One of our outside cats attacked my lil 9 week old pup. What should I do?

[COOPER12]

Hi there  Im new to the forum and this is my first post. Im pretty sure this is where I should post this but please let me know if otherwise!

My BC pup Cooper is 9 weeks old and over the last few days we’ve been slowly introducing him to our 2 outside cats. One cat, Ollie is my own, and I was concerned that he’d be frightened by Cooper and run away but so far he’s been coping very well and has been approaching to check Cooper out before walking away. 

The other cat is named Jaspa, he’s my sister’s cat and he’s the big boss of our property. I was concerned he’d be a bit of a bully, but today he ran up unexpectedly while my sister and I were taking Cooper exploring around our house. He viciously attacked Cooper and my sister and I got between them. It was all screaming and chaos, poor Cooper was crying and my sister managed to kick Jaspa and get him away so she could lock him up for the time being. 

Cooper has a little cut beneath his eye and he was terrified. It was absolutely horrifying. 

If you have any experiences similar please share them and if anyone has a recommendation on what to do I’d be grateful. At the moment we’re just going to keep them at a distance and Jaspa will hopefully realise the pup’s harmless and staying. 

Here’s a picture of Cooper sleeping :)

[juliepoudrier]

I've always has cats and dogs together, but not outside cats that need to get used to dogs. Consider that from an outside cat's perspective, larger predators (and dogs are predators to cats) are dangerous, so it's not surprising that the cat reacted badly. Had it been a neighbor dog bent on destruction or a coyote instead of your new pup, the cat's response might have been what saved its life. And border collies do tend to have an especially predatory stare.

If the pup can be confined to something like an xpen in the yard while the cat is out and about, then the cat will eventually get used to the pup. If your sister can go out and interact with her cat while you interact with the pup nearby, but outside of the cat's "flight or fight" zone, you can eventually desensitize the cat.

Unfortunately, the nature of having outside cats is that it's much more difficult to set up and control meetings between the two. Your pup will get over the encounter you described, but I think it'll take you and your sister working together regularly to get the cat adjusted to the pup. And that includes you making sure the pup never chases or threatens the cat.

J.

[COOPER12]

Yes, I certainly understand his reaction, he’s a very territorial and strongwilled tomcat and he’s known to chase off stray dogs that wander on our property!! 

The pen is a great idea, we do currently have a pen and a kennel for him that he eats his meals in but a playplen down by our house where the cats like to hang about would be a good idea.

Thank you for replying