Why My Cat Hates My Dog
In the very worst-case scenario, your cat may hate your dog because the dog attacked her. It’s a sad fact that, with some dogs, a cat may trigger the canine’s predatory instincts. Cats are typically smaller than dogs, and dogs have evolved to chase small things that they can probably beat in a fight. An attack only needs to happen once to convince the cat that the dog is her mortal enemy. The dog doesn’t even need to hurt the cat — being menaced and chased is enough to instil a lifelong hatred and fear in her. This may extend to other dogs as well; your innocent new dog may find himself on the receiving end of a cat’s ire simply because another dog attacked her in the past.
Even if the dog is generally well-disposed towards the cat, a dog’s communication style may be enough to get the cat’s hackles up. Dogs tend to be more intensely friendly than cats, paying a lot of attention to their potential new buddy. A dog will want to sniff, lick, and nuzzle the cat as a way of getting to know her. For her part, the cat will want to keep her distance and observe rather than getting up close and personal.
Dogs, even loving and gentle dogs can be hard work for cats. A dog might chase a cat up a tree simply trying to play with her, or corner her while trying to instigate a game. The cat will parse this as a major threat to life and limb, and will generally respond accordingly. In the best case, this will mean that the cat runs away and hides somewhere the dog can’t get at her. In the worst case, it can result in nips and scratches for the dog. This in turn can make the dog turn aggressive, further compounding the issue.
Some cats are simply better able to coexist with dogs than others. The British Shorthair and American Shorthair are famously good with other animals, including dogs. My British Shorthair is very cordial towards dogs, and will happily come over to make friends with visiting pooches. His ASH counterpart is a bit more cautious but doesn’t mind when my friends bring their dogs over.
The key to happy and peaceful co-existence between cats and dogs is to select the animals with care and to introduce them properly at the outset. Once an antagonistic relationship has been established between a dog and a cat, it can be very difficult to salvage. Difficult — but not impossible.
The first meeting between your cat and your dog will set the tone for their ongoing interactions. It’s very important to get it right. It’s easier in some ways if you’re introducing a puppy, who will be smaller, less threatening and generally easier to control. Socialisation with the cat will form an integral part of your puppy’s training. The next best scenario will be a dog who’s already been socialised to interact well with cats.
To start with, you need to separate the animals. Ideally, one of them should be kept in a separate room for a few days. This will allow both animals to get used to each other’s smells and sounds. Monitor the ways in which the animals act when they become aware of each other. If the dog displays hunting behaviours when he’s outside the room where the cat is kept, or the cat shows signs of agitation or hostility outside the room where the dog is kept, you’ll need to spend more time allowing them to acclimate.
Introductions should be brief and performed with care. When they first meet, the cat and dog should be separated by a barrier. It’s a good idea to perform the first introduction when both pets are being fed so that they’ll be in a positive frame of mind. This should be repeated until you’re confident that everyone can get along.
Finally, you can allow the pets to interact for short periods. Supervise these meetings and be ready to separate the animals again if things look tense. Don’t wait until the first bark of aggression or the first swipe of the claw, as this can jeopardise the developing bond between the animals. Just get them into separate rooms again, and start over with the barrier back in place.
Can a cat and a dog get along?
Despite the reputation these two species have with one another, cats and dogs can get along. In some households they are very friendly and affectionate with each other, whereas in others they may simply tolerate each others present in the house. This will all depend on a couple of factors, such as:
As we will see below, when any of these points or multiple of them lack, a bad relationship can arise between both species that will make it difficult to coexist harmoniously at home. Learn more in our article about tips to make a dog and a cat get along.
Cat first,dog second; or the other way around?
Adopting and raising dogs and cats together is like arranging a marriage, not to be entered into “unadvisedly or lightly”.
This is not meant as any disrespect to marriage (or cats and dogs, for that matter), but points to the seriousness, and potential pitfalls, of any relationship, man or beast.
Staying with the marriage metaphor, and without stretching it too far, we hope, it makes sense, as a rule, to introduce pets (and people) to each other when they’re young.
There are no territories to defend, and no routines to be disrupted. That being said, both animals need time to adjust to the new surroundings.
But because dogs are more sociable and likely to want to “make friends” with whoever they meet, and cats are more withdrawn and in need of time to assess the situation, it is best to keep them apart for a while to get used to the new sounds and smells of their new surroundings and of the other residents.
Confining your cat to a room in the house with all the necessary comforts, familiar bedding, litter tray, food, and water bowls, will allow the sounds and smells to permeate without any confrontation.
During this time, the newly introduced dog may be fed outside the cat’s door, encouraging an association of food (yum!) with the unfamiliar smells of a cat (source).
There is a danger that the dog, sensing the strange presence, will bark at the door. This will freak-out the cat, so whatever you do, try not to let this happen, or at least try not to let the barking continue for any length of time!
Here the varying ages of the two animals will play a part. Problems, if any, tend to arise only if one or more of the new tenants is set in their ways and resentful of any intrusion into their domain.
This is another reason to keep cats, in particular, confined for a period of time. When feeling threatened, they tend to disappear, run away. This can be heartbreaking, to think that you may have been the cause of driving a loved pet out of their home.
