Hi, My name is Stella. I'm nearly 18 years old and among my distinguishing features is the fact that I have 7! toes on each of my front paws. I've lived my whole life with Mr & Mrs UncleBob. I'm quite happy snuggling with bears, as shown above, but I'm not at all sure about this Harvey character that is meant to be appearing in a few weeks time. Have you got any tips for the best way to introduce us and help us to get along (or at least to tolerate each other's company)?
Re: Cats and dogs What a lovely photo I don't actually own a cat so this is totally hearsay......but always allow your cat an escape route so they can get away from the awful puppy you've forced on them I'm a massive fan of baby gates to keep puppies in appropriate rooms - the kitchen in our case - and I think they might work well for cats and dogs too. Good luck with your intros!
Re: Cats and dogs Hi Stella, My advice to you would be to make sure that Mrs UncleBob keeps your food well out of the way of the new whipper-snapper. We don't have kitties either, but know that Lilly LOVES eating Oliver-the-cat's food when we visit our friend. Apart from the fact it means less for you I don't think its very good for Harvey's tummy. Neither is eating cat litter, so Mr UncleBob might need to get you one of those fantoosh enclosed ones, or keep it out the way too. I'm sure you will manage to find ways to keep away from him ;D I would advise you to put your paw down firmly though and insist NO DOGS IN THE BED jac PS You are gorgeous
Re: Cats and dogs Stella, you are a venerable age, but are you still agile enough to climb up on a cat tower or similar to get away from the puppy? If you are, perhaps the humans could get you something that would provide you with a lofty perch from which to safely survey the new canine terror. Puppies can't climb, you see. You may be tempted to use your claws on the new puppy (after all, they can be very irritating) so perhaps ask your parents to supervise all interaction time with the puppy and to be quick to step in if you are looking ruffled. You wouldn't want to be in a position where you (accidentally of course) scratched a puppy nose or eye. And remember - when it's all getting you down, you ARE still the superior species.
Re: Cats and dogs Hi lovely Stella, we had a lovely cat called Felix and when he passed away he was 27 years old, the oldest cat our vet had ever treated which was for a broken leg and he had a lovely new Titanium pin fitted. Hattie respected him from day one and only ever bugged him a few times but Felix showed her this was not on by standing his ground against this large and hairy puppy. So stand your ground with the new puppy and he will know to leave you alone. Good luck Stella. Helen xx
Re: Cats and dogs Wow Stella,you are a looker,in cat circles they say 18 is the new 8 I had a girl just like you called Cleo she lived a grand old age too and a black and white guy called Little Guy who was 17 when we lost him.Due to my travels my parents inherited them and they saw and got used to several cocker pups joining the ranks during there residency with them. In all cases the cats were in charge......in the puppy years there was many a chase but a few pat,pats by a hissing cats paw fails to draw blood but was enough to make the dog reconsider......the cats naturally climbed higher to stay out of reach ,back of the sofa ,top of bookshelves and cupboards were always a favorite .In time the cats could gingerly walk past and the dogs would shiver with the exciting thought of chasing,but repetition of a neutral tone No eventually got through and they lived successfully side by side.the dogs controlled their urge to chase and the cats seemed to react to this by not running past them and so encouraging them to chase.dont get me wrong,there were quite a few spats Whilst the cats were older when we lost them they were probably about 5 when the puppies started arriving....so Stella is a little more ahem ,senior so I would make sure her equilibrium isn't upset too much by the whippersnapper that is due to arrive. Jacqui had a very good point,make sure the cat food is down in a secure area,accessible only to Stella,I know I would be right ticked off if the new boy in town snaffled my grub! Good luck,let's know how it goes x
Re: Cats and dogs ;D ;D hope it all goes well, can't give any advice as we are a confirmed dog family here....cat allergies make it impossible to have one of your kind.....
