Is your cat scared of dogs?

[Dancergirl]

I feel bad today.

We have a very much loved 5 year old cat. I would love to have a dog as well but not sure how our cat would take it and also dh isn't keen.

I have recently registered on Borrow my Doggy so I could enjoy taking a dog out for the afternoon without the long-term commitment.

I struck up a conversation with one owner who said she would bring her dog round to meet us. Poor cat was terrified, fled upstairs and out the window and was reluctant to come back in all evening She seems ok today thank goodness.

Is this a usual reaction for a cat? I will obviously not invite any dogs round again, but does it mean it's a no for my cat and any potential dog to live together?

Cat 1 was fine... but he was born on a small holding with lots of friendly dogs - he came to us when he was 4 months old.
Cat 2 was terrified the first time she met the dog (not ours, but spends a lot of time at our house), but was reassured by cat 1s calmness , and now she's fine with the dog, and greets her like an old friend!

My cat hates dogs. He isn't keen on the street but is especially upset if they come onto his territory - our garden or house. It is a very stressful territorial invasion for him and he's wary of us for days afterwards which is very unusual for him as he's usually a very relaxed cat. Luckily, it's a very rare occurrence so he isn't upset often.

They do say that if you are going to have a cat & dog it is more likely to succeed if you bring a puppy into a cat household (rather than a the other way around). That said, I think it depends very much on the individual cat and breed of dog.

My cats are fearless with our dogs but the dogs were here first and the cats were all kittens when we were forced into a life of servitude got them.

It's much easier to start with a dog but I agree with PP about a puppy. The cat needs time to adjust to another animal in the house. Some cats will never get along with a dog though. I wouldn't risk upsetting the cat but I've been well train by them and know my place

Leroy actually goes for dogs! Really pulls on his lead, fur up, everything. Bit embarrassing really .

I take dog to parents sometimes, from once a week to once a month and have done for the 3 years. Dog is small and grew up with cats.

Cat1 will tolerate dog being in same room, if dog comes too close she will hiss and then find an excuse to leave the room.

Cat2 is terrified of dog and won't be in the house if dog is also in house even with 3 doors between them she knows and will flee.

You could get a puppy, the cat might cope as it could definitely put itself in charge and the dog would grow up knowing how to behave with the cat. Or an older dog that completely ignores cats. Certain breeds you would have to completely exclude if the cat runs they won't be able to stop themselves chasing it.

Random strange dogs coming the house I think will scare the cat a lot, I think that's a bit cruel if it's not used to dogs.

No, not at all. evilgingercat attacks them - he sits there, waits for dog to bounce up to him, and then if they annoy him, they get a face full of claws. He's very much the boss of our dogs.
damagedblackandwhitegirl is just distainful. But it takes her a very long time to accept anything new and she reacted like yours the first time.

I have a cat and two Rottweilers. We had DCat before we got the dogs.

It took a lot of time and patience but eventually DCat accepted they had become part of the family. I think it helps that our rotties had been homed with a cat previously and weren't bothered at all by her after a few excited meetings.

DCat still isn't really a fan and will hiss/lash out/run away if they get too close but they don't follow chase and they will all sit in the lounge together (rotties in their open crates and cat on the sofa). I would never leave them together unsupervised though. I don't even let the dogs roam in the garden unless DCat is locked in the utility room. They do have an outside pen which I leave them in so cat can roam in the garden if I'm out or they are locked in their crates indoors.

It took a year for my cats to be ok with my puppy. For the first few days the puppy was home, they wouldn't come out from under my bed. Dog is two years old now, cats are five, and everyone gets on just fine.

I think bringing a random dog over for a visit was a bit of a weird idea.

GinCat is scared of dogs, I think, but manages it by going into attack mode! It was a nightmare when we first got him and he had to get used to GinDog - he would seek him out and hunt him, poor dog was terrified. He's settled down now, but isn't great when other dogs visit. If a dog dares shove their head through the cat flap, GinCat will leg it to the cat flap from wherever he's sleeping, throwing paws through it and hissing.

I think if you could find a dog who isn't a cat-chaser, you could work on your cat not being scared. It's taken a lot of patience for our two to tolerate each other, and we thought on many occasions they would have to be separated at all times. They sleep on the sofa together now! We have lots of areas for GinCat to jump up to, though. And his food is high up away from the dog.

Thank you all.

orange the purpose of the visit was for me to meet the dog, our cat is outdoors a lot anyway so I did not expect her to be in the hall waiting for us!

It's probably irrelevant anyway at the moment as dh doesn't want a dog so it's not going to happen in the near future. I'll make sure any other dog meetings take place outside the house