How are your dogs with cats?

[JacksonsMom]

Jackson is "okay" with cats.... so long as they don't run, LOL. He's so weird. He'd never hurt a cat. But he's VERY interested in them; a little too interested most of the time. Like, we can't just go into someones house who has a cat and just let him loose because if he sees that cat, and then cat runs or hisses, he chases it and becomes obsessive about finding it. If a cat is under a bed or hidden, he will bark until corrected by me.

But my dad has two cats and he can be chilling upstairs and not really care that much about them. We have a gate at the top of the stairs and dogs mainly stay down and cats up. However my bedroom is upstairs so often he will be up there and not really seemingly caring about the cats- unless the other dogs begin barking at them, then he suddenly will too. But most of the time he's pretty chill with them. I came out of the bathroom the other day and saw this:

If it's a cat that is pretty good about just ignoring him completely, or at least acts very nonchalant around him, and will allow Jackson to sniff it, etc, he's fine. But yeah it's the running thing that causes his chase instinct to come out. Most cats aren't pleased to see an unknown dog and will hiss, etc, which just makes Jackson more interested in chasing them down.

I think if I got a kitten and brought it home, he'd become friends with the cat. Not sure I'd ever willingly choose to live with cats and Jackson together though, lol.

 

[Linds]

When they act normal it's great and fine! When they act like....well, cats, not so much.

I grew up with the most confident, relaxed cat in the world. So secure in everything that he had no fear for dogs, never ran and would put them in their place if need be, but not fearfully. He was the best cat ever and raised all our dogs. Never had to worry about anything, Traveler loved him and would play all the time.

Now though, we have two cats that are super antisocial over all and do the whole freeze, creep and then run thing with the dogs so they've gotten really bad around them. They'll corner them and bark if they start doing that and we've been working on them just ignoring them. But it's hard going from the cat that was involved with everything going on and always with the dogs to the cats now that just creep around and the dogs don't get it.

I think from now on I'm doing an adult cat with known personality so I know if they like dogs or not.

 

[Fran101]

Same as above.
Secure, calm cats are sniffed and mostly ignored and hints at STOP BOOPING ME WITH YOUR NOSE (like a swipe to the face) are respected.

Hissing running panicked cats are most definitely chased. It's so hard to work on...

 

[Ozfozz]

Rigby outright ignores cats. It as though they don't even exist and because of that cats have some sort of unspoken respect for her. I'm guessing if a cat ever opted to take a swat at her that things wouldn't end pretty for the cat, but as long as they stay invisible to her things are fine.

Cobain would chase a cat if it ran, but otherwise doesn't show too much interest in cats.

Oz and Ruby enjoy menacing cats. Luckily they're small and not really a threat to most of the cats that we know.

 

[Paviche]

Rowan loves cats (in a good way.) He's very interested when he meets them, but in a polite/respectful way, and he co-exists with them really nicely. This is inside - cats running outside are the same as rabbits or squirrels to him.

Riff is way too interested in cats. He kind of wants to play, kind of wants to chase/herd, and kind of... has no idea what they are, or how he should act. So instead he just gets super hyped up around them and whines and barks while dancing in an awkward circle around them. No one enjoys it. So obviously... no cats for Riff.

 

[Pintage]

If a cat is confident and chill, neither of my dogs will mess with them. There have been a few incidences where a cat just waltzes up to Lugia (while she's offleash!) and she'll just sniff at them, play bow, and then run away like "Okay now chase me!!"

But if it's a cat that's slinking around, freezes, and then darts away she'll chase after them (and then Circus will commence chasing Lugia).

 

[Grab]

All of my dogs were raised with cats (or, in the case of Newt..I'm not sure if she'd been around cats before, but she doesn't mind at all about our cats) so they think they're pretty boring.

 

[Toller_08]

Journey worries about cats. She is interested, but gets stiff and flinches if they move too quickly. She had a bad experience as a puppy with an angry cat. However, if they run away, she would chase. She lose chasing moving critters. Be it dogs, cats, gophers, birds, whatever. Chasing something moving is the most fun ever in her mind.

