Delayed Reaction?!

When we talked about taking Cathy (the pooch) in I was worried how Tobi, our cat, would react. He has been alone with us all his life and has always been a house cat. He is a big pussy (in every sense of the term, but one!): never went out, or if he would the “option” to come in had to be available for him to relax a bit while rolling around on the deck. He’s always been somewhat sociable, once the initial shock of the doorbell over he would come down and stay with us/visitors. He wasn’t a slut for caresses with strangers as he is with us, but still he wasn’t the type to disappear as soon as someone new was in the house. When Hubby turned 40 we had over 50 people in the house, and Tobi was always around, either doing the chicken on the steps or roaming around the basement.

When he was hospitalised because of crystals, we were told that he was aggressive. When we went to pick him up the technician asked Hubby to go and get him out himself, that’s how aggressive he was, but with us, he’s always been a big fat wuss.

Cathy moved in and being the old dog that she is, she totally ignored him. She walked around, did her things, and really didn’t seem to care about the cat. As for Tobi, when Cathy came in our house, he was a bit worried, suspicious of this little thing walking about and making all sorts of weird noises. He would back off when she would walk by him or when she would try to sniff him. He was surprised a few times by her. Tobi was most curious of Cathy when she would be sleeping. She snores a lot and very loud for a pooch her size. He would sit on the stairs, stick his head through the railings and watched her sleep. The dog was completely oblivious to all this. As time went by they seemed to tolerate each other. I wouldn’t say they were friendly, but they co-existed. Read my post of August 08, about how they seemed to adapt.

We tried not to neglect him and have been giving him the same amount of attention as we used to. He comes and watches TV with us, on the couch like he always did; Hubby has his sparring session with him while on ice (for his knees, after cycling); we talk and caress him just like before, and he still sleeps with us at night. The only thing that noticeably changed is at meal times. Before pooch, at dinnertime, he would always roam around the dinner table and tried to get food from one of us. We very rarely did give him anything, and most time he wouldn’t eat it or keep it down. He would do the cat thing, i.e. sniff it and walk away. Since pooch that’s one routine that really changed. She was used to get table scraps from my mom, so whenever we sit down to eat she comes around and begs, dances, barks, etc. She does it all. When she barks Tobi runs away. I must say that we do give her bits.

A week ago, while Hubby’s uncle was here for dinner, we heard the cat hiss and the dog bark/yelp. We didn’t see what happened. We thought that was strange and continued eating. A few days ago, while I was on the couch, Tobi was sitting next to me, Cathy was doing her rounds (when she walks around the living room, dining room, kitchen, around and around). At one point she sat, on the floor, by me feet and was looking up at me. Tobi extended his paw and was trying to reach her, or so I thought. As she continued on her walk, he whack her behind the head. I was stunned. Cathy just kept on walking and went to her bed.

Last night, while we were having dinner, Cathy was doing her rounds and Tobi was sitting by the fridge in the kitchen. I saw her simply walking by him and again he hit her, hard. She almost tipped over! Cathy is about 7 lbs where as Tobi is about 14+ lbs and he’s been “trained” by Hubby to hit hard, with all the “sparring” they do. The dog yelped and went to her bed. I was furious! WTF? Let’s just say that I was pissed off at the cat for hitting her for no apparent reason.

Hubby thinks it’s food related. Tobi is a glutton. He will eat all his food at once, where as Cathy eats a bit here and there. Because he is so greedy when it comes to food, we only give his one portion of food/day. He “manages” it. He’s been a social eater, a little less since the pooch’s arrival, since she also goes into his bowl at times. They both do, and they both get reprimanded when we see them.

This morning, we are both in the office, Tobi is by our bedroom door, and Cathy is walking by when he attacked her. She yelped and came to see me all shabby-looking. The cat just sat there. But as soon as I got up he ran away. He’s not stupid!

Could Tobi be starting to react to Cathy after over 3 months of being here with us? Could he hurt her? He’s fully declawed (I’m thankful for that, wouldn’t want to see what he would do to her with claws!), but I’m still afraid that he could really hurt her. If she would be “younger” I wouldn’t worry about it, she could defend herself. Also, it’s making me wonder what the hell goes on during the time we are not home? I haven’t noticed any major change in Cathy’s behaviour, but I don’t want to see that either.

I love my cat… well… not at this exact moment, but still… I want them both to be happy and co-exist. They don’t have to love each other, but at least tolerate one another.
I never thought I would say that, but I feel very disappointed in my cat. What I felt or thought to have been a pleasant transition when we took Cathy in, is turning sour on me before my very eyes. Do any of you “opinionated lurkers” have any suggestion to mend this situation before it gets to be a real problem?
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Photo: Cat & Dog Fight