HELP asap! Our new GS hates our cat! Ongoing w/updates

[mamma6]

So, not sure what to do here......need some advice asap.

We brought home our very well trained, retired police bomb dog. Very sweet, very laid back. No problems with our two dogs. Our one year old male cat.....not so much.

The cat saw him and freaked.......the german shepard, Kroc, chased him, barking. I tried to grab the cat to put him in the basement. Bad idea. I now have two swollen and punctured hands from nasty cat bites.

So the cat is locked in the basement........

We let the cat up once again, while Kroc was in his crate. Cat walked slowly into the room where Kroc was.....and Kroc went crazy barking. The cat streaked out of the room and back downstairs. Needless to say, I didn't try to touch the cat that time.

So.......what the heck should we do? The fact that the dog barked at the cat just from him walking in the room scares me. Does this mean he is cat aggressive? He clearly has no issue with the dogs.

I can keep the cat in the basement......but we have six kids. I don't want to take a chance on him getting up while Kroc is out and a kid getting in the middle of something. Or have Kroc kill the cat in front of the kids.......crap. Don't know what to do.

Going to put an ad on my local facebook pet page to see if anyone wants the cat. What to do in the mean time......or do you think there is any saving the relationship, if the dog hate the cat?

Dee

[Nigel]

Use gates to limit Krocs access around the house and provide plenty of escape routes for the cat. Not sure on how to help with them co-existing, my cat doesn't run and I think that was the key for us, but I'm sure if she decided to take off in front of them, 2 of mine would chase after her.

[mamma6]

Hmmmm.......I don't think a gate will stop him. lol!

At least if the cat is scared of him and stays or runs away, he probably won't get hurt by the dog. I worry about the kids getting in the way. I don't think they'd try to intervene, after what they saw the cat do to my hands.

I really think the cat is going to have to go.

[BowWowMeow]

Cat was there first. I would re-home the dog (responsibly, of course). Perhaps he could go back to the organization he came from? It's not worth endangering your cat's life. And Craig's List is full of cats and scary people who want free animals for the wrong reasons.

I had a cat aggressive foster dog for 2 months. I divided my house in half. The dog stayed upstairs crated and behind a closed door and the cat stayed downstairs. I also put a gate at the top of the stairs. I divided my time between upstairs and downstairs so that they both got equal time. I would not have lived that way forever though because it was exhausting and stressful.

[llombardo]

I have 5 cats and my dog barks at them and she loves them. I don't agree that you should get rid of the cat, the cat was there first. You don't know if the dog even knows what a cat is. You can keep the cat in the basement, but I would still train the dog not to bother the cat, just in case the cat gets upstairs. The dog is well trained, so I would start with leave it, then focus...the dog has to focus on you..not the cat, never the cat.

[Jaders]

Don't get rid of the cat or dog.
They can live together, you just have to help them.
It is all about the chase.
I would work with the dog to teach him not to chase the cat.
Correct when there is unwanted behavior.

[RocketDog]

If the dog is a "highly trained retired bomb dog" -- your words-- he must know some form of leave it or recall. Where did you obtain the dog from? Didn't you ask about cats?

You can train them to co-exist. If that dog really is highly trained you're already one step ahead.

[katieliz]

very important...get prophylactic antibiotics for your puncture wounds. i cannot stress enough how important this is. i had a tiny, tiny, TINY bite on my hand...one day, two days...all the way to five days...everything okee-dokee. SUDDENLY oon day five my entire hand looked like a lobster claw (like, one hour it was fine, the next not so much), wound up in the hospital on iv antibiotics, hoping to not lose my hand. didn't, thanks to the good docs at u of m. a short course of preventative antibiotics can be a life saver. seriously. go. asap. cat bites are worse than dog bites.

[volcano]

My answer- get rid of the cat. This dog has alot more to offer...

[JakodaCD OA]

how about putting the cat IN a crate and working the dog? if he's trained well, it may be easier to train him to leave the cat alone that way vs him in a crate ..