Effie sitting on kitty??

[betterxthanxnew]

So here's the issue...Effie won't stop sitting on my cat. I have a 10 year old mixed tabby, male cat. He's been with me since he was a kitten. I have tried very hard to make sure he still felt loved during the transition of adding Effie to our family. I am getting SOOO BEYOND FRUSTRATED. Effie is not violent towards him. She's only 5.5 months old- and she really wants to play with him. But she weighs 30 lbs, and he only weighs 10lbs. She is constantly sitting on him- and he SCREAMS bloody murder. Like, you would think he is dying. A lot of folks say.."well, just let the cat teach the dog the hard way" But that really does not work. First of all....Sherbert has hissed at, smacked, and literally gotten his claws stuck in Effie. Effie does not care whatsoever. It's somewhat frightening. Effie will sit on him....I will clap loud to startle her off, say "NO" firmly, and drag her away, only for her to run back after him as soon as I let go, or as soon as she thinks I am not looking. I must get up 50 plus times to get her off of him every day, until the poor old man runs upstairs to just get away from it. I feel terrible. I just know that somehow I must be going about this wrong. After seeing Sherbert's claw literally stuck to Effie's lip one day I have made an effort to intervene every single time I hear or see it happening.
And by the way...Sherbert is not a dominant cat. He is not an attack cat. He is normally just strolling through the living room to get to his litter box or water dish in the kitchen, when ZOOOOM here comes Effie!! And she's on him in a matter of seconds. We do have one other cat, a 3 year old female named Penny- she is the dominant cat. Effie chases her...sometimes. But she does not dominate Penny the way she does Sherbert. In fact, Effie seems a little apprehensive about messing with Penny at all.
HELP ME! Is this just a puppy thing that she will grow out of??? I am really worried that the stress is taking a toll on Sherbert. I know Effie isn't trying to hurt him. She wants to play- and he doesn't. It's starting to drive us all a bit crazy.

 

[dolphin]

I think it's a faze she's going through and will grow out of. She's probably pretty attached to him that's what it sounds like. I would continue to do what you're doing, she'll get the hang of it and stop eventually and then they'll both be bff's.

 

[2BullyMama]

It very well could be a puppy thing, but it could also be that Effie wants to dominate Sherbert because Penny rules the roast and Effie does not want to be low man on the pole.

I do not have any cats nor do I have a full understanding and their behavior is different than dog behavior so i hope cat owners chime in for you

 

[boo boo butts mom]

I would say time out in a cage or area of time out each time the puppy does this. Now because it is a puppy I wouldn't do this for lengthy amount of times but it is a start and quite possibly the puppy will begin to understand that when he goes after your cat and he is told no and gets put in a time out maybe he will stop. It's just an idea. Hope you can find a solution for all 3 of them.

 

[Manydogs]

Can you spray something on the cat, such as Bitter apple?/don't know if you can use it on cats. That may turn the dog away. Or maybe spray the dog with a squirt bottle, whenever she sits on the cat. Or put a spike collar on the cat!

 

[betterxthanxnew]

[MENTION=8741]Manydogs[/MENTION], we've tried the water bottle spray. Believe it or not she actually likes it, haha. She doesn't see it as punishment whatsoever. I'm not sure if bitter apple is safe to use on cats either, but I can look that up. However, Effie isn't biting or chewing on him, she just smashes him to the floor, and then sits or stands on him. If he didn't scream bloody murder- it would almost be funny. But, with their weight difference, I really am worried about him getting hurt, and I know his anxiety is up. It's so odd...because Effie doesn't do this 100% of the time. Last night Sherb was laying on Effie's dog bed taking a snooze, and she laid down on the floor next to him chewing on her bully stick- and didn't pay him any mind. Maybe she was distracted by her bully stick though- she is very food motivated. I'm not convinced a spike collar would do any good because his sharp pointy claws in her face doesn't seem to phase her either.
[MENTION=13028]boo boo butts mom[/MENTION], I watched a few training videos last night, and a couple of them said to try the time out method. I think that is going to be my next step!