Not many of these occasions have a happy ending, although I know of one domesticated-previously-feral cat who disappeared for a week under these circumstances, and suddenly reappeared, apparently none the worse for the experience.
A decent period of mutual adjustment is usually sufficient to counter any long-term animosity between cats and dogs.
But what if they don’t take to each other, or if the feeling of wanting to get to know you isn’t mutual? This could work either way but is probably more often associated with your cat feeling antagonistic towards your dog.
Dogs are by nature pack animals, and will usually bond in time with people and other animals in their “pack”. This emphasizes the importance of training your dog to respect the “Alpha Male” (in wolf packs, the leader or dominant male in the pack, which in the domestic context may not be a male!).
Training, in fact, is key to countering any aggression between your cat and dog. Cats, however, are notoriously averse to being trained.
Your best bet, then, is to train your dog to adapt to the cat. Most dogs are pretty savvy at avoiding the physical harm that they know a cat can unleash. In their own self-interest, they tend to steer well clear of a hissing, growling, bottle-brush-tailed cat.
And in most circumstances both cat and dog will call a truce to hostilities as long as they have their own space and, for the cat, a safe place in which to escape, eat, and nap.
For your dog, obedience to the “leave it!”, or similar, command, is vital. Come to think of it, obedience training for your dog (and its owner) should be a prerequisite for dog ownership, period (source).
Time to adjust to each other is vital, this may take weeks or even months, and sometimes the desired adjustment will never take hold. In these circumstances, in order to avoid fur flying, physical boundaries may be an effective way of demarcating territory.
This will depend on the layout of your home, of course, whether it be an upper floor for the cat and the ground floor and garden for the dog, or a baby gate to prevent the dog from going into certain areas, provided he’s not athletic enough to jump right over.
Synchronizing physical proximity of cat and dog with feeding times is one way of distracting them and providing a link between a satisfying event (feed-time) with the sounds and smells, and eventually sight, of each other.
Throughout these increasingly proximate encounters, make sure that dog(and maybe even cat) are leashed and able to be restrained at short notice. The“chase” instinct in some dogs is still strong!
This Dog And Cat Are Acting Like Predator And Prey | Cat vs. Dog
When you find out your cat hates your dog, it’s easier to despair. But there’s help! Here are several tips for getting your cat on board, and perhaps even form a lifelong bond with your dog.
Blood streaked the wall from a nasty claw-scratch on Winston’s face, but this didn’t stop him from pouncing on the furry ball of fury which was Kitty.
Sound familiar? Or perhaps it was the other way around, you expect that any minute now Kitty’s head would disappear into Winston’s slavering jaws?
Either way, an outright war declared between your beloved pets is a disturbing experience. You’re bound to ask yourself:
Where did I go wrong in my pet-rearing practices, and what can I do to heal the dislike which, you knew, had been simmering barely concealed beneath the surface of your fur-babies coexistence (source).
What do you do if your cat hates your dog? If your cat hates your dog you need to understand their different natures and individual personalities so you can work to pre-empt any aggression between them. Then, you can take some basic precautions to set the conditions towards mending the relationship and changing its dynamics.
Rest assured that an antagonistic relationship between your cat and dog is by no means inevitable. Nor is it an instinctive part of a cat’s nature to be fearful of and hostile towards dogs.
Some cats do seem to hate dogs. Others barely tolerate their existence, avoiding being in the same room together, and hissing, growling and arching a disdainful back when passing in the passageway.
But there is much evidence of tolerant, even loving, relationships between the two species. So, what can we do when your feline has had enough of his or her canine housemate?
The domestic cat (felis domesticus) and dog (canis familiaris) do share some “common” ancestry. But this commonality goes back an awfully long way. In zoological terms, cats and dogs share a “class” and “order”, both are mammals and carnivores, but that’s where the similarity ends.
From there, the family tree divides into feliformia (cat-like creatures) and caniformia (dog-like creatures). And all of this happened a long time ago, about 45 million years, give or take ten millennia, so one assumes that any vestigial family affection may have long been forgotten.
No one can say for sure which species evolved first,the cat or the dog. For our purposes, it doesn’t really matter. Formally, theirgenesis looks like this:
Before we dispense with their origins, let’s consider whether the different breeds of cats and dogs might make a difference to whether or not they get along together.
Experience (largely anecdotal) tells us that certain breeds of dog are not “cat-friendly”, and conversely that there are certain cat breeds that get along better with dogs.
Some of the dog breeds that you don’t want around cats are said to be the Whippet, the Afghan Hound, the Schipperke, smooth Fox Terriers, Schnauzers, and Irish Wolfhounds.
Cat breeds that are more likely to pal-up with your pooch are the Abyssinian, American Shorthair, Birman, and the Siberian, amongst a few other breeds.
But there will probably be pet-owners who have the opposite experience, and that’s really the point: it’s hard to predict with any certainty whether your pets are going to settle down together.
Most animal behaviorists these days place the animals’ individual personality on a higher plain than breed when it comes to whether or not they’re going to be able to live together (source).