Sheepies and cats
Murphy has taken to chasing the cats, the cats run up the stairs where Murphy isn't allowed to go although he's now repeatedly trying to change my mind on that every day  If the cats are downstairs he'll chase them until they either turn and stand their ground (which sounds like scenes from the Alien movie - lots of hissing) or jump up on the counter where Murphy can't reach them.
Are the cats innocent in all this?  Not by a long shot. Murphy's crate is in the living room and I'm sure the cats torment him during the night - patrolling past his crate going "na na na na-na-na you can't get me".
Sigh! Is there any tools, tricks, ideas that I can use to get these 3 to live in, at least, tolerance of each other. I don't think they'll get to the point of curling up in front of the fireplace together (oh gosh, that'll be another battle come winter time  ), but I'd like them to at least be civil to one another. 
Lisa |
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| I can tell you what has worked well for our household. We have two OES, ages 16 months and 3 1/2 years. We also have four cats, one with an intestinal problem, one with brain damage, one that is confused and thinks he's a dog, and then the Queen Bee.
I've had my cats the longest and what I did for them was give them a 'safe' room. It's cats only and no dogs allowed. It's a large room that has the cats food, water, and litterboxes. The dogs will look forelornly through the baby gate, but will not enter the room. The cats have this safe place to escape to when the dogs are really getting rambuncious or just a little too lovey. It has helped us a lot. Asterisk, my 16 month old, is more of an antagonizer than Wendel. The cats just fly to their room until the dogs leave and will eventually come back out. |
| I have a siamese cat who sleeps on my Dalmo (6 years old) his own personal hot water bottle in his opinion but does not really like my sheepie (18 months old).
The sheepie thinks the cat is her own personal chase toy.  Many times the siamese has appeared out from under all the sheepie hair with a sheepie spit mohawk and a VERY peed off look on his face.
I have a shoulder high cat post for the cat to run up and escape and a baby gate in the living room doorway that the cat fits through. The sheepie has only jumped it twice.
My siamese and the sheepie have come to some sort of terms. Occasionally the cat even attacks Tiggy. Its funny to watch! The cat wraps his front legs around a big fluffy front leg and wrestles it then bites it savagely and comes up for air with a puzzled look on his face and a mouth full of hair while the attached sheepie looks at him in bewilderment as she cant feel a thing. 
Perhaps with some safe places to escape to your cats will also establish terms with your sheepie but as they're older they may never interact or at least not until their sheepie nemesis is a bit older and a tad more sedate. (if that ever happens )
Good luck and remember the referee NEVER gets it right as far as one side is concerned. |
| Our two long term cats dislike Archie who absolutely loves them! (they hate his "You need a good lick" read soakings!) they have slowly grown used to him though, they still tell him off occasionally but our male has learnt that if you don't run away then the big idiot won't chase you his sister is however continually getting chased, they don't understand why peace offerings of dead birds are treated to loud barks of "dad mum look what this bad cat has done!" Also when the male tries to steal Archies food he is dealt a major barking telling off.
All three of them sleep in the utillity room at night, Archie on the floor, Marmalade (M) on top of the towels on Archies cage and Toast (F) in Archies cage on his nice vet blanket! When Archie has tried to go in his cage when Toast is there he really gets a good swiping on the conk!
I am quite sure if they really hated him they would not sleep in the same room together, it is handy for Archie as he gets to help himself to their food also - he loves Whiskas pouches! |
| I have this same problem. I've had two cats for about 5 years. Winston, my sheepie, is a year old now. What I did was keep the whole upstairs of the house off limits to Winston. The cats are still unhappy because they want full run of the house, but it was the only thing that could be done. Winston tears after my cats when he sees them, but strangely enough its only a running cat that gets him going. My brothers cat was raised around puppies and could care less about Winston, and Winston could care less about the cat. I guess its the predator/herding instinct kicking in. All you can really do is keep the cats happy and safe, and hopefully your sheepie will be happy too. |
| We had dogs long before we got the cats. Ben and the girls tried to like the cats, but Zoey clawed Ben on the nose - he yelled and the dogs gave her a wide berth.
There are lots of high places around the house for the cats to escape to as needed, but the dogs basically ignore them. The cats don't even move when the dogs walk by them, I keep expecting one of them to get stepped on. We have a babygate in the doorway of one of the upstair bedrooms. I keep the bottom of it about 4 inches off of the floor, so the cats can scoot in easily. The dogs do't even try to jump it. The funny thing is that when we put the dogs in their room when we leave the house, the cats are the first ones to run into that room. |
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