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It’s an age-old rivalry—the relationship between cats and dogs. While it may seem like your beloved felines and canines despise each other, the thing is that they actually…don’t. The aggression between cats and dogs can be narrowed down to several factors, which we’ll explore in this article.
Why Don’t Cats and Dogs Get Along?
The feud between cats and dogs can be traced back to their ancestral beginnings. Dogs are the descendants of wolves while cats descended from the Egyptian Wild Cat. Both wolves and ancient cats were on the hunt for one thing—food. And a little attention, of course.
The thing is that cats and dogs have competed with each other for thousands of years. They also speak very different languages.
The Language Barrier Between Cats and Dogs
It’s no question that dogs and cats have different languages and behaviors. This means that they have a hard time understanding each other, which can make co-inhabiting difficult.
Cat Behavior
Cats aren’t the most exuberant communicators. Instead of wagging their tails as a greeting, cats will greet one another by slowly blinking their eyes. Their tails are typically in a straight, upright position, and will only wag them if they are exhibiting aggression.
Cats meow for a variety of reasons and purr when they are content.
Dog Behavior
Typical dog behavior is extremely forward. When they greet, dogs will wag their tails while avoiding eye contact. They will also wag their tails when they are excited and love to play.
Dogs don’t know how to translate purring; to them, it can sound like a form of aggression or a threat. This can result in barking due to their misinterpretation of purring. These are some of the reasons why don’t cats like dogs behave or understand different things.
Can Cats and Dogs Live Together?
It’s not impossible for cats and dogs to live together. In fact, cats and dogs can live in complete harmony with one another. But for many cats and dogs, living in harmony is not all that harmonious.
Scenario One: Bringing a cat home is an exciting time for you and your family—including your dog. Your dog might be so excited that he or she will start barking, sniffing, and wagging their tail. Your new cat will probably experience major alarm bells and will interpret those happy wags as threatening behavior.
Scenario Two: If the tables were turned and you brought home a new dog, your cat will most likely greet your new pooch with a slow, straight stare. Even though this is normal cat behavior, your dog might think your cat is trying to pick a fight.
These 2 scenarios clearly state why don’t cats and dogs get along or stay together in harmony.
How to Get Cats and Dogs to Get Along?
Encouraging your cat and pooch to get along can be a daunting task but it can be achieved by taking the right action. Let us take a look at these right steps one by one and learn how to get cats and dogs to get along;
- Whether you are bringing a cat into the home of a dog or bringing a dog where the cat resides, keep them separate at the initial stages,
- Slowly let them get used to each other.
- Teach them basic commands and let them know that both of them are part of the family.
- Get started with a face-to-face meeting, with supervision.
- Try repeating these sections regularly.
- Cautiously, let them loose with each other.
- Eventually, they’ll get along, still, make sure to supervise them in the initial days of their getting along.
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