It's been a rough night...

Started with my 8 week old husky (specifically 3/4 husky, 1/4 german shep) puppy chasing my cat - I don't know exactly what happened but he was chasing and barking rapidly and that bark turned in to a full on blood curdling SCREAM. Like a hoarse sounding howl. I got to him while he was behind the couch, the cat had ran off somewhere, and though he was no longer chasing, he was still screaming, and did so until I petted him.

2 minutes later I went outside. I tripped over a rabbit cage and badly hurt my foot, so there I was, sitting on the grass, gasping in pain, then suddenly, the barking started again. I heard them running about, ran back inside, and found him sort of cowering next to the toilet, screaming again, with the cat at the door with his back arched.

I'm confused about how the pup initiated a chase with the cat but ended up cowering behind the couch/next to the toilet, and the scream... What does that mean? Is it an aggression thing? A fear thing? Am I kidding myself thinking raising a husky pup around cats will work out?

I've only had him a few days and I'm already in love but part of me is half considering getting rid of him before he gets any bigger and potentially injures/kills my cats. If it's a choice between him and the cats, the cats will win. I'm scared, and stressed, and confused. Like I said, it's been a rough night.

Did your cat scratch the puppy? The cat may have turned around and swatted the puppy to teach him a lesson -- which is actually a GOOD thing because it will likely teach the puppy to respect the cat and not chase him. Your husky may be screaming because the cat scared him, or he may be screaming in protest from the cat scratching him -- a Husky temper tantrum.

Hi Kate and welcome to our forum.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm laughing because in it's way, it sounds like the cat has already won!  BTW, I have three Huskies and two cats so, to a degree I can relate.  

Basing my comments on the assumption that cat has NOT been declawed, what I imagine happened is that your puppy did what dogs do - the cat ran (or maybe just moved quickly) and puppy chased.  Cat turned around and used at least five of the best defensive tools going - his claws!  Puppy immediately decided that discretion was the better part of puppyhood and decided he'd been licked!  In all honesty - okay, in my opinion - this is a very good thing, your puppy is learning that chasing the cat has results that he wasn't ready for and should, in short order, decide to leave the "furry ball of razors" alone.  

The fact that he's hiding tell me that the cats survival mechanism has taught the puppy what all the "teaching" in the world isn't going to manage - "Leave me alone!!"  If you can tolerate a few days of "Puppy wants to play" and "Cat says 'NO!'" they should develop a respect for each other.  If you can be there to see the action so you can make sure that the cat isn't trying to really hurt the puppy, just teaching him to leave leave him alone and also make sure that the puppy is just "playing chase."

While it doesn't sound like the cats need it, again I'm chuckling, we almost always recommend that houses where there are both Huskies and cats that the cats have a 'safe place'.  Whether that's beyond a baby gate (what I used when I brought my kittens home) or a 'cat tree' that they can climb that the puppy can't gives the cats a place to retreat to when needed - but it sounds like your cat(s??) don't need.

Good luck and let us know how things work out.  And pictures of your furry menagerie would be nice ... we like pictures!
(( Thanks Faye, you did the short version ... ))

Some huskies are drama queens when it comes to pain. My boy who is 70 pounds rolled his ankle one day out on the porch playing and just sat and cried this blood curtling cry for a good 5 minutes. It sounded like something was trying to rip his leg off and all he did was roll the ankle. He barely had a limp when I finally got him to quiet down and within a few minutes of walking even that was gone. It hurt, it scared him, and he wanted the world to know. So while the cat probably hit him but perhaps not enough to really leave a mark or hurt him, it probably scared him and his drama queen side kicked in. Some outgrow it, others are big babies right into adulthood.

It's also rather iconic. The Siberian Husky is a member of the Spitz/Nordic family of dogs, members of which are capable of making some of the strangest, funniest, and most disturbing noises in the entire canine kingdom. Everything from regular, persistent barking to loud moaning & groaning, to blood-curdling screams, to howls and deep rumbling growls, to noises mimicking human speech. Huskies and Malamutes are probably the most "talkative" -- and, yep, as Jenn pointed out, total drama queens. LOUD drama queens.

Probably the most disturbing sounds I ever heard were from my Shiba Inu. Typical of the breed, she had a very piercing, almost human-sounding scream. She sounded like a child being tortured -- and THAT was a noise she made when she was HAPPY. Urgh.