I have a bengal cat (almost a year old) who is very sweet most of the time, but has the habit of attacking things occassionally. This in itself is not a problem but my stafford girl is about to have puppies. I am going to keep mother and babies in a seperate room until they are at least 2-3 weeks old, but beyond that i don't want my dog to feel as though she has been seperated from us by keeping the door closed all the time. My worry is that once they are 3 weeks old, my bengal will see them as playthings, adn although she doesn't have claws out or anything, she can be a bit rough. Am i worrying about this unnecessarily do you think, as some would say that the cat won't go anywhere near them. Kuga (apt name!) thinks she is a dog!
Please help!

Hello! I have a puppy coming and a cat who thinks he's 'Lord of the Manor' so to speak. Luckily enough I have quite a large passage as I call it which I know most would probably say 'utility room', so when I'm not around or if the cat 'Thai' gets too heavy handed I can always seperate them! Trouble is I have the cat flap in this room so to p##s Thai off even more I'm going to have to lock it for the puppies safety. I'm dreading it!

Sorry I can't be of more help but since you'll only have the puppies for a relatively short time I wouldn't worry too much at least you can seperate them if need be. Do you know anyone with an old child's safety gate you could possibly put that up to deter them and as your staffie can still see you she might not feel quite so isolated. Like I said before I haven't yet got to that but these are some of the idea's I've had so far, I suppose it doesn't help that Thai is a rather large Tom cat.

You're Staffie will probably come over all protective and motherly and the cat probably won't dare go near them.

Good Luck!!

I think I would be tempted to keep the cat away fromt he pupies til they are at least 5 weeks or so, so the cat is a little more wary of them. We got our cat when he was 10 months, from a farm where he hunted night and day! we needed a good mouser so he came to live with us. I was very worried that he might look on the puppies as dinner as he regularly caught rabbits treble their size! He has turned out to be wonderful and completley safe with puppies of all ages and plays and sleeps with them when he feels like it. But I would be very careful til you know how he reacts to them.

My problem is that in order to keep them separated i would have to keep the door closed, and at 5 weeks i won't the pups to be quite socialised. Another problem is from 3 weeks or so, mum won't want to be with them all the time, but will probably not appreciate me closing the door between them. I expect the cat wil probably be told off by cleo and never go near them again, but it would be dreadful to have to keep the pups ina seperate room all the time. Oh well, guess we'll have to see how it goes, at least i will always be around to keep an eye on events!
Thanks for your help, adn any other comments would be gratefully appreciated!

i have a stafford with pups at the moment she dosent mind the dogs looking from the other side of the gate but she would never let one in with her. Staffords are a very protective breed any way so the best think to do is just keep the cat away.You dont want the bitch upsetting i know it must be harder with a cat as they can jump would you consider crating the cat i know it might sound cruel but unless you have a cat run outside thats what i would do.

Cat goes outside all the time, but flap in room that mum and pups going to be in! Have a make shift exit planned for the living room window, so she'll get outside. FIrst 3 weeks ok to keep them seperated by the door, but after that when cleo wants to come and go it might be a bit more difficult. I'm hoping things will be alright after that time, though the cat could do with a little telling off, normally cleo lets her get away with anything and everything! We are also keeping one of the pups so that should be very interesting!
The cat thinks ahe is a dog anyway, before cleo was preggers they used to play chase around the house. I think the reason why the cat seems to be jumping on cleo more now is that she wants to play, and that is what cleo used to do with her when she wanted to play.
The cat will probably take one look at the pups and decide to leave!!!

can anyone advise not having a cat myself ,We have a
tiger like striped cat two roads from us, which my husband
always walks the dog down this road and from no where!! at all this
cat appears? and attacks my poor Zac which is a 4 stone
six month old bouvier .The last straw the cat now decides it would like to attack my husband as well, quite funny really Zac just stares in amazement and my husband just
chases the cat way but any one got a deterrent ??

what colour is the cat? And is it striped like a tabby, or more unneven, because it sound like a bengal, and they think they they are dogs themselves. If it is a bengal the deterant i was going to suggest (that you but a water pistol and spray it at it whenever it appears) may not work as bengals love water! I know this is probably a bad thing to say, but we had to encourage my dog to chase the cat if it was being annoying, we turned this into a game though! Other things like blowing in their face is obviously not going to work, so i think i'm at a loss. Good luck, and try the water pistol thing - let me know if ti works!

Thanks cleopatra the tabby is the street terror we now find out ?

Just loves to bite and scratch dogs or other animals & PEOPLE

but i am going to try the water gun treatment next time [should be fun]

This has happened to me on several occasion. The cat may be an entire territorial tom, or a she cat who has kittens, or just a bully. Fortunately for the cat there is no DCA Dangerous Cat Act for controlling cats dngerously out of control in a public place, or causing apprehension that it might be dangerous! :D sorry no help.