Too excited about a particular cat

[Nanda & Nelson]

We just moved overseas and are staying with friends and family until we find a place. The Netherlands are a full country with not so much housing so that will take a little while.

 

In the mean time, one of the friends (we like to) stay at has a cat. Nelson has been around cats before and when they are in the room when he comes in, he doesn't seem to care much. He seems curious, but not super obsessed and he seems to forget about the cat quite quickly. When he walks off leash and there is a cat, he doesn't feel the need to chase it.

 

Now, at my friends place where we'd like to take Nelson too more often, there is a feisty little cat that just gets Nelson so excited. We introduced them by walking Nelson around the house on a leash and then just doing our thing and just keeping an eye out - since he has been fine with cats so far. We make sure that the cat has acces to most of the house and make sure she is never cournered. But, she seems deadly afraid of the dog and now hates me and my bf's guts as well. If we even come near her she starts hissing and will scratch you when she gets a chance.

 

Whenever she lays still, Nelson just wants to look at her, but we can eventually distract him and he will go do something else. Whenever he lets his attention go away from her, he gets rewarded. A few times now, they were just doing their thing, she got curious and came into the same room as him and then he just barks and wants to go chase her. She is the kind of cat that lays in a corner and all at once runs out of the room (fast) which I think just excites Nelson.

 

I am looking for some tips on how to properly get these animals used to each other. What to do and what not. We as owners of both the cat and the dog are willing to figure it out and most of all, we know this will take time and patience.

 

Any tips?

[d112358]

Cats don't do houseguests very well - it can easily take weeks or months to settle into a new routine. If you're staying for an extended stretch (> 1 week), I would treat this like introducing a new cat to a nervous resident cat, which is a process that takes a long time and moves very slowly.

 

It starts by keeping them completely separated and doing scent swaps for at least a few days - take Nelson's bedding into the cat's area every so often so she can get used to it. When she's acting normally with closed doors separating them, then I would start feeding on opposite sides of a closed door. Once that's going OK, I would work with Nelson on a leash and a gate closing off 'her' area. You can play 'Look At That' with Nelson (where you mark when he looks at the cat rather than waiting for him to turn his attention away) - if he's staring, he's too close to her and you need to move further away so he can choose to turn back to you.

 

I was a cat owner before I got dogs, and my cats have all been pretty chill and adaptable. However, as a cat owner I do a basic cat-test on the dogs that come in my house: if they fixate on my cat, I put him away in his room for the duration of the visit, because it's not fair to him to be harassed. If I had house-guests with a dog that would bark and/or chase my cat, I would expect them to have the dog on leash whenever my cat was loose, and to put the dog away if it was reacting to my cat.