I don't think you're at the point where you need to rehome the cat yet, but you do need to do some serious work asap if you decide to keep both.

Since Lunar has some special needs, you need to work with Ida a bit more seriously than with a normal cat. If Lunar doesn't seem to understand how to get out of harms way, you need to find a way to keep Ida away. Read my earlier suggestions, but for the moment, I think (if possible with your house layout), you need to put a baby gate up, and keep Ida out of the kitchen all together if you need to focus on cooking and can't watch them. If Ida is pulling Lunar off the counter by using her teeth to grab Lunar's tail or flank, you are one wrong move away from a serious injury to Lunar. If Ida accidently pulls the leg or tail in the wrong way, anything could happen. Put a bell or something on Ida's collar to alert both Lunar and Noom in case Ida is sneaky.

In your situation, you need to teach Ida not even to look at the cats in any fashion. Although this may sound extreme, I think with a special needs cat its 100% necessary. Ida needs to understand that any kind of focus directed toward the cat is not allowed at all. She also needs to learn that chasing, putting teeth on (even in play), pawing, staring, vocalizing, etc. is not okay.

Also, I don't normally recommend any kind of separation, but with Lunar's health problems, you might want to create a cozy, safe, space just for him to be comfy and relax. If you can make him somewhere in the kitchen, that's even better. Sounds like that's already his territory. For teaching Ida how to leave Lunar alone, see the earlier part of this thread. Some dogs definitely have more prey drive than others, so not only does it depend on the amount of work YOU put it, but it also depends on Ida's basic nuts and bolts personality. Hopefully you can work things out, although I would NOT ever recommend letting them free outside together. House rules are one thing, but in my opinion, it is too unpredictable outdoors, and you can't control the situation enough to keep Lunar safe.

Al, FYI, unless the topic is drastically different, it's usually preferable to keep the discussion to one thread. It's helpful so that the info is a little more condensed on the forum. But either way, this is one of my favorite topics to discuss, so whatever works is always a good thing.

Amy, FYI, it's not usually recommended to use an e-collar until a dog is at least 6 months old (by e-collar training experts), but even that I (personally) think is too young. I think they need a better foundation before they incorporate that tool into training. Think of all the work and bonding you did with Ami before you started to use yours. I think that is part of the reason it has worked so quickly and so well with him.

Jen - noted. Guess I should have done the math when I scanned the age. Glad you answered her post, it would be a shame to rehome the kitty if she doesn't need to do so. If it were Ami, with his prey drive, would probably have to, but Archer so far, seems ok with cats (he did eat a frog, however. Then promptly vomited it back up )

HuskyLovers wrote:

I'm curious how things are going this weekend for the OP? :-)

We're still working on the introductions. Gaia still doesn't have a good grasp on not being allowed to look at the cats yet. She still barks and leaps against her harness when she notices them. We're pretty paranoid about all of this lol, so we're doing it in bursts. We'll have them all in the same room until Gaia starts misbehaving, and then we do a timeout and put the cats in the bedroom temporarily. I feel like she's doing better with focusing on us when we tell her to "leave it", but it's not consistent enough yet.

To the cat's credit, they are being pretty brave around her. Stormy will lie on the end table and stare at Gaia and will only run off when she lunges at him. She wags her tail anytime she tries to go toward the cats, so I think she might just want to play, but obviously we want to teach her to leave the cats alone, and that they are not playthings.

She's doing much better with her obedience training, but it's still difficult for her to obey when there are distractions, or when she is in mischievous mode. We're going to try again tonight. It's going to be a long stressful road, but with enough time and effort we'll get there.

Thanks guys. Just finding my way around the forum so not got the hang of it yet lol. Idas prey drive seems to have kicked in over the past few days but I am going to persevere with cohabiting training. Even these past 2 days I am seeing improvement...even though it's minimal it's progress. Just so glad to have folks like you to talk to...cheers!

Here is the latest update on our training progress:

Gaia is still learning, but has improved in leaps and bounds. Both Stormy and Freya will avoid Gaia if they can, but will stand their ground if she approaches. When Gaia tries to approach Freya, she will hiss and spit, and lunge at Gaia a little, and Gaia will immediately plop down into "sit" and will avoid eye contact. Every once in awhile she will still try to chase the cats, but they run and squeeze through the bars of our baby gate and hide in the other living room. Gaia will chase them to the gate and then trot back to us looking disappointed and will occupy herself with something else.

I was holding Stormy the other day, and she put her front paws on the couch and started sniffing and licking Stormy's face until he finally freaked and bolted. I caught her harness and kept her from chasing after him.

So far, it seems like she is curious about them, but will only really chase them if they run. If either of them stands their ground, she will back off.

I'm no pro, and have never tried to introduce a husky to a cat (had success with our other dog though), but something in your post caught my eye. Instead of a "timeout" where you put the cats away when the dog misbehaves, try putting the dog in timeout (in the bathroom maybe). If the dog is at fault, the dog should be the one removed from the situation.

Just my two cents.

katiesham wrote:

I'm no pro, and have never tried to introduce a husky to a cat (had success with our other dog though), but something in your post caught my eye. Instead of a "timeout" where you put the cats away when the dog misbehaves, try putting the dog in timeout (in the bathroom maybe). If the dog is at fault, the dog should be the one removed from the situation.

Just my two cents.

We do remove her when she doesn't listen. We put her in timeout when she's being bad/not listening. She is as good as gold when we bring her back in lol!

Hi, just read the update on Gaia and a lot of what you are saying relates exactly to Ida and my cats. Ida is much better and I am more relaxed when they are all in proximity, which is probably helping too! Mainly Ida just wants to play but the cats aren't up for it ha. Would love to add a picture of Ida but followed the link instructions on how to go about it and it doesn't work for me

katiesham wrote:

I'm no pro, and have never tried to introduce a husky to a cat (had success with our other dog though), but something in your post caught my eye. Instead of a "timeout" where you put the cats away when the dog misbehaves, try putting the dog in timeout (in the bathroom maybe). If the dog is at fault, the dog should be the one removed from the situation.

Just my two cents.

I agree, it also reinforces the hierarchy of "the cats are always right, even if they're being a-holes." Husky's are really good at selective hearing, so I tended to always 100% put Diz in time out, no matter who 'started' it. Even if they teased him, or tried to bait him, it was never okay to react and now he ignores it, all the better. Also reinforces the cats' territory always covers the entire house.