bvi (05/13/83)
Let them settle it themselves. One of our cats was acquired as a young kitten - somebody had stuffed him and a sibling in a paper bag and tossed them by the roadside; I found him (sibling was dead) and brought him home to our dog, a 7-year old siberian husky. She decided the cat was probably a siberian in disguise and adopted it, to the point of licking it, carrying it around, and chewing on it in a friendly way. Eventually, she decided the cat would never become a siberian and left it alone. The cat *still* thinks it's a dog, however, and lets our other dog (still a puppy at 1-1/2 yrs) chew on it; he will often walk up to the dog and rub his head against his muzzle when he wants some attention. When the play gets too rough (and it usually does), he lets the dog know in no uncertain terms and then runs away. The only problems we ever had was over food. This cat likes dog food, and, when the dogs weren't looking, would try to eat out of their dishes. The young one doesn't care, but one time he tried eating out of our female's dish while she was eating; she warned him with bared fangs, he ignored her, she gave him a good shaking and let him go, unhurt. He never went near the dog's dishes again. Beatriz Infante