Keira thinks all cats should die. He is definitely not cat safe. She trembles and shakes and stares intently in anticipation. I don't know what she would actually do, but she would certainly chase and scar them.

Ripley is pretty similar to Keri's, except he growls at them too.

Dance chases them but gets nervous around confident cats or cats that hiss.

I don't know many cats and know I will not ever have one, so I don't really cared what they're like around cats as long as they can control themselves in situations that need it. Like a vet clinic, relatives' farms, etc.

 

[momto8]

Ace, Dutchess, Roxy, and Gunner are fine with cats. They are interested, but are good.
Kiley I do not know, she pretty much ignores my mom's cats when we go over, but has never lived with them.
Quinn and Vanna have not had much exposure, but are interested, they want to chase them. Don't know what they would do.
Courtney HATES cats, she instantly bristles at the sight of a cat, have never let her meet any since she's been with me.

 

[nikkiluvsu15]

She's pretty good with them I'd say

Harleigh and Tigger by AdventuresOfACrazyLab, on Flickr

Phoebe and Har by AdventuresOfACrazyLab, on Flickr

She's interested in all cats and wants to be BFF's immediately. But she's lived with cats since a puppy and for 2.5 years Phoebe was her best friend. They were never far apart - she definitely misses her (I do too ). Tigger is just old and grumpy, which she doesn't quite understand lol

 

[SpringerLover]

Buzz is great. He and my cat Rasza are pretty good friends. He's never been inclined to bother them at all.

Bailey is fine if they leave her alone. I don't think she'd chase a running cat even, but if they come into her space, that's bad news bears. She is not safe around cats.

Gabby chased cats when she first got here and I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep her even as a foster. It didn't even take much work on my part to get her to stop. She learned to recall off them and Rascal stopped doing his crazy apartment racing antics when she was out. Now he's back to racing up and down the hallway, but Gabby doesn't give chase.

 

[Julee]

Bloo will eat them if given the chance.

Em is really interested in new ones, but not the ones we live with.

Copper and Shadow don't care.

 

[Southpaw]

Mine are all really good even though I have the most non-dog-savvy cat on the planet. He will purposely park himself RIGHT where the dogs are hanging out (come on, you have the whole house...) and hiss and growl and swat, and at most he'll get someones attention and end up with a dog sniffing his face.

I can call them away from him and they really don't care that he exists, but he just loves to draw attention to himself and of course they have to investigate why he's making such a ruckus

It would be even more harmonious if I had a less grumpy cat.

 

[Oko]

Different reactions to different cats. She's scared of Stripes, but everyone is. Stripes is 17 years old and kind of terrifying. She's swatted Feist multiple times, so now Feist has a healthy respect for her and gives her a wide berth. Peanut is our basement dweller and she almost never sees him, but if she does, they'll sniff each other and continue on. Ollie, our maine coon, acts like a dog, kind of wants to play with the dogs but is kind of afraid of them, and goes thundering around the house. As of late, Feist will not chase him as long as you catch her before she fixates and say 'nope, this way'. So, she's pretty good.

 

[thehoundgirl]

My dogs are good with my cats for the most part. Buster and Miagi grew up together so he's good with him. He likes Tiger but he will bark at him given the chance. Angel has hissed at him since day one and he will bark at her. Now he wouldn't hurt Tiger or Angel he just likes to tease them. Dixie will chase them but it's all in fun she wouldn't hurt them.

She has been taught from since a pup when I say no you are to stop bugging them and she will stop in her tracks and go do something else. Rudy acts scared of the cats but he is in general a weird dog and just sensitive. He played with Angel when she was a kitten.

