You know how everyone jokes about how cats are always in charge of the dogs in a household? If the dog steps out of line the cat will, erm..teach him a lesson with his claws. Yeah, that doesn't work so well here. Willie and Tucker have always had a decent relationship. I mean Tucker doesn't really like either of the cats but has always been nicer to Willie than to Neko. Tucker has always responded to fear with his teeth, it's just who he is. So in the past when Willie would swat at Tucker (usually when Tucker was running by playing with a toy) Tucker would snap at him but not make contact. If Tucker saw it coming he might not even do that because it wasn't really scary, it was more if he was caught by surprise. Every once in a while Tucker and Willie would have a more serious "scuffle", usually if Willie was on an elevated surface and smacked Tucker from above, Tucker would jump up to snap at him and Willie would continue to swat as Tucker repeatedly snapped and snarled. But again, not much contact, at least not on the dogs part. One word from me and they stop. I can think of maybe two times in the past 5 years where Tucker really bit him, in both cases Willie had made him yelp beforehand. No damage was done to either party. We've never really thought it was a big deal-Tucker was responding to Willie being a jerk and was not hurting him and they stopped as soon as they were told (and in most cases that isn't even necessary). Plus it was infrequent.
However in the last week we've had 3 incidents where Tucker has bit Willie, last night being particularly scary and prompting me to write this. Again though, no blood, although last night Willie lost a big tuft of hair and has a bald spot. I'm afraid that eventually there will be blood. In all cases Willie smacks Tucker, usually in the behind, but I wouldn't say he's hurting him at all most of the time. In many cases it's a very half hearted playful tapping of his back legs that causes him to turn and snap/bite. Last night Willie was sleeping on the couch in the middle seat, Tucker walked by him on the couch (there was space and Tucker did not step on him) to get from where I was sitting over to where mom and dad were. As he went by Willie swatted his butt. Tucker turned and jumped right on top of Willie, biting him at least once on the back/shoulder as Willie tried to run away. It was hard to see if he bit repeatedly because they moved so quickly, Willie was literally a blur. I screamed at Tucker so he stopped and Willie ran away. When I found Willie he was all fluffed up and his pupils were fully dilated. He lost a bunch of hair tufts but was otherwise okay. The is the only time I've ever seen Tucker leap on one of the cats aggressively like that.
I'm concerned and not sure how to handle it. On the one hand Willie starts it every time and needs to keep his paws to himself. Not really sure how to accomplish that. On the other hand Tucker is WAY over reacting. I think part of the issue last night was because they were both on the couch (Tucker used to be a little possessive of the couch with the cats back when he was an adolescent) and Tucker was moving towards mom (his favorite person). I also thought maybe Willie's nails might be an issue. I usually keep them clipped so they are not sharp but he was overdue for a clipping and they were quite pointy. I clipped them after the fight, so hopefully that prevents Tucker from reacting so severely. What would you do to work on this?
However in the last week we've had 3 incidents where Tucker has bit Willie, last night being particularly scary and prompting me to write this. Again though, no blood, although last night Willie lost a big tuft of hair and has a bald spot. I'm afraid that eventually there will be blood. In all cases Willie smacks Tucker, usually in the behind, but I wouldn't say he's hurting him at all most of the time. In many cases it's a very half hearted playful tapping of his back legs that causes him to turn and snap/bite. Last night Willie was sleeping on the couch in the middle seat, Tucker walked by him on the couch (there was space and Tucker did not step on him) to get from where I was sitting over to where mom and dad were. As he went by Willie swatted his butt. Tucker turned and jumped right on top of Willie, biting him at least once on the back/shoulder as Willie tried to run away. It was hard to see if he bit repeatedly because they moved so quickly, Willie was literally a blur. I screamed at Tucker so he stopped and Willie ran away. When I found Willie he was all fluffed up and his pupils were fully dilated. He lost a bunch of hair tufts but was otherwise okay. The is the only time I've ever seen Tucker leap on one of the cats aggressively like that.
I'm concerned and not sure how to handle it. On the one hand Willie starts it every time and needs to keep his paws to himself. Not really sure how to accomplish that. On the other hand Tucker is WAY over reacting. I think part of the issue last night was because they were both on the couch (Tucker used to be a little possessive of the couch with the cats back when he was an adolescent) and Tucker was moving towards mom (his favorite person). I also thought maybe Willie's nails might be an issue. I usually keep them clipped so they are not sharp but he was overdue for a clipping and they were quite pointy. I clipped them after the fight, so hopefully that prevents Tucker from reacting so severely. What would you do to work on this?