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How to Get Your Dog to Stop Hurting Your Cat

Dogs and cats have always been known to hate one another. It is very hard to stop the dog and the cat from killing each other, remember it is in their nature to do so. If you are having this problem there are only a few things that you can try before you will have to make up your mind whether or not to get rid of one or the other. While trying out these methods you might want to check that your pet health insurance is paid for.

One thing that you can try to start out is letting the cat get a hold of the dog. This may sound harsh but, believe it or not it works. The cat defends its self by scratching and biting. The dog will learn, after he/she gets hurt a couple of times, not mess with the cat anymore. At most times the dog will not have a chance to truly hurt the cat so it will often be a “safe” and effective solution. You will have to keep an eye on them though!!

Try Use Spraying Water

Another thing that you can try would be using a spray bottle with water and spray your dog when he/she attacks the cat. This may not work so well because most dogs tend to like water. Unless, they think they are in trouble. Make sure that you say “NO” in a harsh voice so they associate the spraying with punishment. Don’t expect that the spraying method will work in any case and every time so be prepared to step in before they hurt each other.
 

You could also try keeping your cat and dog separated. It might be easy for your cat to stay upstairs and your dog to stay downstairs. If you don’t have a house in two levels maybe you can separate them in two different areas of the house. Try putting your dog in a big crate when you are not there to supervise them.

Putting the cat in a separate room with his/her littler box and food can also be an option. If they are not allowed to be alone with one another unless you are there to watch them, neither the dog nor the cat would be able to hurt one another.

Try to remember that if the dog is a puppy then he/she is probably playing and doesn’t realize he/she is hurting the cat. I still find that the best way to take care of this problem is separating the puppy and the cat. Maybe leave them in the same room with each other for short periods of time. As they get used to each other, they will be less likely to hurt one another. Training a puppy to not hate a cat though is still going to be a chore considering the fact that is in their instinct not to like each other.

If , after trying all these thing, you’re are still having problems with your dog hurting your cat then you may want to think about trying a solution where you use loud noises. What you do is to fill a can or a jar up with something hard and round.

Your Very Last Option

When the dog does something that you don’t like then you shake the can or the jar so it makes a really loud noise. This will distract him/her from what it was that he/she was about to do. It will take his/her mind off what he/she was doing and will find something else to get into. I must stretch though that this is a last chance option!! You don't want your dog to develop a fear of noise which this attempt could result in.

Hopefully one of these methods will work for you and hopefully you won’t need your pet insurance.  If you cannot get the dog under control you may have to think about what pet to keep and what pet to let go. It is not fair for neither of them that you keep both animals and risking that they hurt or even kill each other.