Dogs & Cats

[PeanutbuttER]

I've been on this forum for a while and one of the vibes that comes across is that dogs and torts don't mix. Yes there are exceptions, but it seems to be the general rule that it's not safe because we can't trust dogs 100% around our torts. This applies to both big and little dogs.

Yet, I have also seen many many pictures of cats sitting on/in tort tables enjoying the heat lamp or otherwise being around the torts and it seems to be the case that cats and torts spend time together unsupervised without any problems whatsoever (personally I've never heard of a tortoise attacked by a cat).

I don't have a dog nor a cat so I'm not trying to defend or villanize either of them. I'm curious though why it is that we feel that dogs are dangerous while cats can be trusted. Personally i'd say that housecats are every bit as dangerous as housedogs in their own ways.

 

[dmmj]

I can answer this one, in my experience cats don't chew dogs do, that how I see it at least.

 

[Itort]

I myself have three dogs and three cats with numerous torts and three lizards. All the herps are covered to prevent interaction between herps and mammals. The dogs have the capacity and instincts to chew torts and cats will use torts enclosures as litterpan. The torts being slow and deliberate in movement don't attract cats while the lizards with quick movement do. All in all I enjoy interacting with all realizing they are what they are.

 

[dmmj]

I can imagine your cats are attracted to your liazrds.

 

[South FL Katie]

I've seen my mom's sphynx eyeing Cody. I wouldn't let her get near him in case a claw got to him, even curiously, owie!

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have never had a cat use a tort pen as a litter box. Cats are picky and they want the litter that they are used to using. That may be different if it's an outside, cat mine are inside cats.
When I lived in Calif and was helping Yvonne at her rescue I had many more torts then now and sometimes they weren't gonna stay long so I may have used a cardboard box. The box turtles could escape and when one did my Roxie would follow it around meowing and running back to me acting all excited. She always found an escapee. I also had many babies and she would lay on the counter next to the viv I used for them. She would come running to me meowing and acting very upset and a hatchling would be on it's back. She laid by the babies continually. She always told me when one was tipped over. She loved the tortoises and would sleep under a basking light with one.
But I now have Maks as well, and she can't be trusted with one. She's not a year old and is very playful and she would get in a tortoise pen and just play with one like cats do, but she'd use her back feet kicking at one, she'd roll them around, she would tip one over on it's back and generally disrupt them. She has learned now to stay out of the various habitats. I had to use mouse traps to protect them as I was trying to teach her that she couldn't get in there with them. She has learned tho and doesn't try it anymore. I think my views on tortoises and dogs are well known so I won't repeat them now.

This is Roxy my tortoise lover in her usual basking spot

This is Maks with the tortoise statue that she has taken to attacking and playing with...

She's a beautiful young cat with a very different and wonderful personality...you can see the white spot on her upper lip really good in this picture.

 

[Tom]

Ditto the above. I've never had or heard of a problem with a cat and a tort. I had heard of cats knocking over heat lamps and such, causing great mayhem.

 

[reptylefreek]

My cats when i was younger hunted everything. I saw them bring everything from mice to racoons. I would not trust a cat any more then a dog. In fact my boyfriends parents have a pitbull and i would trust that dog with my torts life. My brothers pitbull ate a baby tort of mine... but Davids parents dog is "different". I think it depends on the lifestyle and the animal itself. Never trust any animal alone with your tort, just to be careful. My tort was blinded by the saliva of the dog, it's airsacks were bursted and it lived for weeks before it died. Very sad.

 

[APBT_Fanatic]

I am not sure about cats and larger torotises, but our cats use to sleep in my hatchling's enclosures, under the heat lamps. Then they started taking the hatchlings in their mouths and carrying them around the house... so now they are not allowed to bask in the warmth of the enclosure, and the enclosures are cat-proof with screens.

They did not hurt the hatchlings, but stealing them out of their enclosures and leaving them in the other room was not going to be tolerated.

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't always find box turtle nests, so occasionally I will have natural hatchings. One day I walked out my door to see one of my cats drop something out of her mouth and look at me. I went over to see what she dropped and it was a hatchling box turtle. I have no doubt she would have eaten it after she was finished playing with it.

 

[PeanutbuttER]

Thanks guys for all the responses. I should say that I was raised semi-rurally with outdoor cats who were mousers. I've seen them torture tons of small animals and I'm 100% sure they could take down a small to medium size tort with relative ease if they were just given the time and opportunity. I know they probably couldn't bite through the shell, but that wouldn't stop them from getting at the tort.

I kept chickens and ducks growing up and I've had both dogs and cats try to get at them in the past. I always read on here about how dangerous dogs are but I've always thought that cats were equally risky. I agree with jessica though that for both it probably depends a lot of lifestyle and individual animal personality. It seems fair to say that others on here have come to the same conclusion.

 

[gyrertr]

Dogs & cat is a pet animal thus they would be a same from childhood thus I like a puppy of a dog thus many different a dog which it is a more beautiful thus we will be trust a dog but we don't trust a cat.

 

[RV's mom]

we've feral kitties that visit our back yard. RV will run them off if they're in her patch of grass "to be eaten NOW"... my dog Bear never minded the tort, totally disinterested. I don't know how the indoor kitties would react..... I know the back yard is a litter box, RV would dine on doggie doo if I didn't get to it first (sometimes a struggle, and she would not like it if I grabbed it while she was eating..... The feral kitties do go for the birds and the lizards.. sigh.

 

[marinano]

cats and dogs both love to play with a tortoise . which in return hurt them . so never mix them up .

 

[zoogrl]

I own dogs and cats but will not allow them to interact with my russian, Betty. I have read too many horror stories on here and know that my dogs & cats both have a prey drive that if left alone could be devastating to my tort. I love having all of them but will not even allow my cats to sit on top of the tort habitat lid, it is off limits! ( if I'm home to catch them ) I do place beds close to other warm, sunny areas in the house for the cats so they have an alternative. I hope others read the stories and make informed decisions before deciding if they will allow the pets to interact.

 

[movealongmosey]

I've never had cats but I do have a sissy dog. He's curious about my RF mosey, but if mosey were to go after my dog, my dog would be out of there in minutes. He's scared of the tortoise I'm not sure why, but I still don't leave them alone. If he does gets too interested I correct him instantly. I let him know I own that tort.
Grrr I'm a protective momma.

 

[geekinpink]

I think it totally depends on the personality of the cat or the dog, I have 2 cats, they both know which dog they could play with and which one to stay away from. Selena, my female cat saw my tort, she hissed and scampered away, while the other cat, simba, looked at my tort like it's food!

Same with my dogs, like on my sig, my chihuahua hates the tort so much! (the other dogs have not seem the tort and i don't plan to, i know them, they would harm her)

but my Kobe

IMG_1954 by chinadoll, on Flickr
took one look, and one sniff then, snub her altogether, My tort would walk around my room, even bumping to him but he doesn't care.


IMG_1956 by chinadoll, on Flickr