Re: New baby and cat killing

In Reply to: New baby and cat killing
Posted by:  Nicole
Posted on:  October 23, 2001 at 18:43:46

: I will give back ground information on my pets to start. I have 3 JR's one male my first mama's boy 8yrs. Female 6yrs and her daughter 3yrs old. Shepard is 6yrs. My male co exist with my 2 cats, he never has hurt them and I trust him completley. He also doest have much of a hunt extinct except to chase and feels he is human more than dog. My female howerever became pack leader and is very instinctual. I thought once I laid down the law with the cats she would except that. She has been nippy when ever new people came into the house and leaned over to pet her. She didnt let them try and domanate her. Once I told people to ignore her and sit down and let her come up to you that worked and then she loved them. I thought since I had my cats first she would lean to co-exist with them. My mistake I kept one of her puppies another female who never quite learned to leave one of the cats alone. She never has killed like her mother but has nipped my little gray cat. The alpha female also shows our big dog who is boss and has worked up in a freezy outside and attacks his neck, which it is so hairy it doesnt bother him as long as she shows him some atteniton.
: She has killed opossums and our big dog will join her like its a fun game of tug of war. But her attent is to kill and she always goes for the neck.
: When my now 4 month old son was born we know we would have to work with the dogs and exspecialy the two female because of the noises a baby makes. They all seemed to have excepted him the small female licks him as she does our shepard. The alpah female though has not shown to much interest and kept her distance.
: We went out of town like many times before and had our pet sitter come over twice a day. When we arrived home they were happy to see us and my son was sitting in his little chair and she dropped a ball in his lap for him to throw it. I threw it and thought "good maybe she knows he is a human. Little did I know until later my beloved cat of 10 years was dead on the other side of the doggy door. They had never messed with her always the gray one. But she was fat and not so quick and liked to go out and lay in the sun she never made it in the house. Oviously my pet sitter did not throw the ball out in the back yard with them like she used to do because she would have seen my cat.
: But now I worry when my son gets old enough to walk he will still be making high pitched noises. What if he gets out of bed one morning or gets in a situation when he is alone with the dogs and alpah female Darla attacks him or would she? She is very sweet and loving to us but now I worry if the two females which egg each other on goes after our son if he makes a shrill noise-which means prey to her. Sometimes now when he crys she runs to the door and looks outside. The daughter female licks his feet.
: From talking to our pet sitter and knwoing our dogs. The daughter more than likely got the cat running and alpha mom went in for the kill broke her neck and the Shepard joined in for a game of tug of war on her back end. Being in a pack will my alpha female instigate and attack on my son? Should I be finding a home for the mom and daughter together if possible since they are so attached to each other? I dont worry about the other two since it regular dog issues for them and the Shepard shows protectivness over his humans and concern for our son. Maybe the answer is simple but the dogs have been apart of our family for a long time and love us so much, just needed to know opionions from people who have heard other stories and know Jack Russels.
: Heart broken and desperate

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Hi,
I am sorry about your cat, but NO ONE ever advises leaving a cat and a Jack Russell alone. Too many pet owners have thought this before and ended up with the same results. Sometimes the two animals can peacefully coexist but sooner or later it will happend, no more cat. When having multipules of animals it just makes the sitution worse. If you are going to have Jack Russells then you MUST keep them seperate from your cats or they will get killed.

I really don't see what this has too do with your child, it is up to you as a parent to watch and supervise your dogs. At night I would suggest crating the dogs if you can't watch them and you think that the baby, would get out of the crib. If you aren't having problems now, with the dogs and the baby. Cats and harming a baby, are two different things to me.

Parents who have children and animals, of any breed, no matter how you think they acting now, should always be supervised. I am sorry if you think that this may sound a little harsh but we on this web site have been warning people for years about a dogs reaction to a cat. It just doesn't work in the long run unless you are willing to keep them seperate.