 

[JennieS]

So here's the issue...Effie won't stop sitting on my cat. I have a 10 year old mixed tabby, male cat. He's been with me since he was a kitten. I have tried very hard to make sure he still felt loved during the transition of adding Effie to our family. I am getting SOOO BEYOND FRUSTRATED. Effie is not violent towards him. She's only 5.5 months old- and she really wants to play with him. But she weighs 30 lbs, and he only weighs 10lbs. She is constantly sitting on him- and he SCREAMS bloody murder. Like, you would think he is dying. A lot of folks say.."well, just let the cat teach the dog the hard way" But that really does not work. First of all....Sherbert has hissed at, smacked, and literally gotten his claws stuck in Effie. Effie does not care whatsoever. It's somewhat frightening. Effie will sit on him....I will clap loud to startle her off, say "NO" firmly, and drag her away, only for her to run back after him as soon as I let go, or as soon as she thinks I am not looking. I must get up 50 plus times to get her off of him every day, until the poor old man runs upstairs to just get away from it. I feel terrible. I just know that somehow I must be going about this wrong. After seeing Sherbert's claw literally stuck to Effie's lip one day I have made an effort to intervene every single time I hear or see it happening.
And by the way...Sherbert is not a dominant cat. He is not an attack cat. He is normally just strolling through the living room to get to his litter box or water dish in the kitchen, when ZOOOOM here comes Effie!! And she's on him in a matter of seconds. We do have one other cat, a 3 year old female named Penny- she is the dominant cat. Effie chases her...sometimes. But she does not dominate Penny the way she does Sherbert. In fact, Effie seems a little apprehensive about messing with Penny at all.
HELP ME! Is this just a puppy thing that she will grow out of??? I am really worried that the stress is taking a toll on Sherbert. I know Effie isn't trying to hurt him. She wants to play- and he doesn't. It's starting to drive us all a bit crazy.

Hi!
We have two cats and when we got brutus it was a nightmare he was attacking them all the time. He NEVER learned his lesson when the cat would attack him back, claw up his face, he would attack that much more. It bothers me when people say the cat will teach them a lesson....because, no...not when it comes to stubborn bullies. What we had to do was just train him out of it. We used a leash and collar on him at all times until he became used to the cats. We would let him roam around the house with it on but when we saw him going for the kitties we could easily hurry up and grab it and make him sit while the cats were out roaming too. It worked wonders because now he does not bother the cats at all.

I would leash and collar Effie until she learns the cat is not her personal sitting spot. It sucks but it's going to make training her out of it better for you. It can be done, just have patience!

 

[betterxthanxnew]

[MENTION=9205]JennieS[/MENTION] I know!! A lot of people keep telling me that eventually Effie will get tired of being clawed, and she'll stop. But, no...I really don't think that will happen at all. And one of these days she's gonna get a claw to the eye, or she's gonna squish Sherb to death. So I've got to get it under control. Not to mention, his screaming is so blood curdling- it's scary. I appreciate your advice! Glad to know I'm not the only one whose had to deal with this craziness!
I'll give that a try! Effie actually has her spay surgery scheduled for tomorrow- so we have to keep her activity levels down anyway over the next week or so- so keeping a leash on her will help with that too! Thanks a bunch!

 

[JennieS]

@JennieS I know!! A lot of people keep telling me that eventually Effie will get tired of being clawed, and she'll stop. But, no...I really don't think that will happen at all. And one of these days she's gonna get a claw to the eye, or she's gonna squish Sherb to death. So I've got to get it under control. Not to mention, his screaming is so blood curdling- it's scary. I appreciate your advice! Glad to know I'm not the only one whose had to deal with this craziness!
I'll give that a try! Effie actually has her spay surgery scheduled for tomorrow- so we have to keep her activity levels down anyway over the next week or so- so keeping a leash on her will help with that too! Thanks a bunch!

No problem! Sending lots of prayers on her surgery tomorrow. if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask. it took us a long time to get brutus where we have him now. The leash/collar worked wonders on him.

Good luck!

 

[brutus77]

I have no input on this except to wish you answers to your troubles. I am sorry to add that I find this very funny! Sorry

 

[Manydogs]

[MENTION=9370]brutus77[/MENTION] You just reminded me that years ago, I had a barn cat who was very sick.I was treating her,but for weeks she just laid there,she finally did recover,but forever after her name was FLATCAT,due to that situation! Sorry,too, but Rosalie made me laugh!

 

[betterxthanxnew]

LOL! Well, I have to admit, we thought it was so funny and cute when we first brought Effie home, and she was right around 10 lbs herself! Not so funny now Mostly it's just driving us bonkers! I guess we only have ourselves to blame, but good grief I hope we can resolve it.

 

[Manydogs]

I guess if you have the leash on her,just letting her drag it around,as was suggested, tell her "Off" pull her with the leash,then give her a yummy treat,tell her "good girl"when she's off,maybe she will learn to stay off the cat!