Fighting like cats and dogs?

StellaBee · #1 02-26-2007, 10:43 PM

Long story short, my parents are going to have to dogsit Stella for about 5 months. The problem - they have 4 indoor cats and Stella likes to chase them. My step-mother asked me the other day if I thought Stella would kill any of the cats. Of course, I answered no right away, but I was wondering if anyone has had that experience.

The more important question is how do I transition Stella into a house with these cats when she has never lived with cats before? She's been to their house before for weekends and she chases them mercilessly. They all hide until Stella leaves. My parents are worried that the cats won't adjust to her being there.

Does anyone have any insight on this one? Thanks!

shaebabybsw · #2 02-28-2007, 07:55 AM

My parents in law brought their maltese to come visit over Christmas this last year and it took Shiloh (kitty) the full 7 days to finally stop hiding when she is usually out w/ our family all day long. I don't think it's a question of the cats getting used to Stella, I think it may take a couple weeks, but they will come around. The real question is whether Stella will ever leave the kitties alone : ) They probably smell so interesting to her that she feels the need to investigate thouroughly and she is probably very excited! I think she will also pay them less attention as time goes by as she gets used to thier smells? Shiloh and Narnia are constantly chasing each other and rolling around, they are the best of friends and Shiloh was about 7 months old when Narnia moved in. Good luck, I hope everything works out for you!

StellaBee · #3 03-05-2007, 04:22 PM

Thank you so much for the encouragement. Stella is SOOOOOO interested in the kitties. When she was younger, it wasn't as big of a deal. She would walk up cautiously, smell them and they didn't mind so much. Now, she sees them and immediately begins to chase them. And you're exactly right - it's like she just wants someone to pin the cat down so she can smell every square inch! I don't think she'll hurt them - she's just so darn curious! Fingers crossed it will all work out. Also, she will be kennelled when no one is home, which isn't very often. My step-mom is a teacher (off during the summer) and my dad is a police officer who works different shifts. Thanks again for the insight. I'm not hoping for them to be the best of friends, just hoping they can live in peace!

JaredKyah · #4 03-05-2007, 05:56 PM

I think it might all be up to the cats. We had a cat before Remy came along, and although our cat would never win any "Miss Congeniality" awards, she was usually in the same room with us. Remy wants to play, and her version of play is to chase the cat and hope that Kitkat will return the "play bow" and join in the game... Not gonna happen. We have gated off the upstairs so that when Remy chases her, she has somewhere safe to go. I know this is not ideal to relegate the cat to a different area of the house, but we are still hoping Remy will get the message. I think she is slowly realizing it. Last night they were in the same room together for a good five minutes before Remy declared "The game is on".

StellaBee · #5 03-10-2007, 07:30 AM

How long did it take before Remy and the kitty could be in the same room together? I suggested that my parents do the gate-off thing as well. They are planning on keeping Stella in the downstairs part of the house and letting the cats have the upstairs. Does that seem to be working for you so far?

JHarper · #6 03-10-2007, 07:42 AM

I'm sure the cats wouldn't be so interesting if they didn't run when she walks/runs towards them. It's probably turning into a game for her.

We used to have 2 cats, which our dog grew up with from a puppy. They stood their ground, and our dog never bothered with them, other than trying to lay on them.
Unfortunately we had a house fire, and while the firemen were able to get our animals out, we didn't have any family members who could watch them in the 5 months we were out of a house. So I had to fight to get them into a NO kill shelter, to insure their placement into a good home. They were wonderful cats. They were placed very quickly.

BoxerRock · #7 03-10-2007, 09:14 AM

Like Remy, our Molley wants to play with the cat all the time. Our cat is 13 and wants nothing to do with Molley. We too, have gated off a section of our 2nd floor so the cat has somewhere to go and get away from Molley. Our cat will come around Molley once in a while but when Molley shows any interest in her the cat will start hissing and swatting at Molley. It's been almost a year and no improvement. Also, we had the exact same problem when Carley was here. I don't believe Molley would ever hurt the cat though..she just wants it to play with her.

tastubbs · #8 03-10-2007, 09:15 AM

I had two cats when I first rescued Buster and it did not take long for things to settle down. I think they just need a bit of time to get used to each others' presence. I bet everything turns out as long as they put up any precious breakable items