 

[ruffiangirl]

My dogs are fine with our cats, and cats that come into the house, stray cats that run from them they will chase. But I highly doubt that they would ever actually hurt.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

Cats in the house (my house, other people's house, clinic cats, etc) are completely fine. Heidi ignores them completely. Missy ignores them, won't seek them out, and tries to get away if they get close to her. Jack will try to play with them, and is very interested in "finding the kitty", but leaves them alone once the novelty has worn off.

Jack and Missy will chase outside cats. Heidi follows along but I'm not sure she knows entirely what's going on, she's just along for the ride lol. She shows no interest in cats on walks, the other two do. I don't know what would happen if they caught knew and I don't want to find out. The neighbors used to let their cat out regularly, and I always would check my backyard to make sure the cat wasn't outside before I let the dogs out.

It doesn't seem to be determined by how the cat is acting either. Cat streaking through the house? Fine. Cat sitting on top of the fence? Not fine.

Does anyone else's dogs distinguish between outside cats and inside cats?

 

[Sparrow]

Zoe will accept any cat I bring to her. We fostered a stray and she was fine. I brought home Maiya and she was fine. She was raised with Sabrina, who taught her to have a healthy respect for cats and not harass them. It was a hard and bloody-nosed lesson for puppy Zoe, but she only needed it once.

If she sees a cat while out on a walk, though, it's like some inner sight hound has been awakened and she wants to CHASE. She has chased cats before outside when they came in our yard, but there isn't any attempt to actually grab them if she catches up.

She has barked at both Sabrina and Maiya maybe once each for coming too close when she eats. I generally keep cats clear at mealtimes, but she hasn't snapped or anything. When Maiya gets up to kitten antics and attacks her nose while she sleeps, Zoe will air snap at her and eventually bark if I don't intervene. Overall, she is extremely tolerant, because she has learned to look to me to deal with the naughty cat. I mean really. This cat. She thinks it's a game to claw at the nose of a creature 10x her size when she has been corrected for it a million times.

Maiya will hide when Zoe is approaching and leap out at her. She will race top speed around the house. She will walk on Zoe, cuddle her, and lick her eyes. Zoe takes it all in stride. I think she puts up with is grudgingly at times, but secretly enjoys the company and kitty love.

 

[Slick]

Supposedly, Leo is ok with cats inside. His previous fostermom also fostered cats. However, I don't own cats so I wouldn't know.

Outside, its CHASE CHASE CHASE!!!! I am pretty positive he wouldn't hurt a cat, but he has figured out that if you chase a cat, they run really really fast, and Leo LOVES that. We have not met a single other dog so far yet at dog parks that runs as fast as he does, so I am pretty sure its his favorite thing ever to chase a super fast thing.

I was doing a track workout in a fenced track area a few months ago, with Leo off leash and running with me. Suddenly, he came nose to nose with a cat. They stared at each other for a second, and then they were off like a bullet. Eventually Leo treed the cat, and then I had to walk him down, because there was no way he was recalling. That is his only real chasing opportunity though. On leash, he definitely pulls like a hellion now though, because he wants to chase. We have met some super dog knowledgeable cats on leash before who marched right up to Leo. And then you could see how confused he was. He sniffed the cat for a second, bumped the cat with his nose once, and then walked away looking at me confused like "Why is this cat not running? I want it to run please!"

 

[Taqroy]

Oz and Ruby enjoy menacing cats.

I don't know why but this made me laugh. A lot. I have the weirdest mental image of them "menacing" a cat with bats and handcuffs. And hats, little hats. Lol.

Murphy is fantastic with indoor cats and ones he knows. I'm pretty sure he would kill a cat running through the backyard though.

Mu is straight up terrified of cats. I took her to a friend's house for the weekend once and she spent the entire time wedged between me and the sofa trying to hide from their three cats.

Tipper lurves kitties. She saw the old grumpkitty at the vet and immediately started play bowing and being adorable. Grumpkitty wtf'ed at her and ran away while she was prancing. Poor McGee.

Hah, my question is "A cat with 1 leg is missing how many legs?".