Sudden agression toward dog

by Rhonda
(Chicago, IL)

I am in desperate need of some advice here. Short of getting rid of my cat Shelby, I am at a total loss and I love her so very much. For some reason after 7 years of living together, (since they were both 6 weeks old) she decided that she wants to kill the dog. I cannot tell you how bad the encounters are and it usually ends with me getting bitten and scratched just to pull her off of him and then I have to put her in the bedroom and close the door for the rest of the day. Poor Sammy (the dog) runs from her crying because he's scared but he is still a 154 lb Rottweiler and she is only a 10 lb kitty and one day, I'm afraid he is going to get tired of this and tired of being bit and scrated and attacked by her and he may try to defend himself...then what? Our vet even ran a complete blood panel to make sure she wasn't sick. I honestly don't know what else to do. I don't know, I'm very confused about the situation and nobody can figure out what changed after all these years that is making her behave this way. She was always a little leary of him but this is crazy, they can't even be on the same level of the house now. Who wants to live like that?!?! This has litterally turned my peaceful house upside down but I really want getting rid of her to be the absolute last resort. I tried this stuff from PetSmart called Calm Down for cats. It doesn't work. We are now trying a squirt bottle even if she so much as hisses but we cannot be on constant guard following her around with a spray bottle. It's just insanity. Nothing has changed except my husband changed the dogs food. What that would haveto do with her I have no idea. They have literally been together with no problems for 7 years and now out of nowhere, this started. Any ideas......


Answer by Kate
This sounds like it could be what is known as truama aggression. this is a strange but common problem when the cat has been scared by something and blames that fear onto another animla even if it was not the cause of the fear. Unfortunately it can take some time for the animals to regain their relastionship.
If at all possible i would recommend keeping the cat in a separate room for at least a week. Whislst in the room make sure they still recievbe lots of attention and have plenty of things to keep them occupied. the idea is to help the cat to calm down and get used to a smaller space with no contact from the dog which is causing the fear.
then after this time you will have to reintroduce the two animals slowly to each other agian with short periods of supervised contact. See may page about introducing cats on my training poages the process is the same for a dog.
I know this may sound long winded but it is about letting the cat regain its own confidence and security without any stresses.
Fingers crossed that all works out well. kate