Cat v Land Shark- should we intervene?

[topbannana]

The Land Shark is now nearly 14 weeks old and doing great, we are all thrilled with him (well apart from GingerDog who has considered leaving home on several occasions)
We also have a very large cat who seems to have spent most of his life labouring under the misapprehension that he is actually a dog. He torments The Land Shark terribly and they play fight incredibly roughly- TopCat does not use his claws and The Land Shark doesn't seem to bite but the noise and thrashing about sound awful :o
I am now starting to wonder whether we need to monitor this more closely? The Land Shark is almost TopCats size and growing stronger and more boisterous every day. TopCat is undeterred by this and despite having ample opportunities to stay away from the chaos seems to actively seek it out. I am also under no illusions that he can protect himself if he felt things were getting out of hand. TBH I am worrying that TopCat will break a leg or something or The Land Shark will end up with an infected cat scratch but they have such fun it seems a shame to split them up. If it was 2 dogs I would leave th to it, I just have never known a cat be such a glutton for punishment :o

I think you need to watch it very carefully to be on the safe side. I don't know what kind of breed The Land Shark is, but since sharks are predatory creatures, you should be aware of something called predatory drift. This is when a dog is initially playing in a benign way, but when the partner does something that makes it seem a bit like prey, such as squeaking, can switch into predation mode. It's something that Ian Dunbar talks about; anyway you can read more about it here for a fuller explanation.

Some breeds are less predatory than others, so for example if your Land Shark was a siberian husky I would be very worried, since huskies have a strong prey drive; on the other hand, some breeds of dogs wouldn't really know what to do if they actually caught something.

However as well as protecting the cat you also have to think of potentially protecting the shark from a claw to the nose, which would be very painful.

In any case, it is always useful to be able to call a dog out of such situations, so you might want to practise calling the Land Shark out and then letting him return to play if you wish, or else giving him some other big reward. This will make it easier to get him to stop suddenly if you ever need to for some reason.

Even when a dog and cat get on remarkably well, the relationship can change very suddenly e.g. if a cat runs and prey drive is triggered.

Hi redwing
The Land Shark is a little working cocker dog- not sure if this would count as a high prey drive breed as their instinct is simply to flush and retrieve. His recall is excellent and he is cage trained so is never loose alone with the cat which takes some of the pressure off.
I figure things are reasonably even while TopCat is the bigger of the two and still seeks out and initiates play. I think the difficulties will come later as he used to leap on our Rottweilers back and box with her- she took it in good spirits and never retaliated. As The Land Shark already plays rough with him I can see it will take "an incident" to make him think twice about the fact he is a cat
I think constant vigilance is the way forward for now :)

It's good they aren't alone together, but it sounds like he would know not to eat the cat. I am always cautious because one of my dogs has a very high prey drive and I am sure he would eat the cat if he had the opportunity, so we have to make sure this can't happen. He does know he isn't supposed to, but I would never trust him if I wasn't there.

I am very impressed with your cat. I wish I could see it, it sounds like great fun. I hope they are always such good friends :)

When can we watch them on you tube

I hope that's done it :)

Awwwwww! I have to say, I think the cat has the upper paw in that little relationship Your Land Shark is adorable.

It's not normal though is it?!
TBH I suspect it says more about the cat than it does about the dog :o

Just watched and that is sooo cute! Love your puppy.

My cat size dog tries this with one of my cats. Cat won't put up with it at all so there's no rolling about on the floor, etc. Cat either jumps out the way or bashes the dog around the face and stops him.

My biggingerbastardcat likes to fight. Our dog is a lurcher, and so although ginger is huge, he's well outsized. Dog isn't allowed to initiate anything (inc barking), but regularly gets chucked off the sofa by the cat.

Currently its hilarious as dog is wearing the cone of shame following his castration/dew claw removal, and cat can't swipe his face much to his chagrin.

Cat will also face down random loose dogs, and go and annoy those on the lead. He's a badass

He jumped on the vicar once

My cat stalks people round the estate, will roll round on his back inviting them to fuss his tummy. And when they do, he bites them

He also likes to sleep on top of the land rover, and if you haven't checked sufficently, you can drive off down the road with him being very determined to keep sleeping there. DH had to push him off with a broom the other day

Aw that is so cute, thank you!!!

One of our cats used to torment next doors dog by standing our side of the trellis and waiting until the perfect moment he could beat up his poking through nose and also teasing him by playing knock down ginger with his paw under the gate

There was a near fatal incidence when someone opened next doors gate and their dog escaped in hot pursuit of our cat. Very fortunately the dog though cat had gone around the corner of a nearby wall when he hadn't - really thought I was going to witness cat ripped to shreds!

That is so cute, thank you! I see the cat has had enough at the end and leaves so I guess the cat is looking out for itself. That looks like so much fun. Both cat and puppy are gorgeous too :)

Yes redwing the cat just leaves the scene of the carnage when it all gets too much and the Land Shark is learning not to chase him.
They are so funny to watch but even better is GingerDog who does not approve of frivolity, and sits purse lipped and prim on the sidelines :o

Dh reckons that cat is showing the dog he is the boss

That is classic :0) I don't think I would worry too much, land shark looks a bit hapless and just playing.
Jaws of death was very similar at that age and fester (cat) wouldn't entertain him, would hiss, swipe at the face and chase Jaws out of the room. 6 months later and Jaws was what we term "a bit sharp" in other words, we were fairly sure that if dog ever got hold of cat it would be bad news.
Jaws is a staffie by the way, who do sadly have a reputation (well deserved in this case) for not being good with cats.
We moved house at that point and since cat was quite old and the new house near a main road, we decided he should stay there and be cared for by the tenants on the basis that we pay his vets bills for life. he now has a cushy life of Riley and no dog to worry about.