Monday, 27 September 2021

Cat Developing Behavior Problems from New Dog

My girlfriend has a flame point siamese named Felix who's about two years old. He's an exclusively indoor cat who's always been an incredibly friendly goofball who's a little too smart and curious for his own good. He's always been fine with being picked up, held, light roughhousing, etc. The only "behavior issues" he's ever had are being incredibly vocal for extended periods of time, getting himself into precarious positions due to the aforementioned curiosity, and he's also started to attempt to open doors in an effort to get outside.

Now that my girlfriend has bought a new house and has much more room, she and I are planning on getting a dog, and this weekend we had a trial home visit with one before we're able to formally adopt her next week. She's a medium/small Aussie mix, incredibly well behaved, not at all hyperactive, and very well socialized. When she and Felix first met she was very good about not attempting to chase or otherwise harass him. There was a little bit of hissing if she got too close, but overall he seemed more curious about her, and would often forgo high positions on tables or counters to follow her around and watch her. They weren't snuggling on the couch by the end or anything, but we never had to pry them apart or deal with any aggression from Felix.

The dog returned to her training program on Sunday leaving my girlfriend and Felix back at home today while she works. She texted me this morning to tell me that Felix hissed at her today (literally the first time this has ever happened), and that when trying to get him down from a high shelf he's not allowed to be on he attempted to lunge for her face. This has us both fairly concerned. We want to head off any potential behavioral problems before they result in someone potentially getting hurt, and Felix becoming an angry, aggressive, generally unhappy cat. We've been doing some searching around and seen recommendations for Feliway diffusers. We're also going to start making more of a point to have dedicated interaction time with him, getting new feeder toys we'll rotate to help keep him stimulated, and also finally get him a cat tree (she never had room in her old apartment for one). Are we overreacting? Not doing enough? Need to do something different?

submitted by /u/jacksprat1952
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/pwqmxz/cat_developing_behavior_problems_from_new_dog/

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