Cats and Newfs?

[Sherry1999]

Okay, we have Winston our rescue Newf home! I have 2 female dogs. One is scared to death of him, but is comming around, the other is old and could care less! Lilly the bird.... fine, Winston has not yet noticed her. The only hold out is Mr Willikers the cat. He flew into hiding as soon as he saw Winston. Willikers came out once, Winston went after him (not in a mean way... playing) Willikers has been pretty much under the bed ever since. For the most part Winston could careless, but every now and then tries to get under the bed where the cat is hiding. Winston is pretty good to leave the room when told and stop barking at the cat.

Willikers slinks up to the cat box when Winston is outside. WSe shut the bedroom door so the cat can eat.
Any ideas on what I can do. I am hoping that it will all just work it's self out, but feel bad for the cat in the mean time. I do not want him to be scared forever or live a life of exile! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Angela]

It may all work out by itself in the end.

Many years ago I "rescued" an English Cocker from a nurse at work, she was a clean freak and Titian's ears when dirty messed up the white carpets.
I had 2 other dogs who greeted her with open paws.
2 cats, one was fine. The other was terrified.
Every morning for 9 months he would move out to the garage and climb up to the rafters for the day.
Every night I would get the ladder, climb up to bring him into the house where I would put him "safe" from Titian.
NINE months later after doing this daily routine, just before Christmas, he strutted into the house one day, took a swipe at Titian and they lived happily ever after for many years.
So, don't give up hope!!!!!

 

[janices]

Gate off a room for the cat to go that Winston can't get too and let that be the cat's haven. Saw that done before and it seems to work. These gates I've seen had a cat door in them.

Winston is getting used to new surroundings so may take awhile for him to get used to everything.

 

[Diana]

I agree with Janice. We just put up a baby gate on an extra bedroom upstairs and had the cat food and litter box there- the cat could easily jump over it when she wanted to but wasn't totally shut off from the rest of us. Now, of course, they are completely indifferent to each other, no need for the baby gate. I'm sure it'll work out - they probably just need some time to get used to each other and once Winston understands that it's not ok to bark at and chase the cat, Mr. Willikers will likely warm up to him.

 

[Thule's Mom]

I agree with Janice. We just put up a baby gate on an extra bedroom upstairs and had the cat food and litter box there- the cat could easily jump over it when she wanted to but wasn't totally shut off from the rest of us. Now, of course, they are completely indifferent to each other, no need for the baby gate. I'm sure it'll work out - they probably just need some time to get used to each other and once Winston understands that it's not ok to bark at and chase the cat, Mr. Willikers will likely warm up to him.

Same method used here too for my two; and now three cats. As long as it's not forced, they will eventually warm up to each other; even if it did take Amy (15 years) almost a year to spend more than 15 minutes at a time out of the bedroom, she's absolutely fine now and drinks out of Thule's bowl. Maggie, my rescue cat actually rubs up against Thule. Merlin and Thule have a healthy respect for eachother.

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

Teach Winston the "leave it" command. Any time he glances in the direction of the cat, or attempts to get under the bed with the cat, tell him "Leave It" (in your best "mom MEANS IT" voice. When he looks away or ignores the cat, praise the heck out of him. If you need to, keep a leash on him so that you can make a quick leash pop correction to get his attention and have him come to you.

It may take time for Winston to get the message, and for the cat to trust that Winston isn't going to be allowed to attack him. Be consistent in your training and it will pay off.

Our cats are all used to dogs, but when Brenna arrived, she acted like they were big squirrels...and she wanted to catch them. Caesar confounded her, because he would walk right up to her, allow her to roll him around and slobber on him, and he would not run. She didn't know what to do with a cat that wasn't afraid of her.

Eventually, with me being very stern in my zero tolerance of kitty chasing, and with her watching Maggie and Lucy interacting positively with the cats, she came around. Now she will occasionally pounce at one, (with a big grin on her face) to try to surprise it...but she knows that they are family and she's good-natured about it.

 

[Taylor's mom]

I agree with the gate, giving the cat a safe haven. Also, closely monitoring them and telling Wiston "NO" when he goes after the cat and then praising him.

When he gets "The Claw" he will know what it's all about any way.

I have never had any trouble with my Newfs and my cats. However, my Newfs have always been babies when they were introduced to the cats.

