Bengal Cats and Siberian Husky?

Question

We have two indoor Bengal cats and an outdoor Husky. Occasionally we let the Husky indoors to spend time with us and the cats. One of the cats, Koshi, seems completely comfortable with the Husky and goes up to it and tries to play with it. The other cat, Rajah, stays away from the dog, but does not leave the room. If the dog approaches Rajah he will hiss and try to bat our dog. Yesterday we let our Husky in and tried to get her to calm down and watch a movie with us and the cats. The dog didn't stay put but kept running around and exploring. Then I noticed that one of the cats had peed on the couch. This is abnormal for the cats to pee on our furniture. Sometimes they pee in certain spots of the house but never on the furniture. Then today, Rajah threw up his food which he ate this morning. Do you think the dog stressed him out and he was the one who peed? Anyone have any ideas as to what could be going on? We want to spend more time with our Husky indoors but we don't want to do so if it is freaking out one of our cats.

Answer 1

Hi there... it highly possible that Rajah is stressed whenever your husky comes indoors.  Cats behaviour will change if they are stressed such as eliminate inappropriately, vomit, not eat, avoid using the litter box are some examples.  

Because your husky has a significant amount of energy, the fast movements appear very threatening to Rajah.  If you can help get this under stimulus control (i.e.asking your dog to sit or lie down and stay when asked) will be a helpful start.  Rajah may perceive that that he is unable to escape from the dog because of the all-out exploration marathon.  

Oftentimes cats need to be gradually introduced to another pet brought into the household.  Some come around slower than others so the introductions should never be forced upon the cat and done very slowly.  Here are some websites that provides helpful hints on how to introduce dogs to cats:

http://leerburg.com/dog-cat.htm

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pe...

The key to remember is that every cat is different from one another even if they are the same breed (e.g. like human twins who can be day and night in personality).  Koshi appears to be a confident boy unlike Rajah, therefore Rajah will a considerable amount of time to learn to trust the husky is not an enemy.  The gradual introductions will be very helpful.  If he isn't improving, back up a few steps until you see a positive change.