SpiritFngrz wrote:Is anyone ever afraid that the dog with high prey drive is going to pick the cat up in its mouth and shake it around???
Yes, in fact it did happen to one of my cats. Justice has never wanted to hurt my cats, she only wants to play with them. I have a cat door so they can lounge in the back yard on the concrete (they never leave the yard, never climb over the fence, they stay in the yard). The cats will go outside with Munkee or Ollie because they will not chase them, they have also learned ( it took a while ) that if you DO run, you are going to get chased if Justice is around.
I was outside with Justice, no cats were outside, in fact before she is let out I do a scan of the yard & retrieve whoever is out there, if anyone. Justice was running around & I had to go in for a second. I was in the bathroom & I heard a scream. I ran out in time to see my oldest cat Lil Man fly threw the air & be caught in Justice's mouth. She was tossing him around like a football. I have NO idea what made that old cat decide to go outside, always before ( and still ) they stick their heads out to see who is outside before they go, and he wasn't even a cat who LIKED to be outside, he would rather be on top of the fridge than outside. Anyway, I was finally able to catch Justice & get Lil Man from her. He was still alive, not bleeding, she had not intentionally hurt him, she had not bitten him. I rushed him to the e-vet but he was too badly hurt & I had him put to sleep. Justice's face had some pretty nasty scratches from him and she still has a few scars from it. Cat claws did not stop her "fun".
I tried covering up my cat door but my cats are "rescues" who came up to my door. They started life out of doors & have no desire to become solely indoor kitties & have torn my house to shreds protesting the confinement.
What I am trying to say is, even IF your dog is not trying to hurt your cat, in their excitement of "catching the prey" your cat can get hurt very badly. Please put a stop to it A.S.A.P.
There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
Debby