cat attacked dog

[George78em]

Hi there, I rescued a stray wounded Tom cat around 3 months ago and nursed him to full health. From day one he seemed to realise we had saved him and was the most loving cat we have ever owned. He seems to of claim myself as his and loves nothing more than laying on our knees and head butting us all while putting loudly. He follows me from room to room and waits behind the bathroom door for me. The problem I have is last night all hell broke loose and for a few minutes he turned in to a dangerous wild cat. We regularly look after my in laws small fluffy dog and yesterday he came to stay again. Although they have seen each other from a distance they have never been loose in the same room. Worried that the dog would chase kitty we put him on his lead so he would be under control. Kitty up until then had been scared of the cats outside and our small female cat. As soon as kitty spotted the dog he charged at him scratching him and biting while making the most awful noises. I automatically protected the dog and had my ankles ripped by his claws. The dog was so terrified he was crying and weeing as he tried to escape. When I finally grabbed the dog The cat chased me while still trying to attack the dog which was now in my arms. I have a 10 year old daughter who like my husband and I were all traumatised. I won't let let meet again but now I'm so worried he could attack my daughter or a visitor. Could this be he was protecting us? I'd really appreciate opinions as I've now shut him upstairs. Sorry for long post. Thank you

[Lilith]

Hi there, very sorry to hear about the fracas.

Is your boy neutered? Entire toms can be very territorial - or even if recently neutered they can carry on like entires until the testosterone dies down. I had two feral boys once move in on me, a year apart and I know what you mean about it being frightening; I would pick up the gentler lad and get my legs beaten up for my pains! It got so that I'd pick up the new boy (who was the aggressor) and shove him in another room. They settled together in the end.

As far as your boy is concerned, though, this is his house. He's obviously very attached to you and your family and subservient to the other cat but he objects to this 'intruder' (the dog) and is going to make damn sure he sees it off. It's incredible how fierce cats can be in this situation. I once had a Siamese girl who was in the front room with her kittens; a neighbour called to ask to use the phone. Without thinking I said, oh yes, just in the front room..seconds later, neighbour came dashing out, chased by the (normally peaceable) mother cat lol! I respected her privacy after that!

I don't think you need to worry about your boy hurting or attacking you or your family; you're 'his'. You might need to be careful around any guest he doesn't know - especially if they own a dog and he can smell dog on them, but I'm afraid that having your in-laws' dog to stay doesn't sound like an option any more, for the dog's own safety, unless the house is big enough to keep them strictly apart. It's the cat's home and whereas, with a great deal of caution, he might be induced to live alongside a permanent dog, if your guest dog keeps coming and going, he may not be likely to accept it as a member of the household. (Although there may be people on here with different viewpoints and experience and who can help more with this; this is just my personal feeling.)

It's such a shame that this has happened; some cats tolerate dogs quite happily; others not. It could have gone either way. Your boy must be feeling just as shaken and unhappy as you, and he'll need a lot of reassurance and cuddles despite his macho display. But honestly I don't think you or your family have anything to fear from him. Give him a big fuss from me, and all the best with him

[meriad]

I suspect that your cat at some point was attacked by a dog and now sees them as a threat so for him it was get in their first and attack to chase off before he himself gets attacked and injured.

The fact that you had the dog on a lead meant it couldn't get away and in a way only made the situation worse (sorry). Personally I don't think your cat would attack another person - you just happened to be in the way and the cat at this point didn't care what it took for him to defend himself and see off the intruder. So I wouldn't worry about that

But what I 100% would do is keep the two separate when the dog comes to visit - how often does that happen and for how long?

[Crewella]

Cats are not truly domesticated animals, and all cats have the ability to do this if they feel threatened, so don't look at him differently, he's really not likely to attack 'his' people and you've said how loving he is with you.

I would definitely make sure he is neutered, though, as that will make him a lot less territorial and less likely to fight with other cats. If you look at it from his point of view, he's had a tough life and suddenly landed on his paws with good people who give him care, affection and regular food - of course he's going to defend that against any intruders!

I've posted a link here to Cat Chat's introductions advice. I know it's a slightly different situation, but it might help you to understand what happened from his point of view and how to avoid it happening again.

http://www.catchat.org/hierarchies.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[George78em]

Thank you for your replies, I really do appreciate any ideas. At the beginning of March Norris found us. He waited to come in at the door with our cat one day. He was in a really bad condition. He was thin with worms and covered in fleas and ticks. He had deep lacerations all round his neck that were infected and walked with a limp. After having him scanned and advertising him locally and we're confident he was no ones pet we had him neutered and chipped and also much the needed dental work done. What surprised us so much was his loving he was and just allowed me to bathe his painful wounds and and tolerated everything we had to do to him. He happily lives with my daughters guinea pigs and doesn't bat an eyelid at them so we were worried he would hide and be scared with the dog. Putting the dog on his lead was a way i thought I could keep him from chasing and scaring the cat. We now keep him as an indoor cat as the first time we let him out after his recovery he was attacked by another local Tom and suffered quite badly again and utinated himself in fright and had injuries to his face and ears. . I did wonder if he had had a bad experience with a dog previously but he has met him from a distance before and not taken an interest. With him having such a awful life before finding us maybe I have over compensated and is it possible to give too much attention and affection? We only look after the dog for a few days a few times a year and it is possible to keep them separated.
If it is hormonal how long would it take for levels to change after his neutering? This was about 2 months ago now.
Thank you again for your help. I do know deep he wouldn't hurt us on purpose.

[Crewella]

The hormones should start to calm down after a couple of weeks, so two months really should do it, however there is likely to be a certain amount of habitual behaviour that will take a bit longer to change. I have a recently neutered ex-stray tom cat and I'm about to go through the process of introducing him to the rest of the gang ..... very, very slowly and making sure that he meets them on 'their' territory.

As the dog is an infrequent visitor it might just be easier to keep them apart, as has been said.