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Neighbours cat is driving my dog nuts!


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Okay, this is kind of my fault...

 

My neighbours have a very sweet, scraggy looking cat, one day when we had just got back off holiday and the dog was still at boarding kennels this cat came through our open back door and into the house.

We knew that it would never come in again because of the dog, it was novel and cute and we fussed over this cat.

It is a very thin little thing and has chunks of fur missing where other cats are beating it up, it kept looking at us while we were eating a snack as if it was hungry so, I fed it.

 

I was trying to be kind to it, then it refused to leave.

My husband put it outside and it sat at the window for hours staring at us.

 

The last time my collie came into contact with this cat she chased it.

When she got home we didn't see much of the cat for a few days, then one day the cat was in our garden.

The dog got excited and ran out expecting the cat to run but instead it rolled around in the ground.

I think the dog misinterpreted this and she got excited wagging her tail and play bowed it, at which point the cat smacked her in the face.

My dog was horrified :(

Looking at me, then the cat, she couldn't believe what it had just done to her.

 

A few days later the dog and I were in the garden, the cat came over, I stroked it, dog was fine - no aggression on either side.

 

The next day, I see the cat trying to get in through my window!!

The dog likes to stand at the window looking out and she was blocking the way for the cat to get in.

She was quite happy, wagging her little tail, smiling at the cat.

The cat kept meowing at me, I presume to move the dog, then it smacked her again!!

 

Since then, I pay no attention to this cat but it is always sitting at my kitchen window.

 

My collie was trained not to jump at counters, barge past people, jump at people, race like a loony round my house etc.

 

The cats presence is seriously stressing her out, she is considerably anxious for a large portion of the day, she is always jumping up at my counters to see if the cat is there, if it is, she runs To the front door, back to kitchen, to the back door, all around my house, she is jumping up at the counters, windows, she is whining all the time while doing this.

Eventually, after being told off she will settle down and down but soon after it is back to the same.

She has started barking sometimes when the door goes (she is trained not to bark in the house)

If guests come she loses all control and starts jumping up at them, if they are sat down she tries to jump on then and then sit on them.

As my guests are usually young children or my elderly parents or my mother in law who has a severe back injury this is a big problem as she could seriously injure someone.

When she is in this anxious, over excited state she is also rough and disrespectful of space, she will start play biting sometimes if I am stroking her and if I am in the way will just trot right past knocking into my foot/pram/whoever and whatever is in the way.

This seriously annoys me, it is so rude and really hurts sometimes as her body pushes my foot a way it doesn't want to go!

 

I don't know what to do, I am considering using some of those herbal tablets to try and calm her down?

 

She is two years old and used to be a wonderful dog, everyone used to comment on how well behaved she was :(

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Sounds like your dog just simply doesn't like this cats it's not the dogs fault giving it tablets to change her behaviour doesn't sound like the best choice to me

She sounds like she had a bad experience with this cat thats causing the behaviour dogs are territorial and if she see's this cat a threat she will be in full protection and defence mode i would personally first try to put the cat off from coming near and into your garden I wouldn't suggest blasting it with a super soaker but water in milk bottles around your garden might help or alternatively if you want your dog to interact with cats then maybe try to get her used to another more well mannered cat on supervised sessions to ease her around them.

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She does like cats, she gets on well with my in laws two cats and has never shown any aggression to this cat that tries to get in the house.

She enjoys chasing if they run away but she wouldn't hurt one, least I don't think she would.

 

She is a little scared of this cat I think, once when the cat was at the window and she ran to the front door I did let her out, she went to chase after the cat but when it didn't run away she bolted back inside the house and ran round whining!

 

No it isn't her fault at all, I just feel bad as she is obviously anxious and want to try and help her calm down.

 

I have been ignoring it completely, hopefully eventually it will get the idea,

I might try the milk bottle suggestion thank you.

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This isn't about the dog not liking cats; she's excited about seeing the cat.

 

Honestly, if you don't want the cat in your garden enticing your dog don't feed her (I assume you've already figured that out), how about taking the cat to the local humane society (RSPCA)? If the cat is neglected and hungry, instead of ignoring that, just take it to a place where it can get care and maybe find a home. Problem solved.

 

J.

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I have a cat who's always been underweight. Regularly wormed, kidneys normal, vet can't find anything. Our neighbours fed him too. At one stage he was getting 6-8 sachets a day at our house plus begging plaintively at the neighbours, and hadn't a spare ounce. He's sleek and healthy, good muscle mass, happy and active, just thin. Cats, dogs, humans, some are just skinny.

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I think that your dog has developed an obsession with the cat. It is most definitely not about territory, or not liking the cat. It is about getting to see and interact with the cat.

I think what I would do is the following: When I saw the cat in the yard, I would first put my dog in another room or a crate so that she would not observe me, and then I would go out and chase the cat away with a water squirt bottle. I would not want the dog to watch this, so that a) it would not ramp up the dog even more, and B) it would not give the dog the idea that chasing a cat is good.

At the same time, I would go back to the basics of training with the dog, reminding her of how to behave properly when guests come over and so on. If necessary, I would go back to the very beginning and train the dog from step one all over again. (It is very unlikely to take as long as it did the first time; this is just a reminder course).

If the cat is consistently chased away, she will eventually stop coming over. If the dog is re-trained, she will regain her manners.

I would make sure that the dog is crated or in a room with no windows when I was not home so that she could not see the cat and go nuts without my being there to run interference.

best of luck with this! (Just goes to show what can happen, that one would never have anticipated, from something as innocent as feeding a cat once.)

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