Cat stalked and attacked visiting dog

by Becky
(San Francisco)

We just got a 4-year-old black smoke male neutered cat from the shelter and he is super mellow and sweet and happy. A few days after we brought home the cat, a friend stopped by with his dog, also a sweet calm male (this dog lives with an elderly cat so is used to them). Our new cat followed the dog around the house, then stalked and attacked the dog. We had to pull the cat off the dog and the poor dog was cowering in a corner and the cat was all freaked out. The cat was not playing. The dog left and the cat returned to his normal sweet self. We would like to get a dog and also have friends with dogs over to our house so I'm wondering how to make this cat more comfortable around them. Thanks for your advice.

Answer by Kate
Hi
This may not be possible, so I don't want to get your hopes up.
It sounds like your cat has had little experience with other animlas and unfortunately cats which have not had a lot of contact with other animals from a very very early age are never very hapy around them.
Usually what happens is that over time the cat gets used to a particular animal and choses just to give them a wide berth.
There is a procedure that can help when you have your own animals but it may not work with the occassional visit.

The procedure is described here and is the same for cats nad dogs

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

Apart from that you may just have to make sure your cat is not around when other dogs visit the house.

best wishes Kate

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