Remington has gotten the claw from our old girl and now he just avoids her. Smart guy....

 

[NessaM]

We've got three cats, and two newfs. The boy cats and the boy newfs cohabitate splendidly - whenever someone gets out of line there is A Smacking With Claws and all returns to peacefulness. The female cat hates everyone, and everything, and runs whenever she sees the dogs. They therefore chase her. We correct them for this.

 

[Sherry1999]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Putting up the baby gate as soon as hubby gets back from Walmart with it! Mr. Willikers (cat) still has all of his claws. I am thinking we can work this out... even if it takes some time. I talked to a dog trainer and he suggested keeping Winston on a lead. Teaching him who the pack leader is. Woo hoo... it is me!

 

[Thule's Mom]

Sherry - the gate I bought at walmart was one of the white plastic ones with pressure pads that go up against the wall. I could place the gate about 5 - 6 inches off the floor and the cats could scoot underneath for easy escape.

Good luck.... Merlin would sit on the otherside, just out of reach of Thule.... tease!

 

[pecanpiepatti]

And ask Ursa, too - her baby gates are high so that cats can go under (rather than over)! :nod:

 

[Tug]

Cat doors rock!
Tug has grown up with cats, so it's not a big thing for him. The cats, on the other hand, are not so generous. Reo is his best friend, Mudd puts up with him, Dunk hisses and swats, and Ala wavers between all.
As a child, we had 2 cats when we adopted a Poodle cross, and it took a year for them to come upstairs. Eventually they could be on the same couch, but definatley not BFF's!

 

[cpat184]

We are still having issues with our cats and Gryphon as well. He is constantly chasing one of our cats, Molly (we have 3 cats in total) so we put baby gates up for protection. I know that he only wants to play, but she gets really scared. He rarely bothers with the other two and I finally figured out why he picks on Molly in particular. Every time I put Gryph into his crate, Molly runs over to his crate and paces in front of it rubbing her scent all over... taunting the poor guy!

 

[vikinggirl]

Thora and the cat were fine, until I taught her the "Touch" command (bopping something with her nose). She suddenly wanted to touch everything, including the cat. One day Loki was sitting on the edge of the toliet and Thora came by and touched him, apparently hard enough for Loki to lose his balance and fall into the toliet. Thora thought this was the best fun ever, Loki not so much, and unfortunately I was laughing too hard to scold.

Since then, it's been a kitty vs newfie war with no truce in sight.

 

[Sherry1999]

Thanks again. Baby gate is working pretty good. Mr Willikers is a lot braver in venturing out now that he has somewhere to run to other than under the bed. Winston is doing pretty good with "leave it"... but sometimes when the cat darts around and acts so funny it is more than he can stand....hehehehe we will get there...

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

One day Loki was sitting on the edge of the toliet and Thora came by and touched him, apparently hard enough for Loki to lose his balance and fall into the toliet. Thora thought this was the best fun ever, Loki not so much, and unfortunately I was laughing too hard to scold.

I'm laughing so hard right now, I can hardly type. I can see why you had a hard time scolding the dog.

 

[2newffamily]

The thought of the cat in the toilet is hilarious. :!rolling: Miss Kitty could wind up there as well since she like to drink from the tap and Misha likes to give her a nudge which is one reason why we keep the toilet seat down!! Our Miss Kitty, Caera and Misha all get along quite well. They play their little chase game every now and then but tails are wagging and Kitty stops at the top of the basement stairs where, if the situation were different, she would still be at risk. But then they rub noses and return to whatever they were doing before. Miss Kitty's safe haven is the basement. She has the whole basement to herself. Unfortunately for her, though, she is banned to the basement when we're out and at night when we're in bed. If we didn't do that, I would have no plants and I wouldn't be able to put anything on any flat surface anywhere without her knocking things off onto the floor.

 

[BoundlessNewfs]

If we didn't do that, I would have no plants and I wouldn't be able to put anything on any flat surface anywhere without her knocking things off onto the floor.

We have six cats, but O'Malley is the one who is constantly knocking things off to watch them hit the floor...then he looks around like "huh! Look at that." I call him Mr. Raccoon Toes, because he's always touching and pushing things around with his feet. He especially likes to knock my water bottle onto the floor, so I'm careful to keep the lid on it.