Cat anxiety

mel.b

So i'm picking up my puppy tomorrow and my cat is already stressed and it hasn't even arrived yet! I've had the puppy's crate set up in my living room since Mon night and since it was put up, my cat won't even come in the lounge room! He stands on the edge of the room, sees the crate and dissappears upstairs. Normally every night he would be cuddled up with me on the couch. I just brought him down and put him the living room with me, with the door shut and he just meowed and meowed and his eyes were as wide as saucers. He was not happy. He's previously stayed in a cattery a bit, and i always thought he liked it as he makes friends with the cats on either side if him and the owners comment on what a character he is, but now it's almost like he's acting scared that i'm going to put him in there.

So any ideas on what i can do to make my cat feel more comfortable - obviously the arrival of pup tomorrow is going to put him out even more he was a stray i adopted about 4.5 yrs ago, so i don't know what previous experience he has had with dogs. Should i just let him come to terms with it in his own time, but i'm worried that he will never come into the lounge room again and that would make me sad, 'cos like a typical cat, obviously i need him more than he needs me LOL!

Pumpkinseeds

I think a Feliway diffuser would definitely help the cat with anxiety. I don't have any experience with introducing a puppy to a cat but I'd say keep the puppy in the crate and let the cat get a good look at him and suss him out. Maybe puss is afraid you'll put him/her in the crate and that could be what's causing the anxiety. Could you put the crate in another room for a while so the cat still has the comfort of sharing the living room with you?

mel.b

The crate has literally just been packed up and put into the car ready for tomorrow. Yes, i think he's scared that i'm going to put him into it.

I think i will have to look into the feliway diffuser - i don't want Puss feeling like he can't come into the room.

Pumpkinseeds

mel.b wrote: »

The crate has literally just been packed up and put into the car ready for tomorrow. Yes, i think he's scared that i'm going to put him into it.

I think i will have to look into the feliway diffuser - i don't want Puss feeling like he can't come into the room.

I've got a borrowed tnr trap which is basically a cage in the garden and my 3 are on edge since it arrived yesterday. Felix has been peeing in parts of the garden that he'd normally not bother with and they are all keeping guard out the back of the house.

I find Feliway brilliant and of course I've run out at the moment. I think cats have an instinctive fear of cages. Which is probably a good thing. Lots of fuss of course never goes amiss, that and a rain of chicken whenever a newbie is brought into the family.

SillyMangoX

Rather than a feliway diffuser, I would recommend a pet remedy one, same basic idea but works on all animals (and humans!) so it would help the pup settle in, as well as calming down puss. I got one for my house after moving in a new kitten and the fighting has reduced dramatically and the older male cat has stopped spraying around the house! And of course, post pics of the new pup

The Sweeper

I've done intro posts on this forum before if you have a search... Um try these:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=65751230
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=67847716

anniehoo

As per above, quoting the links (long read but worth it):

wrote:

A puppy will be a lot easier than an adult dog. The puppy is friendly and curious but assumes he's bottom of the pecking order - which is good, because she'll assume that too.

First introduction with a dog and a cat it's a good idea to put the cat up somewhere high - put her on a table so she can look down upon the dog - and whatever you do don't let the dog get its front paws on the table (not a problem with a puppy I assume).

It'll take time - the two most important things are that you never give out to her for bailing up the puppy (which she will do at some point, and it's an important lesson for him to learn too) and that you don't oust her from her favourite spot in favour of the puppy - so if she usually sleeps on your pillow, then
Manage all introductions carefully the same way you already have been. Reassure the cat and if she becomes stressed, remove the puppy and come back to reassure her.

You can try transferring scent between them - get a clean cloth and dampen it with some warm water. Rub it against the cat's fur, and then go rub the puppy with the cloth. Then back to the cat again, and rub her with the puppified cloth.

Give the cat something that smells of the pup - so put an old towel in the pup's bed for a couple of days, then set it up somewhere that the cat likes to sleep. Make sure you're there the first time she encounters it so she doesn't feel threatened, and stroke and reassure her while she sniffs it over. If she sleeps on it, excellent. If it upsets her, take it away and calm her down and then try again later when she's chilled out.

Set up 'bunkers' in the house for both animal, where the other animal will never be allowed to go until they're comfortable with each other. If you want to keep the puppy in the kitchen and you normally feed and water the cat in the kitchen and she enters and exits the house through the kitchen, you're going to need to rethink either her feeding and house access, or where you're putting the puppy.

Is she an indoor cat or in at night only, or in and out as she pleases? If she has access to the outside it can present a problem - if she gets pissed off she may just nick off, go live with the neighbours, or worse for you nick off and you'll just never know what happened to her. To ensure she continues to come home in this situation, make sure you make a big fuss of her when she does get back, and throw her favourite food in every so often (but not exclusively or she'll never eat anything else again).

If you're changing the routine of the house - e.g. if pup has to be in the kitchen and that's where kitty usually eats and drinks, you need to change her routine now, today, before the pup gets there. Close off the kitchen and don't allow her into it. Put her food and water somewhere else (pick a spot carefully, you don't want to change it again when the pup arrives) and move her litter tray somewhere quiet. Set her up with a sanctuary - a safety pup-free zone. Do the same for the puppy when it arrives so it has a space in which it feels safe from the aggressive and annoyed dominant animal.

You can buy a product called a Feliway Diffuser - a plug-in scent diffuser, like an air freshener - except it diffuses synthetically replicated feline facial scents, that cats associate with happy and calm behaviour. The plug-in lasts for one month, you'll smell nothing, and it works best in a small room - so wherever you set up her sanctuary, you can plug in one of those too.

Most of all, take your time. They'll adjust eventually. The cat may never grow to love the pup, but she may get to the point where she tolerates him. She can grow to like him if she never feels threatened by him - and all of the above will contribute to setting that up. You could get lucky and she could end up using him as a sleeping cushion in future years.

and

wrote:

Manage it - don't let the cat smack the dog around too much unless the dog is really doing something that deserves a slap. One of my cats sneaks up on the dog and batters him if he gets the chance - it's a bloody problem because it means the dog is more full-on with this cat outside the house if he seems him in the yard. (This same cat is also the only one who refuses to run if the pup tries to 'spook' the cats by bouncing at them - he flies at the dog, paws flailing).

It will take a lot of time. Eventually the cat will begin to ignore the dog, but again, don't let them get too close to each other unless they're really calm. Praise both of them for positive reactions, but simply separate them if they react negatively. Distract them with games or treats when they're in each others' presence.

Never let the dog chase the cat, and never let the cat ambush the dog. If it happens, don't stress too much, but give a correction to the guilty animal the second it happens, and work harder at not letting it happen again.