My indoor cat hates our outdoor dog. Can they ever be friends?

Question

Hi, last year I moved to Sri Lanka from Doha with my 5 year old fully indoor feline. She didn't like the humid temperature, so we had to keep her indoors again. We also got a German Shpeherd who is almost 3 years old now. He lives outside in the garden permanently and she lives inside the house permanently and she despises the dog. Our fear is that they can get into a fight if she goes outside and something bad might happen. So, how do i get a permanetly indoor cat be friends with a outdoor dog? Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | unspayed | 4 years and 5 months old | 8 lbs

Laura Johnson VMD · Accepted Answer

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Charley and your dog are very cute! It is going to be very hard to make this happen. Since they are never inside together there is no way to train either of them or desensitize them to each other. Ideally the dog should have been trained with the cat when she was a puppy. At that time allowed to play with her and learned not to attack the cat with your help and by Charley smacking her. Now your dog is fully grown and can easily hurt Charley and may think she is prey when she runs. The only way to safely do this is to bring the dog in the house with a leash and a basket muzzle on and allow them to spend time together in the same room. Teach the dog to not chase the cat when it runs away. This will take a long time and I don't know if I would ever feel fully comfortable with them alone together. You may be surprised though and find that the dog doesn't chase the cat maliciously. Cats over all take a long time to adjust to change but most of the time they do. She likely despises the dog now because she's never interacted with him. You can try using the Feliway diffusers to calm her a bit. Overall I think this is going to be very difficult to accomplish I hope this helps and I wish you all the best! http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith.com/search?w=feliway%20for%20cats

My indoor cat hates our outdoor dog. Can they ever be friends?

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