Basenjis and cats

[Vanessa]

I read on some website…(wish I could remember the name) that B's should never be trusted with cats. Even if they were socialized with them they could turn at any given moment because they like to hunt.
Has anyone ever heard about this? It has me concerned. I know that B's naurally like to chase but if give the opportunity...can they kill??

[sharronhurlbut]

Basenjis have very strong prey drive.
Cats can sometimes be considered part of the pack, or prey.
You never know until its often a major issue.
If your thinking of intoducing a basenji into your home with cats, be sure the kittys are safe.
Don't assume the cat friendly basenji will be ok with YOUR cat.
Given the chance, a basenji can very well kill a pet cat.
So, please, do be very smart and careful.
Some folks are very successful with this bonding.
But it takes a lot of time and safe areas for the cat.
Good luck.

[jessi76]

any dog has a natural prey drive, some stronger than others. My dog respects our cats, because he's been raised with them since 8 wks old, and trained to treat them w/ respect. My cats are also "dog savvy" - they won't run to provoke the chase, instead they will stay still, hide, or fight. I trust my dog with my cats completely, however, if a strange cat wanders into his path… it's game on.

[Vanessa]

How do you keep a pup from wanting to chase cats. When I had my pup, he would always want to chase the cat. The cat loved the attention and they would roll around on the floor chewing on eachother until one would either get scratched or bitten. No matter how I tried to seperate the two it just kept happening. Its as though they started off playing but it got a little aggressive in the end. How do you get a puppy to stop this. Here in a few months I will be going through this again with another basenji but would like to nip this in the bud before I have an expensive vet bill.

[lvoss]

In 8 years of living with basenjis and cats, I have never been able to stop my basenjis from chasing the cats if they run. That said, my dogs are not intent on catching my cats as much as they just enjoy the chase. Spot walks around my house and is left alone by the dogs for the most part except every time Rio comes in from a walk she feels the need to greet him as if she hasn't seen him in years nearly knocking him over with her enthusiastic sniffing. It is only if they run that the dogs take it as an invitation to play. I do provide my cats with safe areas that they can go where they do not have to worry about the dogs and frolic in proper cat style.

[ChaseandZahrasmom]

We don't have a cat (my husband is allergic and the cat we had went to live with my sister) but I had to add a funny comment about the baby gates and them not being pretty.

Our neighbors come by and dog sit for us on occassion and they left us a note one of the first times that commented on how our house resembled doggie Alcatraz with the gates and excerise pens all over the place! Zahra can get over any baby gate in our house and we had to double up at the bottom of the stairs with the doggie pen. Finally we just gave up because she got over that too and we bought another baby gate for the top of the stairs.

I don't know how you guys keep your B's out of the other rooms of your house with cats, I applaude you because Zahra is convinced that the baby gates are just stairs!

[Sunny]

A baby gate does me no good one good push its down in the floor… we installed the smallest pet doors in the bedroom doors and the front door of house so the cats have escapes from Sanie.. she can get her head thru them but her shoulders wont go thru... some times her and the cats sleep together but then she gets in her "B" mode and the cats know to scatter...I sometimes feel so bad for my cats... the lab we had befor Sandie (god rest his loving soul) never chased or tormented them...

[jessi76]

I have 1 gate that screws into the wall (will not fall down), and one that is a solid plank of plywood (also screwed into the wall w/ a hinge). I trained my dog to respect the boundary. sure, he can climb it or jump it in a second, but he doesn't because he's been trained not to. gates in conjunction with training can work well. flimsy gates with no training, I would imagine, are useless.

Sunny, now is a good time to teach Sandie, LEAVE IT.

[Quercus]

You can get gates that won't fall down. Get the ones for kids…they are pretty sturdy...and you can stack two together (one on top of another) to make it a little more basenji proof. It is difficult to find one that the cats can navigate, that the dogs can't though.

[Terry]

We have wrought iron gates to close off the top of the stairs and the family room (tiled) from the carpeted area of the living room. Because the bars are far enough apart for puppies or smaller determined Basenjis to get through, we attached clear plastic plexi-glass to one side. The wrought iron matches the wrought iron on our stair railing, so it's not too unstylish and we can see what they're doing if we're not in the same room for any length of time. We went with the wrought iron because it's one of the few things we don't think they can chew up!

Terry

[Sunny]

OHhhhhhhhh … wrought iron great idea and can be decortive also... I like the little pet doors for escape routes for the cats ...i think the gates are a hassle... i bout broke my toe one time going over one when my kids were babies...
I have been working with Sandie on "LEAVE IT"... just she is so adamant sometimes... On our walk i use it alot... she usually listens to me then but in the house it's war sometimes...I AM THE BOSS (i think)

[bellabasenji]

I am so glad to see I am not the only one dealing with this issue. We got Bella when she was four months old and the chase has been on ever since. She turned one year old on December 27th and I am still dealing with this. Eight months of cat chasing and I think I am going looney here. :eek: