Battle continues between Corgi and cats, someone's going to lose an eye.....
Please help me save Ferris from certain insanity! Ferris, my 6yr. old Corgi girl, and I moved to NY 5 months ago. We live with my boyfriend and his two cats. To say they don't get along would be an understatement. Ferris is OBSESSED with the cats, especially the little one, Inko. She stalks them, chases them, barks and bites at them. Ferris literally shakes when she sees the cats. I'm very concerned that one (or both) of them is going to get hurt. We have tried the water bottle, giving her a squirt when the madness begins, but it has NEVER bothered her. Being put in the kitchen for a time out seems just fine with her. No amount of verbal correcting turns her attention. Ferris has always been a fun, funny, good little dog. She has always been treated with the utmost love and respect by myself and all who know her, I have never seen this side of her.She is well fed, walked and played with, so I would not think these are the issue. If anyone has ANY ideas on how to stop her from obsessing, please pass them along. No matter how off the wall, I'll give it a whirl. We're all at our wits end with this.....HELP!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cynthia + Griffey + Charlie on
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All I can recommend is to keep the cats nails cut short. My dogs play with our cat, Eddie, and once Griffey did get his eye scratched. He was fine after an $85 vet visit. Now he's a little more cautious, but they still play.
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Permalink Reply by Alicia & Ferris on
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Thank you very much for the advise. I had mostly been concerned with Ferris' nose being shredded, but her eyes are in danger, too. We keep the cats nails trimmed, I hope that will be enough. Ferris' is going to have to learn, and it looks like she's taking the hard way. Glad to hear Griffey was OK, thanks again.
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Permalink Reply by Lou Ann Lemaster on
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Maybe teach her to leave it? Have her on a leash attached to you, and when you see her start after the cats, tug on it, tell her to leave it, and praise her when she does. Duncan grew up with our cat, they were buddies when they were little. They still get along well, and every now and then, Duncan wants to play and starts to chase the cat and try and grab it's leg. I just tell him to leave it and he stops. Other than that, they have a morning ritual of washing out each other's ear.
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Thank you! We've been working on the "leave it" command, but Ferris is a mighty stubborn little Corgi. The addition of the leash is working so much better. She still gets into these frenzies, she just twitches with the drive to chase. We'll just keep at it, time and persistence, right? Thanks again. I hope Ferris and the cats have a morning ritual very, very soon.
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Permalink Reply by Rockstar on
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The eyeball scratch is no joke. Be careful. My dog got his scratched and it was a $65 vet visit, $10 in medicine, and 2 weeks of vet visits, eyeball medicine (which is fun to apply) directly in the eye, and worry.
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Sounds terrible! Thanks for the heads up. We're keeping a much closer eye on everyone thanks to these posts.
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Hmmm....corgi and stubborn? Yep, those two words do go together quite well. LOL! Just be consistant, and she'll do better. Not saying she won't take a dive every now and then, but hopefully with the positive reenforcement of leaving the cat alone will outweigh the fun of the chase. Good luck!
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Thanks, we need all the luck (and encouragement) we can get. I hope to prove to be the most stubborn of all and keep this corgi in line! LOL
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Permalink Reply by Julie on
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I have 1 corgi and 7 cats. Boomer (the corgi) has been around the cats since she was very young and still acts likes she's never seen a cat before. She gets very excited and tries to "play" with them by chasing them and biting their butts. For the most part the cats just run away and get away from her.. however, our one cat has started fights with her and she HATES him! It's gotten so bad that if we just say this cat's name, Boomer comes running to go after him. They can co-exist with our supervision, however we NEVER leave them alone together! My biggest fear is Boomer's eyes being scratched! I actually worry more about the dog getting hurt than the cat, because the cat can get away easier than the dog.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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We have the opposite problem; our Corgi tries to be nice to the cat, but the cat hates him (even though he never chased her) and she will charge him and scratch at him if he gets within 10 feet of her. The cat was here first, and she's now 16, so I don't know if I'll change her ways. The cat mostly lives upstairs, and the dog mostly downstairs, which is how we keep the peace.
I can understand people being more worried about the dog's eyes than the cats. HOWEVER, if the dog is play-bowing or hopping up and down or trying to get the cat to play "chase me," then it's just play and the dog's eyes are probably the biggest concern.
But when a dog is shaking with excitement, barking and biting, then that is the Corgi's prey drive. Remember, Corgis as farm dogs were selectively bred with the kill instinct intact. As well as herding, they would do what is sometime's the terriers' job of dispatching varmints. When your dog cutely takes a stuffed toy and disembowels the squeaker and then shakes the living daylights out of it whilst growling, that is it's way of snapping the imaginary prey's neck.
Dogs can and do kill cats. Please do your best to never leave a cat-stalking dog and the aforementioned cats unsupervised together for any length of time, or very bad things might happen. If the cat lets down its guard and allows the dog to catch it, things might be ok or the dog might treat the cat the way it does a stuffed toy.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda & Tuck on
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Tucker has a morning frap up and down the hallway and Kitters the cat will stand in a doorway along the hall and hiss and swat each time he runs past. She will sometimes even jump out right in front of him. She HATES frapping.
Our other cat Smooshie is starting to come around to the idea of having a dog in the house - she even was brave enough to come lick at the yogurt in his food bowl while he was eating the other day. Luckily Tucker didn't mind - he really just wants to be friends.
I do worry about Kitters scratching him in the eye though. They can all be in the same room together most of the time but sometimes Tucker gets in Kitters face and follows her around. She then gets angry and the hissing/swatting begin. He used run away but now he isn't as scared of the cats so I've been worrying more about his eyes. I'm keeping her nails trimmed but I'm sure she could still hurt him.
I hope one day they will be friends! It's only been 3 months so maybe with time!
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I sympathize with your concerns about Kitters and your pup. As I said, my cat is clearly the one who's a problem. I tried to introduce them when he was still smaller than her, and she would have none of it. She swatted at him and hissed.
She is horrible to him. It pains me to see my sweet and loving cat become a nasty witch around the poor dog. If you could see him.... she just needs to stare at him and he goes into a submissive down and averts his eyes. If he turns around to trot away she will charge him and swat his butt. I've found tufts of fur but no scratches; luckily Jack's thick pelt protects him. :-) I have tried disciplining the cat and it does not really help. And I hate to squirt at her with water, which might help a bit, because first she would probably resent the dog even more, and second she is as I said 16 and I am perhaps overly soft with her out of respect for her senior kitty status.
I had hoped they would be friends, and were it up to the dog they would be. However, dog's and cat's body language is really very opposed. A dog's submissive down or play bow is quite similar to a cat's stalking before a pounce. The hard stare cats give in greeting is a challenge in the dog world. A cat's friendly arched back for petting is a threat in dog body language.
Dogs and cats can be friends, but unfortunately they have a lot working against them. I think if they are both very young together, it helps.
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