hi there all- my pup (5months old) has now developed her confidence in our home, and we thought the cats have been putting her in her place, but i witnessed this morning 'flo' was trying to play with one of the cats- she just kept ignoring her even tho she was pushing her face her the cats, then as i looked, the dog had the cats scruff in her mouth. The cats reaction was quite relaxed- she was just trying to pull away- not panicking and no sounds.

Do you think the cat knew she meant no harm- or was she petrified! My pup grew up with cats previously and so views them  as part of her mixed pack, but i want to establish her as the lowest member as she is the newest addition to our family.

Is this possible or will they just work out pecking order on their own? I have no other dogs btw, but have 2 8 month old cats.

Oh and when flo did this, i picked her up and put in crate to cool it!

Hi
If a cat is scruffed it will automatically go limp -that's the way they are. So it wouldn't matter to a cat if it was a human or a dog that did it, and doesn't necessarily mean the cat is scared.  I have this problem myself, some of our cats just accept anything and you'll come into the kitchen one day and find them covered in slobber from the dogs that have been dragging them around -but always without hurting them.The cats don't seem to mind as they go BACK -my big dogs all live in our extended kitchen/dining room and there is absolutely nothing of interest in there for the cats, yet several of them jump in over the stable door and mix with the dogs. Others tell the dogs off at once and they tend to be left alone forever. I find though that those that don't tell the dogs off, they get treated like this all the time, for years. Haven't found a solution but haven't found it a problem either -except if the cat is newly bathed and groomed for a show and then the dogs ruin all that! :D

i have 3 7 month old cats. 2 toms and a queen. the queen hates the dogs and mearly tolerates them. the dogs seem to knwo this and dont bother with her.
however my 2 toms love to play with the dogs and it seems the rougther the better.
i see heads in mouths, legs in mouth, the dog on it sbach with the cat sat on top and vise versuer. i did at first worry, but then one day one of the dogs approached oen of my toms to play and my tom was not in the mood and he only had to hiss at the dog and the dog was off.

a sharp swipe of a fully clawed paw seems to be enougth to ward the dogs off. my cats arew fine with the dogs even when i first brought them home. but they hate new cats.

if your cats were being hurt they would never come down or even put them selfs near the dog. cats liek a bit of rougth as well.

Thanks both- well i suppose if tali had enough of her she would have wollaped flo on the nose!
The other cat inca hates her and wont even let her near her, so tali must be the playful one.

I'll just let them sort it out, as long as flo doesnt get too rough mind!!

Have experienced the same as your above posters.  Even though our Lab is very kind and gentle I watched her very closely when we brought a six week old kitten into the house.  Imagine my horror on finding her biting the back of the wee kitty's neck!  Fortunately I managed to contain myself long enough to notice she was only nibbling and wee kitty seemed to be enjoying it.  After that we watched many happy bouts of wrestling, rolling around, stalking, kitten head in Lab's mouth episodes of play which often ended with the kitten dealing the much bigger Lab a fake death bite to the throat.  I agree, if the cat does not seem distressed then it probably is not a problem.  Get your video camera out and record it for posterity.

The cats just have to near my dogs and they are off i think it is the claws they don't like many times i have seen them clawing there tails and they run away, big softies
But cats in the street it is a different story they try to chase them

At the time of my post above we had just live trapped a wild, wee kitten of about 7 weeks old and much too young to be out on his own.  It was -13C here three nights ago, he'd have frozen.  I hope to socialize him enough to place him in a home.

Right now I have him in a little kennel in my office.  The kennel door is open and he can roam the whole room so I brought the dog in and put her in a DOWN, STAY.

Well, it was so cute.  Little kitten slowly crept out and very, very softly stretched out his wee head and sniffed Jet's toes.  Jet was watching in trepidation, with her head up and as far away from him as she could get it, as he  quietly summed her up.  Jet knows what sharp little kitten teeth and claws are like and I just know she was holding herself ready to leap away in terror.  Poor dog, I should not subject her to such torture.  And no, I was not smart enough to have my camera ready.

My cats are usually rounded up by my beardies and kept in a group in the kitchen with the dogs sitting by the doors so that they cant escape!
The cats have also learned to walk v..e..r..y.. slowly and they dont get chased .

My neighbours ginger cat  visits our cats food table regularily but if he gets caught by the dogs they  pin him down with thier paw on his head and lie on him he just  lies there very still until the dogs release him then he slowly walks away...very funny picture it doesnt bother him cause he keeps coming back for more !!!
If a strange cat comes near in the garden they go bonkers. ;)
Roni