A world where dogs and cats get along
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- June 11, 2024
- 412
Just about everyone in our family has at least one dog. And we all consider them as members of our families. There also are family members with a cat (or cats) as family members. Fortunately, everyone gets along or at least tolerates each other.
Our dog took on the job of announcing visitors. There was no longer any need for a doorbell. The cats took on the job of keeping our yard and gardens free of rabbits, squirrels and perhaps a mouse or two. It was a good deal.
When I was growing up, our family had one dog and several siamese cats. Siamese cats are rather bossy creatures. As long as our dog behaved himself and stayed out of their way, the cats ignored him.
However, at bedtime our cats slept at the foot of our bed, and the dog had to sleep either under the bed or beside it. Once, when the poor canine tried to jump up on our bed, both cats shrieked and leapt on him, sending him flying. From that day on, our dog slept all by
himself under one of our children’s beds.
That worked out just fine — until the cats began having kittens. Our dog was fascinated by the little creatures, and when possible, he liked to lick each little one from head to tail. The kittens loved our dog and would climb onto his pillow whenever they could escape their mamas. It was lovely for a while with all creatures getting along.
When the time came for our kittens to find new homes, the dog took offense. He got to the point where he had to be locked up while folks came to adopt. Once the kittens were gone, the poor thing was bereft, moping around, not eating or playing. It was awful.
When all the kittens were gone, the pooch decided he didn’t want strangers in our house — strangers that took his kittens — and he wasn’t forgetting that. It got to where we had to put him in his crate when someone came to the door. He would bark and growl the entire time company was there.
Once, a neighbor dropped by while we were sitting on our porch. Our dog had a fit, and he was dragged inside after he stood at the porch entrance blocking our friend from
joining us. We had to do something.
We had an idea, and it worked — we got our dog a kitten. He was thrilled! It took a few days for our new pet to adjust to being carried around and licked head to tail, but soon the adjustment was made, and both dog and cat had a new best friend.
Not all cats are created equal — our other two felines totally ignored those two and kept their distance. It all worked out, thank goodness.