I need help ASAP for my puppy
By roxxtime
@roxxtime (299)
United States
December 8, 2010 11:18pm CST
I have a 7 week old puppy I just got a week ago and also a cat I have had for a few years. We rescued my cat and he is fixed and declawed on all fours. He has always been great with my two kids and I have never had an issue with his temperament. A few days ago my cat out of nowhere attacked my puppy and she whimpered and whined for a little and then I noticed some blood on her so I guess the cat bit her pretty good, but she quit bleeding after I applied pressure and seemed okay. Just a few minutes ago I picked her up and she started oozing puss from the wound really bad and it is still oozing a bit. I don't know how to take care of this or what to do. The vet will not be open for almost 12 hours is there anything I can do to take care of her tonight? Will alcohol, neosporin, or any of that work for her? Obviously I need to wash her but with what? I have no idea what to do for her and feel horrible for her. Please if you know anything I can do to help her or fight infection or let me know what can happen between now and then. I love this puppy and feel so horrible I didn't know or think my cat was capable of this behaviour he's always been good with any other dogs he's been around. Please any suggestions on how to help would be great.
1 person likes this
1 response
@phyrre (2317)
• United States
13 Dec 10
Seems like you've gotten some good answers and Neosporin usually works pretty good, just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get progressively worse overnight or anything.
Also, I would recommend you not keep your cat away from your dog, as someone else suggested, because that will not solve anything. Then you'll just be playing a fearful referee and you'll never be able to leave them together and you'll always worry. Plus, that can create an even worse atmosphere between the two. Just, when they're together try to watch them and socialize them with each other bit by bit rather than completely separating them from each other.
We currently have three cats, two dogs, and a rabbit and yes, amazingly, they all get along really well together except when one dog (who was a stray) gets a little overexcited he tends to chase the bunny a little too aggressively sometimes, so we just have to watch them when they interact (and that's only actually happened twice in the past two years). Did our animals all get along when we first got them? Heck no. In fact, we got our bunny first and our first cat we got after that was completely terrified of the bunny and then tried to pounce her when she realized she was bigger. We had a lot of socialization along with spray bottles and negative punishments with bad behavior as well as offering treats and praise for good behavior.
When we got our first dog, we had two cats and neither of them had ever seen a dog before and the dog had only ever seen bunnies when he was chasing them to eat, so you can imagine how interesting that was. Again, we used cat treats and dog treats to teach them to be near each other and eat near each other and interact. Was our dog scratched on occassion? Yes, most definitely. Thankfully, never bitten and they didn't really draw blood like yours did, but he eventually learned what the cats would accept and what they wouldn't. Now, they all get along fine and when the cats start to get annoyed if they arch their backs the dogs know it's time to leave them alone for a while.
So I suggest to try to prevent this, just work on a little socialization. :) It's going to take time and you'll have to realize that there will be times your cat wants nothing to do with the dog (and those times may be many), but your cat also needs to know that it can safely interact with the dog, too.