When I was in college, I was lucky enough to go to a school where we could have pets in our dorm rooms. I had always had a dog, and as you know, I love dogs so, I had only been there a few weeks before I made a trip to the local animal shelter and adopted a puppy (totally against my parents’ wishes!). She was a blonde German shepherd mix, and she quickly became my best friend. The same day I adopted her, one of my dorm mates adopted a kitten from the same shelter, and since us two people were friends, the two pets quickly became friends, too. As they grew up they played together a lot, and sometimes the play could get a little rough, but neither of them ever got hurt (and they weren’t allowed to play together unsupervised).

After the Christmas break, my friend’s roommate brought her adult cat from home back to school with her, and he quickly took the kitten under his wing. My friend’s roommate was from a large city, and her cat had originally been a street cat that she had befriended and eventually made a pet out of. He had been a young adult tom (now named Tom) when she had found him, and he had always been very confident and dominant. One evening, a few days after we got back from break I took Sundown (my puppy) over to see her kitten friend (Lulu) and meet Tom. Needless to say, Tom was less than thrilled to have a dog in his room, but they did sniff noses and everything seemed okay. As we settled into our books, the puppy and kitten started to play. Tom seemed very concerned, but he let it go on until it started to get rough. As soon as that happened, he jumped off the bed and onto Sundown’s back with all claws out. Sundown tried to run away, but Tom was firmly attached to her back and not letting go! She started bucking like a wild horse, and screaming like only a scared puppy can. After a few seconds of that Tom let go, and calmly went back to his bed, and Sundown raced out of the room, and refused to ever go back! Sundown was not seriously hurt, but she never forgot her encounter with Tom. For the rest of her life she was terrified of cats.

A couple of years later, another friend who lived locally invited me and Sundown over to her folks house for dinner. Her family had a beautiful home with a lovely screened in swimming pool. They had made the screened area into a tropical paradise with lots of plants, and plenty of chairs and tables for hanging out. They also had a dog and a cat. Uh oh. He (the cat) had been declawed and didn’t go outside, but he did go onto the screened porch, and that was his domain. After dinner, my friend and I went out on the screen porch to study and the animals came with us. As the cat wandered around, I guess Sundown forgot he was out there, until suddenly we heard her shriek. The cat had hidden himself behind one of the plant pots and jumped out and whacked her as she went by. I think he had intended to play since he did play with their family dog, but Sundown didn’t take it as playful at all! After that, the cat was in his glory! We spent a lot of time at that house over the years, that cat delighted in harassing my dog! Every single time he jumped at her, she would yelp and run away, so of course, in true cat fashion, he stalked her! He was declawed and couldn’t hurt her, but she never caught on, and she never lost her fear of cats. People tend to think that since they are usually bigger, that dogs have an advantage over cats, but obviously that isn’t always true! Do any of you have a dog that’s afraid of cats?