Mutual life of cats and dogs
Mutual life of cats and dogs
Sometimes people want to keep as cats as dogs. And according to legends dogs and cats hate each other. There are thousands of cartoons and stories based on the hatred between these two animals. But there are a lot of exceptions from the rule. Can dogs and cats live together in one house? The answer is yes, but in very rare cases.
In general the coexistence of two or more animals is very rare. They can live tolerantly with each other but the real "friendship" between them is almost impossible and especially between cats and dogs. And even when a cat and a dog have mutual interest (for example, playing together), it can't be called the real friendship.
Sometimes there are even cases when cats and dogs live in absolute harmony. Sometimes they even sleep with each other and eat from one plate. And dogs even protect cats from other dogs.
The problem that appears when cats and dogs begin to live with each other is their natural instinct. Dogs and cats are hunters by their nature. And when the cat starts to run – it is a signal for the dog to run after it because he thinks it is potential food.
As a rule a cat is a leader in the relationships with dogs and sometimes even people. In this case the mutual life is possible. But if the dog is leader then it may harm the cat and make some serious injuries.
Besides the dog's plate is the potential risk for the cat. If the cat lives together with the dos it usually understands the danger and instinct recommends it to keep away from the dog and dog's plate. But as a cat is a hunter too, it can attack the dog by itself and even hurt the dog seriously.
It is very hard to answer the question – who should appear the first in the house? In majority of cases one of the pets already lives in the house and people want to take one more pet. But doctors recommend taking a puppy and a kitten at the same time and the smaller they are better relations they will have.
If the family already has a dog then it is better to take a kitten and to let it to the dog from time to time, but the first meeting should pass under the control of a person. And vise versa if there is a cat in the house, it is better to take a puppy. Let to a dog or a cat to smell the newcomer. In any case it is forbidden to push animals one to another or to make them smell each other. As a rule these animals first study each other from the distance.
To make them get used to one another, it is useful to feed them in the one room but in different corners in such a way they will get used to the smell of each other and will have positive associations with it.
The animals that got used to one another begin to take care of each other. There are a lot of cases when wash each other, sleep together (by the way cats like warm places and from the very beginning of the common life cats understand that the dog's body is the warmest place for them), play together.
Sometimes animals can be jealous. That is why it is necessary to pay the same attention as to the dog as to the cat.