Hello All,
so I've posted before about advice for my 1.5 year old f5 savannah male (his name is Thorfinn). Just a brief recap: I got him when he was 6 mos and have had him for a bit more than a year so far, he was under socialized as a kitten so for as long as I've had him he won't let me touch him, but he's made progress in that sometimes he'll approach me and sniff me and will take chicken from my hand. SO basically he's a very shy, and very unconfident cat. Recently I made the decision to add a dog to my home. I have been given the opportunity to adopt a 3 year old toy poodle so he's a bit smaller than Thorfinn but my condition was that if he was a cat terrorist and caused problems with my cat I wouldn't take him. So I've brought him home for visits and introductions twice so far. The first time went as expected, Thorfinn hid under a bed and stared the dog down while growling every so often. The dog didn't react at all. Then the second visit I decided to use a more indirect approach: I kept the dog outside on a porch with a big screen door and just hung out with him outside for a while. Thorfinn came down after a few minutes and sat by the screen. The dog was really interested in approaching Thorfinn so I let him and surprisingly they just sniffed each other for a very long time and there were no negative reactions. After this I took the dog out and was gone with him for a few hours. When I came home alone, I was pleasantly surprised at what I came home to. My cat wanted to play and be around me! And I obviously reeked of the dog too, I mean I could still smell him on me so I knew Thorfinn could. He played with me for hours and I was even able to stroke his back a few times while he was distracted with the toy and he didn't even flinch! Then when he was through playing he jumped up on the bed with me and sat upright, so close, so close it seemed awkward. Then he put one of his front paws on my leg as he sat, then he LAYED on my legs! This is the most unheard of behavior that I've seen from this cat. My sister who is currently keeping the dog for me until I know for sure that this will be a safe match and is a dog trainer said that she knows with dogs that they can help each other with behaviors so maybe it works with other animals too. Has anyone experienced this? I mean, this is a cat who hates new people he holds massive grudges about many things and so I would expect that he would be angry with me smelling like a dog or even bringing the dog around. But he seems to be the exact opposite. Perhaps this is all he needed or at least seeing me give physical touch to another creature and seeing enjoyment. I have no idea. Any thoughts?
so I've posted before about advice for my 1.5 year old f5 savannah male (his name is Thorfinn). Just a brief recap: I got him when he was 6 mos and have had him for a bit more than a year so far, he was under socialized as a kitten so for as long as I've had him he won't let me touch him, but he's made progress in that sometimes he'll approach me and sniff me and will take chicken from my hand. SO basically he's a very shy, and very unconfident cat. Recently I made the decision to add a dog to my home. I have been given the opportunity to adopt a 3 year old toy poodle so he's a bit smaller than Thorfinn but my condition was that if he was a cat terrorist and caused problems with my cat I wouldn't take him. So I've brought him home for visits and introductions twice so far. The first time went as expected, Thorfinn hid under a bed and stared the dog down while growling every so often. The dog didn't react at all. Then the second visit I decided to use a more indirect approach: I kept the dog outside on a porch with a big screen door and just hung out with him outside for a while. Thorfinn came down after a few minutes and sat by the screen. The dog was really interested in approaching Thorfinn so I let him and surprisingly they just sniffed each other for a very long time and there were no negative reactions. After this I took the dog out and was gone with him for a few hours. When I came home alone, I was pleasantly surprised at what I came home to. My cat wanted to play and be around me! And I obviously reeked of the dog too, I mean I could still smell him on me so I knew Thorfinn could. He played with me for hours and I was even able to stroke his back a few times while he was distracted with the toy and he didn't even flinch! Then when he was through playing he jumped up on the bed with me and sat upright, so close, so close it seemed awkward. Then he put one of his front paws on my leg as he sat, then he LAYED on my legs! This is the most unheard of behavior that I've seen from this cat. My sister who is currently keeping the dog for me until I know for sure that this will be a safe match and is a dog trainer said that she knows with dogs that they can help each other with behaviors so maybe it works with other animals too. Has anyone experienced this? I mean, this is a cat who hates new people he holds massive grudges about many things and so I would expect that he would be angry with me smelling like a dog or even bringing the dog around. But he seems to be the exact opposite. Perhaps this is all he needed or at least seeing me give physical touch to another creature and seeing enjoyment. I have no idea. Any thoughts?
