Cat Chat 2

[IcedAntimony]

I have an outdoor cat that I want to bring inside. My neighborhood has a lot of stray dogs that like to chase her around, and there's a stray cat that tries to beat her up and take her bed. I know she wants to come inside, because she often creeps in slowly, especially during the summer. It get around 90-120 degrees Fahrenheit where I live and she's pretty thick furred. The problem is that I have dogs that bark at her, so when she comes in she smells them and gets scared. She also gets scared if we try to close the door, and if we keep the door open, it raises the cost of the air conditioner since its so hot. Does anyone have any tips on properly introducing her to the dogs and getting her to calm down when we close the door?

[..Adoption Center..]

I have an outdoor cat that I want to bring inside. My neighborhood has a lot of stray dogs that like to chase her around, and there's a stray cat that tries to beat her up and take her bed. I know she wants to come inside, because she often creeps in slowly, especially during the summer. It get around 90-120 degrees Fahrenheit where I live and she's pretty thick furred. The problem is that I have dogs that bark at her, so when she comes in she smells them and gets scared. She also gets scared if we try to close the door, and if we keep the door open, it raises the cost of the air conditioner since its so hot. Does anyone have any tips on properly introducing her to the dogs and getting her to calm down when we close the door?

I had a problem like this before, I would put her in a room and keep the dogs out, then try to get her used to your place with the dogs not around. After she is used to it I would slowly every day let her see the dogs ( WARNING: she may scratch ) and MAYBE she will get used to life at your house

[Thalassic]

I have an outdoor cat that I want to bring inside. My neighborhood has a lot of stray dogs that like to chase her around, and there's a stray cat that tries to beat her up and take her bed. I know she wants to come inside, because she often creeps in slowly, especially during the summer. It get around 90-120 degrees Fahrenheit where I live and she's pretty thick furred. The problem is that I have dogs that bark at her, so when she comes in she smells them and gets scared. She also gets scared if we try to close the door, and if we keep the door open, it raises the cost of the air conditioner since its so hot. Does anyone have any tips on properly introducing her to the dogs and getting her to calm down when we close the door?

I recommend looking up "how to introduce new animals", as there are many tips out there.
The general idea, though, is to do it gradually. Get the dogs used to a cat being around. For example, you can keep the cat in a single room for a while so she gets comfortable there, and then bring your dogs to the door and let them sniff eachother under the door. Do this for about a week and then move on to something different like, you could allow the cat and dogs to be in the same room for a little while. Watch them closely so they don't attack eachother or start looking uncomofrtable (hissing, trying to get away or hide), it can really help to do this with one dog at a time, and keeping them on a leash to prevent them from spooking the cat too much. You could try feeding them in the same room, for example. The bowls don't even have to be near eachother, just being in the same space is enough at first. And then you can move the bowls a little closer. A lot of dogs can get very protective around their food and start to growl if anything gets too close, so if yours are like this, don't put the cats bowls near them. Having them in the same room is enough.

By gradually extending their time together in a safe and happy way (make sure to reward them for every good interaction), you might be able to get them to at least be comfortable around eachother. But always make sure the cat has some place where the dogs could never get her, just so she can feel safe and hide away if she ever needs to.

[Marley.&.Me]

https://i.imgur.com/jhN9OPT.jpg

I should have those people from Cat vs Dog to help these two. They HATE each other. When I say hate they chase each other and Sebastian swats at Oppie and hisses and it’s a total cat/dog fight. I’m surprised I snatched this picture as they’ve NEVER came close without fighting ;-;

[Rainbow Dash]

Tambora (cat) and Gatsby (dog) are at the point they can snuggle if Gatsby is settled on the couch before Tambora gets there. It's the opposite though; Gatsby is scared of Tambora. At first Tambora would hunt Gatsby down and hit him and hiss, for the most part that has stopped with Tambora occasionally flipping. It's really cute when they start grooming each other though.

Weird question but should I stop Gatsby when he licks inside Tambora's ears? Tambora doesn't seem to mind, I'm just worried it might not be super healthy for his ears.

My friend got me a cat tree for my birthday and I built it yesterday. Hopefully Tambora likes it and uses it to give Gatsby some space.

[shibeboi]

Hello! I just want to show off my kitten Newt!



He's got very weird coloration and markings, and I think he's a cross between a ragdoll and a tabby cat! He's a normal troublesome kitten, but I love him to death.

[Lunarsnow]

Weird question but should I stop Gatsby when he licks inside Tambora's ears? Tambora doesn't seem to mind, I'm just worried it might not be super healthy for his ears.

Yeah, if he does it a lot and gets his tongue down in the ear canal it could possibly lead to an ear infection. I've never had a dog who liked to lick ears but I'd probably stop my dog from doing it if the inside was being licked.

Hello! I just want to show off my kitten Newt!

https://pre00.deviantart.net/f953/th/pre/i/2017/331/a/5/untitled_by_hryblondon-dbv37ng.jpg

He's got very weird coloration and markings, and I think he's a cross between a ragdoll and a tabby cat! He's a normal troublesome kitten, but I love him to death.

Tabby is a marking, not a breed, so cats are either tabby or not tabby. From just his face he looks like a grey tabby bicolor color/marking wise! I love the white bit that's extending up his nose though. It's adorable <3

[shibeboi]

Yep, I was aware!

[IcedAntimony]

If I was trying to keep my cat calm so I could get her used to being indoors, is it possible catnip would help?

[lexthedestroyer]

If I was trying to keep my cat calm so I could get her used to being indoors, is it possible catnip would help?

In my experience, that would probably do the opposite of calm her down. Catnip riles cats up, makes them super energetic and playful. If you want to get her used to being inside, you could make sure you give her meals and treats inside, have a sort of "curfew" where you bring her in at night, and maybe use some pheromones in rooms she stays in. They're supposed to calm cats down. The one i used to use is called Feliway, it didn't work as well on my cats, but other people swear by it.