Re: Cats and dogs Hi Stella, Snoopy and Peanuts here, two 15 yo moggies. We have trained three labrador puppies to live in our home including the current two incumbents, known as Tarka and Lochan. We have found that puppies are quite easy to train to our standards, as long as our human staff follow certain rules. We like a permanent escape route to the outside or upstairs if the puppies are too annoying. Puppies are not allowed to eat our food although we enjoy eating slowly and lovingly in front of them, taunting them. We reserve the right to turn around when being chased behind the sofa and deliver a punishment whack to the nose - in fact we assume we are allowed to discipline the puppies on our own terms and our human staff have been known to observe that we rarely use positive training techniques but have found the puppies respond more quickly to our punishment-based approach. We rule the house with an iron paw, and our human staff acknowledge this. Having trained the puppies well, we enjoy walking underneath their bellies and allowing our tails to stroke them - it is particularly fun to do this to Tarka, who goes rigid with fright. So basically Stella it will be fine, just make sure the human staff get the pup to respect your space and in no time you will be the boss. Love Snoopy and Peanuts.
Re: Cats and dogs Gorgeous cat! I have two. A young cat and an old one. Both treat the dog with disdain. She's too bouncy for them so supervised contact only. They've never scratched the dog though. The older one, 18 years, finds the dog pretty stressful so needs to just escape from her at all times. The younger one teases her and gets her into trouble. They tolerate each other - there's been no opportunities for cosy cat/dog combo pictures in my house! If Rosie was calmer they'd be fine but a large bouncy daft dog isn't top of there list to spend time with. I know how they feel! I have a routine across the day with them both. When they're fed (always before the dog) and when they go out/time in the house and when they are put to bed. The cats don't have run of the house all day anymore otherwise it starts feeling like a zoo and too risky with the dog. Good luck
Babens, our tabby and Louie our new Lab and Kidder, our 11 year old Otterhound Hello, I am the owner of Louie, a now 9-month-old chocolate lab puppy who came to live with us about 6 weeks ago. I know not much time has passed and read lots of the posts about how bad they were and now how good they are, but I worry for the poor cat who is 14. Her name is Babens. He relentlessly chases her and even if she backs him into corners, that never stops him. I almost wish she would whack him once. She seems so stressed even though she escapes. I have an open house plan so gates won't work for me and I truly don't want to crate Louie more than at bed. He was overcrated at his last two homes all day long and I work from home. Babens looks ill and is really grouchy since he came. She can't even be social. Sometimes Louie leaves her alone and I praise that and if he goes after her sometimes I can get him to stop with a command and I praise that. But he is totally psycho and does a jumping dance around the cat and yes as the other poster said jumps on the old dog making her fall as she has bad hips. I worry that when he grows up that wont like him anymore. Would a squirt gun help or anything like that to get Louie diverted from her? I hope to take him to some formal dog training in the spring as I always found that training around other dogs is really important. I'd also like a pair of roller skates size 8.5 if anybody has any in their closet to skate with Louie. I'm older, at 58 but I can still roller skate pretty well and would like him to run this energy off which I think might be the source of all the stress actually. I can't pay the 100.00 etc for the skates right now for sale at the local rink. It seems Kidder goes back and forth in her old and childish old behavior. She now has to have whatever Louie has and claimed all toys even though she never played with any (she was a rescue kennel dog). If he eats a carrot; she needs one. If he has a stick, she needs one. If they each have a bone, they spend all day switching bones and fighting over them. Isn't it nuts!!! Seriously, Babens is truly getting withdrawn. so my main focus is on here right now. She just can't get him to stop. The poor thing is in stress mode all day. Squirt gun? Ideas?? thanks. Hugs.
Re: Cats and dogs Cat must have somewhere to be alone that dog is not allowed into. Best way to introduce we found was put dog in playpen in middle of room and let the cat approach or not on their own terms. We managed it with 5 cats and 3 dogs at one time, some of the cats were friendlier with the dogs than others but never had any real problems.
