As some of you may have noticed, a cat acquired my pack about the beginning of February. Surprisingly, after a couple of very minor spats my Husky's and the cat get along fine ... she hasn't been eaten yet and no dogs have any claw marks ... they're fine crashing on the living room floor within feet of each other.

Sasha, who gets fed indoors (while Avalanche gets free fed outdoors) has a problem with food aggression. Over the last couple of years she's gotten a lot better about people moving around her when she's eating and I can actually interrupt her when she's eating.

Here's the problem - kitty hears the dog food bag rattle when I get Sasha's food and comes running. She's had her head down by Sasha a couple of times and Sasha simply stops eating and looks at the cat. Even though I've put the cat on the other side of the gate repeatedly she can't seem to understand that if she dips into Sasha's food bowl, she may be minus a head ... With Sasha's general acceptance of the kitty - and the fact that she hasn't growled at cat yet - tends to make me less concerned about kitty's safety but while I don't want kitty to get hurt, I'd like to not have to shuffle her out of the way every time I feed Sasha ...

Some of you who have cats and Husky's coëxisting ... some guidance / suggestions would be appreciated.

Al - I'm just amazed at the coexistance platform your pack has acquired - makes me think I have been way too cautious with Ami and Miss Kitty. I keep the two of them totally separated - if he's loose, she's in the garage, if she's loose, he is inside or on his trolley. I may begin to let them co-mingle and see how it goes. (A couple of months ago, the two met on the front steps, inadvertantly, and kitty mewed to Ami and the two of them sniffed noses...)

I have yet to successfully train a cat to do anything...it seems as though kitties do all the training so I have no ideas for you, sorry.

PS: all our kitties have been acquired the same way you acquired yours...

Bode doesn't like kitty around his food. If he comes close while Bo's food is out, Bode will give him a whine and woo and kitty will back off.

Amy, believe me it was with the greatest of trepidation that I let them introduce themselves - - - and then it was one at a time. Sasha really surprised me because she went nose to nose with the cat and you could almost see her react with a "well, I guess you're okay ..." Avalanche still insists that he's going to chase her every once in a while but normally it's in reaction to the cat doing something quickly (jumping on the counter so she can get across the gate, for example). Like I said, I haven't heard either dog go "YIKE!!", I know that kitty isn't too shy about suggesting they back up away from those claws!

Sara, It'd make me happier if she would growl and kitty would back up; it's just that she stops eating and stares at the cat. So far I've been able to lift cat out of the picture before the stare becomes anything more ... and I'm really not sure how much more (if any) it would become. They've both surprised me with their acceptance of her as a member of the pack.

'Course it's going to be a whole new ball game when she has the litter she's carrying ... which should be any day now ....

Haha, Good luck Al!! Miya will chase Kitana away from her bowl, even if Miya doesn't want to eat. Which is slightly funny, since Kitana will go over and munch out on Miya's food when Miya is fast asleep. Miya has never growled, or attempted any physical contact with lil miss kitty, just the simple chase, typically Kitana goes to her window and Miya gives up, of course she has to do a woo wooing at me, as if to tell me "Kitty won't leave my food alone". I do try and feed them at separate times in hopes that Miya will just finish her food and that's that.

By your descriptions, I would be watchful, and see if Sasha tells kitty off with out physically touching her. It sounds to me like they accept kitty and that she poses no threat to them so they leave her be. With Miya I can totally see her interactions with cats in general as small dogs, lol, she cries and whines at cats just as bad as she does with dogs. She only wants to play and interact with them. She is totally different with squirrels and bunnies, then she is in attack mode, get this thing off my property type of reaction. I hope that I expressed that clearly. My neighbor has 7 cats and Miya has mingled with all of them, and I have never seen her act aggressive towards them, only wanting to play with them. I of course monitor her with them, and because of husky's prey drive I have called her off from a chase with my neighbor's cats a few times, even though it appears as if it's the same game of chase with her husky buddy Zeke. BTW, my neighbors have a semi small house, they have Zeke and all 7 cats sleep inside with no problems, they have placed a screen door at their kitchen entrance so that the cats can eat in peace and vice versa with Zeke eating and cats are not aloud there, unless a human is around.

Maybe feed the cat food at same time as Sasha so she gets the point what food is her food. Also, make sure the cat does not eat a lot of dog food. When I first got Loki, my cat Bindi seemed to become obsessed with his puppy food. They would eat and drink together without any issues, but dog food is bad for cats as a big part of their diet since it lacks taurine. I started feeding my cat her wet food at same time and she forgot all about the dog food. The water dish is still shared a lot and kitty knows what food is her food now. Even though Loki and her happily shared food, just not good for kitties.

Jessica (did I spell that right, I have a bad habit of putting an "H" at the end of it ...)
It's really odd to me. Her food is in an entirely separate room - where the dogs can't go - but it seems as if she'd rather bug Sasha when she's eating. Kitty is living dangerously! I haven't ever seen her actually eat any of the dogs food, she's just right the (if she can be) when Sasha's eating.

Kitty has been staying in her box that I prepared for a litter of kittens, so I think that I've got some presents in the offing - soon! I'll have to put up a divider between her room (the back bedroom) and the back door where Sasha goes out. I really don't want a dog too interested in newborn kittens ... do I? << rhetorical >>

Sometimes I think cats just like to live on the edge. Loki and Ichigo (2 70lb male huskies) will be playing in the living room and here comes my 8 lb cat rubbing on them and acting like she wants in on it. I think it is a good sign that Sasha does not growl, but if it makes you nervous then try to get her away with things like treats and wet food (or use the divider).

Oh gosh, kittens. I don't know how my boys would deal with those in my house.

techigirl78 wrote:

Oh gosh, kittens.  I don't know how my boys would deal with those in my house.

Here? Lunch

Kong fillers

seattlesibe wrote:

Kong fillers

I think the term is "I split a gut"...

Well, flip .... we really need a "ditto" smiley. I went looking for one and just kept running into the pokemon "ditto".

Kitty Kong Fillers - sounds like a new brand to me ....

I kind of feel bad I laughed at that and kind of not.