Joeturbo26
New member
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2016
- Messages
- 371
- Reaction score
- 4
Ok, so some of you may have seen photos of my cat Luigi alongside Rico...
Let me give you a little history on my hairless son Luigi....
Luigi is 5 years old now, he's always been an only child, but in the past has met many other cats and dogs and always loves them. For those of you who have never met a Sphynx cat before, it's hard to describe their personality without sounding like a crazy over the top cat person. Basically if he didn't meow you'd never know he was a cat. I joke his name should have been Velcro.
Over the past five year Luigi has had a plethora of medical issues and I've spent an excess of $10,000 dollars on his various issues. The two biggest problems are, feline lower urinary tract disease and a very rare and little known about diseases called Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS).
FHS, is a disease in which 99.9% of vets don't know much about (google it). The disease is responsible for cats self mutilating themselves and easily becoming overstimulated to the point of crazy manic episodes where the cat will go into a trance like state and sometimes become aggressive. I had his tail amputated three years ago to alleviate his self mutilating behavior. It is unclear if FHS stems from a "seizure like disorder" or a sort of feline OCD.
He currently takes Prozac daily to alleviate a lot of his FHS behaviors and it has been a godsend. He's 95% "normal".
FHS is very much "stress induced" and flares up with a lot of environmental stress. I fully anticipated a slow and cautious introduction of a new puppy and I anticipated many challenges.
Good news is, Luigi LOVES Rico... However, sometimes more often than not, being as Rico is a playful puppy his chasing and biting Luigi's legs has really triggered his FHS and it causes Luigi to go into an overstimulated episode where he will not viciously and meaningfully latch onto Rico full strength bite and meow uncontrollably.
In the future, when Rico is bigger, and he has become less of an "environmental stressor" to Luigi I am 100% certain that they will get along perfectly fine together... My issue is right now.
I need your advice on what I can do above and beyond normal supervision to try and train Rico to not provoke the cat. I've been redirecting his energy to toys and such, rewarding him for his good behavior leaving the cat alone... But Luigi being a cat, is naturally curious and wants to sniff and lick the dog....which of course triggers the entire chain of events.
Aside from redirecting his behavior, what advice if any can you offer to try and desensitized him to the cat and realize the cat play is off limits?
I know I'm asking for the impossible and I don't expect him to not be a puppy... Just looking for some tips that will ease the situation until Luigi is well aquatinted and no longer stressed by the dog.
Thanks!
Let me give you a little history on my hairless son Luigi....
Luigi is 5 years old now, he's always been an only child, but in the past has met many other cats and dogs and always loves them. For those of you who have never met a Sphynx cat before, it's hard to describe their personality without sounding like a crazy over the top cat person. Basically if he didn't meow you'd never know he was a cat. I joke his name should have been Velcro.
Over the past five year Luigi has had a plethora of medical issues and I've spent an excess of $10,000 dollars on his various issues. The two biggest problems are, feline lower urinary tract disease and a very rare and little known about diseases called Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS).
FHS, is a disease in which 99.9% of vets don't know much about (google it). The disease is responsible for cats self mutilating themselves and easily becoming overstimulated to the point of crazy manic episodes where the cat will go into a trance like state and sometimes become aggressive. I had his tail amputated three years ago to alleviate his self mutilating behavior. It is unclear if FHS stems from a "seizure like disorder" or a sort of feline OCD.
He currently takes Prozac daily to alleviate a lot of his FHS behaviors and it has been a godsend. He's 95% "normal".
FHS is very much "stress induced" and flares up with a lot of environmental stress. I fully anticipated a slow and cautious introduction of a new puppy and I anticipated many challenges.
Good news is, Luigi LOVES Rico... However, sometimes more often than not, being as Rico is a playful puppy his chasing and biting Luigi's legs has really triggered his FHS and it causes Luigi to go into an overstimulated episode where he will not viciously and meaningfully latch onto Rico full strength bite and meow uncontrollably.
In the future, when Rico is bigger, and he has become less of an "environmental stressor" to Luigi I am 100% certain that they will get along perfectly fine together... My issue is right now.
I need your advice on what I can do above and beyond normal supervision to try and train Rico to not provoke the cat. I've been redirecting his energy to toys and such, rewarding him for his good behavior leaving the cat alone... But Luigi being a cat, is naturally curious and wants to sniff and lick the dog....which of course triggers the entire chain of events.
Aside from redirecting his behavior, what advice if any can you offer to try and desensitized him to the cat and realize the cat play is off limits?
I know I'm asking for the impossible and I don't expect him to not be a puppy... Just looking for some tips that will ease the situation until Luigi is well aquatinted and no longer stressed by the dog.
Thanks!
. He hid under the bed. Wouldn't talk to me it was so sad I thought we might of made a mistake getting a puppy, as you know a sphynx is like a baby. The second Buddy would see him he wanted to chase and play naturally. Buddy was 12 weeks when we got him. The cat got onto such a state. I brought the plug in calmer for him and was advised by vet to give him upstairs and that it could take months to get better.
