Expert: Brandy - 2/27/2007

Question
I have a 2 year old neutered male cat. My girlfriend has an almost 2 year old female beagle. We recently moved in together and the cat has been attacking the dog. He has never shown aggression in the past but also has never been around a dog. He doesn't jus swipe at her, he jumps on her like he wants to kill her. She is terrified of him and hides whenever we bring him downstairs. They are ok if I am holding the cat, but whenever they are on the floor together it gets ugly. How can I make my cat realize the dog is not a threat to him? The dog has been around cats and is not aggressive towards the cat at all. Any advice would help! Thanks

Answer
Your boy is being territorial. You didn't mention if your girlfriend moved in with you, which means your cat is DEFINITELY territorial. That plus smelling and dealing with an entirely different species makes it difficult, especially since the body signals dogs and cats are different, for example: a cat with a tail raised is happy, a dog with a tail raised is challenging, while a wagging tail on a dog is happy, and a cat with the tail lashing from side to side is ready to pounce (Poor Beagle, misreading tails...) And the Beagle is most likely the same size as the cat...

This is going to take some time, and everyone, including you and your girlfriend, will need to be trained to know the boundaries.

Here are some suggestions, and if other allexperts want to chime in, please feel free:

We had our small herd of cats dog-free until we moved into our house, and progressively added three dogs, all as puppies. This is called Cheating, as it's pretty easy to introduce a baby from one species who has not yet learned fear, to the adults of another one. My puppies each got whacked once by our oldest crankypants, and for the most part, learned to dodge paws and claws. I've even seen then at what can be deduced as play, as the cats and dogs will gallop around the house, with the cats realizing that they can jump up on mantles and dogs can't. I realize that the baby stage has long passed these two, but at least it can seem like a goal.

If you can manage it, keep them separate for a while, allowing them to smell each other under doors, for example. Don't carry the cat around (some other experts can disagree with me), and don't over-watch the dog; they need to slowly get used to each other and to work it out without human (well-meaning) intervention.  Any hissing or growling, though, will need to be immediately shushed by you and your girlfriend.

Eventually, instead of bringing the cat downstairs, let him take the steps on his own (cats hate to be forced to do anything; my dad would say that they're like teenage daughters, wanting to think it was all their idea in the first place), and keep an eye on him. He may stalk the Beagle, horde all her toys, or take over her dogbed. If so, get him his own toys or catbed (our living room looks like one of those pictures of old time opium dens, covered in big pet beds). Give the beagle a safe area to stay, perhaps a small pet crate kept in the corner with a blanket over it so she can use it as her den. But don't be too surprised if the cat takes it over.

You and your girlfriend need to stay calm, too, and to resist the urge to literally throw them together to get it over with. A few tussles are expected, but any full-blown arguments should be ended quickly (to protect yourself, my husband recommends either a loud voice shouting HEY! or an air horn...don't laugh, it scares the snot out of everyone)

On the plus side, the beagle is not cat-aggressive, and for you and your girlfriend to praise her anytime she doesn't freak when she sees the cat will help her.

Like I prefaced, this can take time, but try these baby-steps, and let me know how things fare.

Good luck, I can't wait to hear how things will work out.