Can she live with dogs?
Can cats and dogs live together? Something I am asked whenever I post a photo on social media of Cosette.
Cosette rules the house. She is a splendid cat to live with dogs as she is utterly fearless and has the confidence of a superstar trickster. She is the epitome of a ‘cool cat’. Most of the time she behaves as if the dogs don’t exist. She’ll plonk herself down exactly where she wants to be, even if a dog is there first. They always cede their place to her Royal Felineness. Cats and dogs, dogs and cats.
How well do the the dogs and Cosette get along? Here’s a rough overview of how they live together:
- Renae was the most at ease, having lived with a cat when she was a puppy until our tripaw Rosie died and we had a cat-less 4 years. Renae was also a very self-assured dog. They cohabited peacefully. The only tetchy times were when Cosette started it, mistaking Renae for a schnauzer she could boss around – nobody bossed Renae around.
- Angel is often the target of Cosette’s ambushes. These, I believe firmly, are plotted and planned by Cosette. She will put herself behind something, a chair, a stool, a door and out she’ll jump, startling Angel who scuttles away, suitably reminded that Cosette rules. However when Cosette is (safely) the otherside of the glass door Angel discovers how brave she can be, barking and fearsome in her display of canine superiority (with the glass as protection).
- Cerise, well, Cerise is not a fan of Cosette. Which is probably something to do with Cosette treating Cerise very much like she does any prey she sets her sights on. Even one many times bigger (and potentially more lethal) than she is. Cosette needs occasional reminders, from me, that Cerise is not a field mouse she can hunt down.
- Albert Claude. I almost don’t know where to begin describing how obsessed Albert is with Cosettte. From the second she struts into the bedroom each morning to wake us all up, stalking right by his nose, sometimes back and forth to be sure, he is alert to her whereabouts and her every move. Wherever she moves to, he moves to. If she sits near me, he gets even nearer. Michel says he loves her. I say he undoubtedly would love it if she loved him but in the meantime it’s an unrequited obsession. She gives him no encouragement whatsoever to think she even notices him.
So our dog-cat household is a balance that works with a gentle bit of human management to keep all safe and cohabiting, in the main, peacefully. If Cosette was even slightly timid it probably wouldn’t work. We could do with Albert dialling down his obsession at times and when we feel this needs addressing, we do. Equally, when Cosette’s need to assert herself tips the balance, a bit of redirection quickly works. When we adopted Cosette I asked her rescue whether she could live with dogs. The reply could not have been more accurate, ‘could the dogs live with her?’
For great information on how to make your dogs and cats happy, I recommend Companion Animal Psychology. and for a cat focus, Zazie Todd’s recent book Purr.
