Well, I have been thinking of writing about this for awhile, but have decided to do so. As some of you know, I have 2 dogs, and one old cat. Now, I got the second dog in July, and he still acts like he has NEVER seen a cat before. He is obsessed with Muff.
Well, Muff is 18, and has lived her whole life with two other dogs, now deceased, who never paid the slightest attention to her. She always hated her brother , [also now deceased,] hates past and current dogs, and dislikes all people, with a slight exception for me as the giver of food.
Snickers, the new dog is fascinated with the cat. He follows her around, and seems to want to ‘smell’ her. She has her own room where she spends most of her time, and I am very careful about leaving him alone in the house with her. I have a big crate for Snick and I use it when I am gone. My question is how long should it take for him to get over his fascination with the cat? When she is gone, I will want another immedietly. It will probably have to be dog savvy, or a kitten so it can learn not to be afraid. He has never been aggresive toward Muff, and she knows better than to run. But how long till he ‘gets’ it?
I have no idea…my 13 year old ACD mix has never gotten over her cat fascination, despite living with cats since we got her, 11.5 years ago. She doesn’t hurt them or really chase them a lot, but she stares at them and likes to get between the cat and where it wants to go, effectively “locking” the cat in a particular room. That creates some meowing and complaining that I have to go deal with, by making the dog move so the cat can go about it’s business.
We have a 20 year old female random cat and an 8 year old Maine Coon Cat. The Maine Coon could care less about the dog’s staring and blocking, he’s very laid back…he just rolls on his back and sleeps, with her staring at him. The old female used to tolerate it, but when she reached about 18, she became very anxious about the dog and started hiding all the time and losing weight. We tried medicating her, but the anti-anxiety meds turned her into a drooling, zombie, cat. We finally moved her to my mother’s house, where it is quiet and there’s just my elderly mother and an elderly Brittany, who is not at all interested in cats. 20 year old female cat is now happy as a clam, out and about in the house and socializing.
I don’t know if your dog will ever change, I hope so. But, if he doesn’t, pick your next cat accordingly, I’d suggest a Maine Coon or Maine Coon mix ;)…they are known for being laid back, confident and getting along with dogs, being kind of “doglike” themselves. Mine likes the dogs, he sometimes goes up and sits right next to them, with a part of his body touching theirs…that makes the ACD nervous, she deserves it ;).
