will 'sort it out themselves', and having a JRT with a cat is asking for trouble IMO.