Dog & Cat Behavior : Cat Behavior & Health
Hi i'm dr q with drquesten.com and today we're going to talk about dog and cat behavior and a few things that are a little bit different about the two species that would be important for you to know if you're going to have these two animals together in your household first of all keep in mind that even though we have these two animals sitting.
Here together getting along seemingly quite well on this table cats are prey for dogs so that's probably the most important thing that you have to keep in mind is that a dog can and will kill a cat if they're not taught to not behave in that manner.
And taught to be gentle with cats dogs can actually injure cats quite easily by being too aggressive with them they can knock them down a flight of stairs not necessarily even having to bite them but just by being too rough in general with them so but the other thing to keep in mind.
Is that cats can actually injure dogs as well so it's not something to be underestimated the power of a cat's claws a cornered cat is not going to have any hesitation to swat this dog in the face and this dog may not realize that this cat has weapons of that nature and unfortunately.
One of those claws could get into her cornea and cause some really significant eye damage or other injuries or wounds and you wouldn't want that happening to either one of them so as long as we realize that we do have a predator and prey in the same household and help teach them how to get along with each other by for one thing never allowing a.
Dog to chase a cat even if it's a very small dog i've seen poodles even intimidate cats and frighten them cause them to feel anxiety where the cat may not be physically threatened but may be so stressed out by the behavior that the cat will start soiling outside of the litter box or showing other signs of anxiety.
Associated with that behavior and don't think about the fact or don't forget to think about the fact that sometimes it's easy to miss some of the interactions that are going on between these two animals so if you're having problems with either your dog or your cat you definitely want to chat with.
Your veterinarian about that and make sure there's not a behavior problem that's being involved see there was a little stress there because i wasn't fair with the two of them so we have to make sure that we're fair at all times and not favoring one over the other that's really important a couple of other fun facts that you.
Might want to keep in mind is that cats are really carnivores so they eat a high protein diet in general which translates into poop in the litter box that's extremely tasty to most dogs however it's a disgusting habit not only does it make the dog's breath smell terrible but there's actually some parasites that the dog can pick up from the cat and so you.
Don't want that happening either so please secure the litter box so that the dog can't get into them and also it's really not good for dogs to eat cat food it can cause them to have diarrhea even though it might taste really good and they may try to raid the cat food bowl it's really not a good idea because it'll probably cause the dog to have.
Some diarrhea cats usually for the most part aren't going to eat dog food if they do a few pieces here there's probably not going to hurt anything it's really this direction that you have to worry about that otherwise keep in mind both of these species are going to be susceptible to heartworms so.
You want to keep that in mind and make sure that they're both tested and put on preventative if that's appropriate for your area and as long as you're doing things to help encourage them to have equal behavior with each other making sure nobody's getting jealous or feeling left out then it really helps minimize uh the chances of them.
Feeling like they need to defend their space or protect you or protect themselves and so they're much less likely to chase or fight or anything like that i've seen lots of cats that will curl up and sleep with dogs and or even my dog here sushi she'll protect my cats from other dogs if they come.
Onto my property and even though sometimes they seem like they're kind of jealous of each other really we're all family and when it comes right down to it we all look out for each other so hopefully on that note i've given you some things to consider when you're going to have dogs and cats both in your household and i'm.
Dr q and the rest is up to you thanks for checking in today
