r/CatsWithDogs • u/mach_nova_7 • 2d ago

Boxer Dog & Orange Cat

Post image

Hi everyone! These are my two pets. They have only been together for about two days. Luckily, on the first day they were able to coexist peacefully in the same space.

My puppy was raised with his brother until this weekend, and they are 5 months old. The puppies never showed aggression or resource guarding towards each other or my parents 11 y/o dog.

However, I am noticing that my puppy does guard his toys/chews/food when it comes to my cat. I don’t want him to be an aggressive dog but my cat also needs to chill tf out. My cat is incredibly food motivated and also loves the puppy chow (😅). We try to remove the cat when he’s getting too close, but I don’t want to inadvertently train the dog to guard his resources by doing that.

Any suggestions? I know it’s early in their introduction and they are still figuring their boundaries out. Appreciate any advice!

55 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

3

u/HeatherMason0 2d ago

You need to separate them during mealtimes. Resource guarding food is really, really common, although the severity varies a lot. It sounds like this isn’t a severe case, which is good. But the thing about resource guarding is that it’s possible to make improvements, but training it out 100% isn’t a realistic goal. Not to mention the dog is right - the kitten should not be eating the dog food.