Truce with the Cats

Well I think after almost 2 years, the cats have finally accepted Red. Titus came around much quicker than Cloud. Titus understood early on that Red wouldn't hurt them, and stopped running or hissing at the sight of him a long time ago. Titus doesn't react to the dog anymore, and therefore, Red has pretty much ignored Titus because he's no fun anymore.

It was Cloud who has been the problem child up til recently. He'd still put on a big show, jumping away, hissing and swatting if Red got too close, even if Red wasn't bothering him. This caused Red to want to bug him even more because he knew he could get a reaciton out of Cloud.

We used to keep Red gated in the computer room to give the cats their space of the house when we were gone. But since we've been having to tear up the computer room due to water damage (see previous posts...), we've been gating Red OUT of the computer room so he is sharing the same area as the cats when we are gone.

This is when Cloud started becoming more tolerant of Red. Now if Cloud is sitting in my lap and Red approaches, Cloud doesn't run away or hiss or swat - he just keeps laying there watching the dog. Red will sniff him a little, expecting a response, and when he doesn't get one, he lays his head on the cat's body and just looks at me like "This isn't much fun anymore!".

If Red starts being really annoying and poking the cats to get a reaction out of them, they will still hiss and jump away, but I try not to let it get to that point. I'll let Red gently sniff them or rest his head on them, then he has to stop before he pushes his luck. Try to end on a good note with the cats.

Anyway, who would've thought having the dog in the same part of the house as the cats while we're away would cause the cats to tolerate him more? I guess because they really know he is no danger to them now. And this means that once we get the room fixed, we can stop using the gate altogether.

It's taken awhile but I think we've had a breakthrough! =)