Behaviour Toward Cats

[aussielover]

Trying to figure out my dog's behaviour toward my little foster kitten.

Obviously I never leave them unsupervised together. However with what little interaction they have had, I'm trying to figure out my dogs strange behaviour towards the kitten.

Initially she was scared and would keep her distance (at least 1m away). The kitten showed no fear of the dog and followed her around etc.

Now she is sniffing the kitten and looking quite interested, but I am not sure if it is in a good way?

She seems very perplexed by it. She very gently batted it with her paw once and sort of went to mouth it, but didn't make contact, I didn't feel there was any real intent to harm but after this I have completely separated them. I don't know if its overreacting though?

She is a gentle dog in general although she has on occasion, killed wild rabbits (obviously they were sick/debilitated for her even to be able to catch them). When she does kill rabbits, she goes straight in for the kill, no messing around or "playing" before.

I don't feel she would go for it in front of me, however, if she did I would have very little time to react so i think it is better to keep them separate for now. I know she would not fight back if the kitten had a go, as she has always come off second best in encounters with older kittens/cats. Unfortunately this kitty is just too little to be able to defend itself. All of the other fosters I;ve had have been big enough to tell her to go away.

[Christina]

Watch her overall body language. This does not sound like its aggression at all.

They should be fine together with you supervising. Maybe keep one of them on your lap until you & they feel comfortable. This is what I do or pen them until they are used to each other, I breed cats & dogs. My dogs scare the kittens at first as they are so excited & love them & they do get over enthusiastic but they soon make friends. I never leave dogs & kittens unsupervised for the first 5 or 6 months even though they are friends.

[StaceyB]

Sounds to me like curiosity. If she's not been around such a little kitten before she probably doesnt know what to make of it.

[Whippetsmum]

Even if it's curiosity, there's a big weight difference and little kitty could get hurt.

[Bluefairy]

I agree I think its all curiosity on the dogs part, which is great. But as the pp said the weight difference could cause injury, like the dog putting its paw on the kitten (like they do with puppies) and hurting it.

I wouldn't segregate them all the time. Is there any way you can put up a gate in a doorway to let the dog see the kitten moving around but the dog cant access it. You'd probably have to put up some smaller wire screen as the kitten will be able to get through the bars.

I think the dog needs to see the kitten doing all its playful routine, the dog needs to know that all this is normal and ok. The slowly introduce them when the kitten is a bit bigger.

I have had older dogs and introduced kittens, and I have had older cats and introduced puppies. No one has ever gotten hurt yet.

Lynn

Edited March 11, 2012 by Bluefairy

[Peace_Of_Mind]

Even if it's curiosity, there's a big weight difference and little kitty could get hurt.

I agree with the weight difference the kitten would have no chance.

You know they saying "curiosity killed the cat"...hopefully in this circumstance they become friends :)