We have a 7 year old black cat named Panther, and a 5 year old American Bulldog named Winston. Lately, I’ve been observing their interaction.
Panther and Winston are friends. They sleep on the bed and/or the sofa together, accompany each other on (short) walks, and conspire to get more food out of their owners(us). If the cat permits it, the dog will lick him.
Although the dog is way bigger, the power dynamic seems to be that the cat, who we got first, is the more dominant or senior of the two.
If the dog is on the bed with us, or on sitting beside our chairs, the cat has no hesitation about jumping up to claim our attention and/or a place to curl up.
However, if the cat is on the bed, or beside us on a table, the dog knows not to jump up and get in the way–he seems pretty clear that the cat wouldn’t like that.
When we walk the dog, Panther likes to accompany us down the block and round the corner. When we come back, he comes and escorts us home. One of his favorite things is to drink out of the dog’s water bowl, which he does with this covert glance to see if the dog is watching (the dog is always oblivious.)
Winston, on the other hand, likes to grab left-over plates of Panther’s wet cat food, which he carries into the dining room and scarfs down (we put a stop to this once we figured it out–now we remove the plate after the cat has the wet food.)
I also notice that the two animals will invariably come into whatever room we are in and perch as close to us as possible; the dog and the cat both like to snooze in my office at home, the dog as close to my feet as he can get, and the cat on a pile of old presos on the corner of the big desk. If we are not home, they will hang out in seperate parts of the house, however, until we come home, at which point they converge–on us.
We have a 7 year old black cat named Panther, and a 5 year old American Bulldog named Winston. Lately, I’ve been observing their interaction.
Panther and Winston are friends. They sleep on the bed and/or the sofa together, accompany each other on (short) walks, and conspire to get more food out of their owners(us). If the cat permits it, the dog will lick him.
Although the dog is way bigger, the power dynamic seems to be that the cat, who we got first, is the more dominant or senior of the two.
If the dog is on the bed with us, or on sitting beside our chairs, the cat has no hesitation about jumping up to claim our attention and/or a place to curl up.
However, if the cat is on the bed, or beside us on a table, the dog knows not to jump up and get in the way–he seems pretty clear that the cat wouldn’t like that.
When we walk the dog, Panther likes to accompany us down the block and round the corner. When we come back, he comes and escorts us home. One of his favorite things is to drink out of the dog’s water bowl, which he does with this covert glance to see if the dog is watching (the dog is always oblivious.)
Winston, on the other hand, likes to grab left-over plates of Panther’s wet cat food, which he carries into the dining room and scarfs down (we put a stop to this once we figured it out–now we remove the plate after the cat has the wet food.)
I also notice that the two animals will invariably come into whatever room we are in and perch as close to us as possible; the dog and the cat both like to snooze in my office at home, the dog as close to my feet as he can get, and the cat on a pile of old presos on the corner of the big desk. If we are not home, they will hang out in seperate parts of the house, however, until we come home, at which point they converge–on us.