Do your dogs or cats watch your fish?
Posted by Sarah on February 24, 2009
I was reading an article about enrichment for dogs, and one of the things it said was to get a fish tank for them to watch while you’re gone.
Aside from the fact that a fish tank just for your dogs is a lot of work, our dogs never pay any attention to the fish.
We have tons of tanks, one of which right at eye level because it’s on dual fish tank stand.
Even when we had our foster dog he didn’t pay any attention to the fish, and our in-laws dogs never pay any attention to our aquariums when they stay with us.
We did see a black lab who looked pretty interested in the fish at a local store the other day.
Do your dogs pay any attention to your fish tanks?
Do your cats?
Do they just watch the fish, or do they try to eat them?
I’m kind of glad our dogs ignore the fish tank – if they didn’t I would be worried that they’d try to get in them, and that would be a big problem.
Jay said,
When I had cats in the house they where fascinated by the fish in the tank. Swiping at them, chasing & I even caught them sticking their paws in the water to try to snag them one. That was enough for me & the cat now lives outside unless I can be in the same room when the cat is in for a visit.
Cats have never lost there love to hunt. I saw on cable once that the common house cat is the most fears & dangerous predator on the planet. The only animal other than man that hunts for recreation and kills for the fun of it. The difference between them and us in this regard is cats come equipped with their own weapons, claws, teeth speed and cunning. They don’t have to go to the Bass Pro Shop for the tools.
Don’t get me wrong, I love cats and all that is cat but they are what they are, …great hunters!
My dogs on the other hand could care less about something swimming around behind glass and one of my dogs is a black lab. labs love water and the hunt but mine is just not into the aquarium hobby.
I do feel that all animals have their own personalty and interest, rather they swim, fly, bark, meow or crawl. With that said, you should always try to find out how your pets react to one another long term before you turn your back on them. They will do what comes natural to them and it is up to the pet owner to change that behavior through good training or to limit contact to eliminate conflict.
I have had to do both to keep everyone happy and healthy.
Sarah said,
Hi Jay, if we had cats or dogs that were interested in the fish, we’d probably have a lot less fish.
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