Our encounters with off-leash dogs, e-fence dogs, and DADO’s are the stuff legends are made of. Okay, maybe that’s just in my mind, but some days, I feel like a God damn gladiator maneuvering my neighborhood with my dogs.
Last Friday we had an encounter with a neighborhood cat, and when I started looking through my dash board, for a post to reference this particular cat, I realized, we’ve also had a fair share of cat encounters as well.
One in particular is the cat two houses up. His name is Simba. You may recall him. When he was just a tiny kitten, he stalked my dogs on one of their walks.
Then there was the time Delilah treed him. **Side note, I recently found out from that neighbor that she paid someone $50 to get the cat out of the tree. I thought he came down on his own. Oops.
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Simba is a born hunter. Honestly, I see this cat catching all kinds of small rodents. I even saw him with a squirrel once. The dang thing was bigger than he was, but there he was dragging it home.
Simba is a typical cat. Curious. Apparently being treed didn’t stick with him, because about two months ago, I walked outside and found him on the roof of my mother’s car, attempting to jump onto my small porch. You know, the one with the sliding door I keep open for the dogs in nice weather?
Go ahead, I’ll give you a minute to picture what would happen if Simba managed to make it onto the porch, and continue inside to the house.
Anyway, about that cat. He’s pretty bold. I mean, I know cats are supposed to be independent and all, but I thought there was a cat gene, that told cats to stay clear of dogs. If there is, Simba is missing this cat gene.
I was walking Delilah. Due to her Endothelial Decompensation, she doesn’t see as well as she used to. I can’t say with certainty, but based on my observations, I suspect she sees shadows. Because of this, she tends to walk a lot with the curb of the road on one side of her. She still wanders off onto grass, etc…but there have been many a time when she’s walked right into a small branch or stick in the road.
So there we were, walking up the street, when I see Simba getting ready to cross the street about 75 feet in front of us. Delilah was sniffing so I said, “Go Simba, go. Cross the street.”
What did the damn cat do? He sat right the fuck down, right there on the side of the road, and he stared at me.
Siriusly.
Delilah usually crosses to the Simba side of the street, (we walk against traffic), but I managed to keep her from crossing, and we passed the damn cat without her noticing. I kept my eye on that little shit, because I think he was really considering a challenge.
Don’t throw down the gauntlet to Delilah, Simba, you just might find yourself up another tree.
We’ve had cats in our house before, and the cats have always tried to be friendlier to the dogs, than the dogs are to them, but I was totally surprised that Simba didn’t seem to have any fear of Delilah.
So please, those of you with cats….is this normal cat behavior?
Every cat is her own cat. Cat bro Bert would never back down to a dog, and would fight with any dog that got in his way. He is a tough guy. We run into lots of cats outside and some flee when they see us coming, others stand their ground. Because we live with Bert, we know to not pester a cat as they will jump in our face and hurt us with those sharp nails they have.
We have always had gentle kitties in our house. Sampson used to run up to Ollie and stick his nose under him, lifting him up in the air, and Ollie never retaliated. I don’t think my dogs have learned any kitty lessons.
I really only know my cat, but when our trainer came over to help me introduce the two dogs, she commented on how Soth rules the house. Neither of my dogs will go down the stairs if Soth is on them because he’ll chase them back up the stairs. We’ve also had a few neighborhood cats charge down the sidewalk towards us or sit very close to our path and stare at us. I’m pretty sure they think they’re lions and can take the girls down if they need to.
I love this, “I’m pretty sure they think they’re lions” I think you just summed cats up in a nutshell.
In my experience there is no normal cat behavior. They are all totally different. I think they get together and plan it that way.j
Our cat Conrad used to sit in the middle of the stairs and refuse to let the dogs pass. They were all afraid to even try!
What upsets me the MOST about this post? Are the people who OWN this cat that ALLOW IT TO WANDER THE NEIGHBORHOOD……….CATS SHOULD NOT BE WANDERING AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD (when they have owners) and YES I AM YELLING. And……….my Cody LOVES Dakota….Cody rules our home, NOT Dakota. Tell the owners to bring the damn cat inside.
I’m shocked at the people that let their cats roam freely in our area. There are some pretty big predators around. We have fishers and coyotes, AND there has been a wandering bobcat, not to mention the BEAR I saw with my own two eyes, not more than five miles from my house.
We had one of those street cats with no dog fear in our neighborhood who actually came right up to Sam and sniffed his butt. We saw him a few times later that winter and some into the next year but haven’t seen him now for a long time. Sadly, I don’t think street kitties live a long life.
HE SNIFFED HIS BUTT? Wow, that’s a brazen-as-all-get-out kitty.
Yes, sadly I think street kitties have a lower life expectancy.
Simba sounds like Bear. For him, proving he can is just as important as doing it. Time and again, I’ve seen dogs terrified of cats (look up cat stealing dog bed). It seems like the bigger dogs are truly at a loss, while the smaller ones bark their heads off. It goes both ways though – some cats are scared or overwhelmed by dogs – but others make them their witches 😉