Why does my husky nibble on my cat?

If your husky nibbles on your cat you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.

This post will show you a number of possible causes and what you can do to get it to stop.

So, why does my husky nibble on my cat? Possible reasons are that it has a strong prey drive, it hasn’t learned not to bite people or other animals, it’s just playing, it’s being dominating or that it is jealous.

It’s important to consider the timing and location that your husky does it in. Once you have a good idea of the cause, it will become easier for you to get it to stop.

Why your husky nibbles on your cat

Each of the different reasons that your husky nibbles on your cat will likely come with a number of clues in the way that it does it.

Below, are a number of possible causes of it doing it and what would make them more likely.

It has a strong prey drive

Huskies are a breed that is known for having a strong prey drive. This means that they have it in their nature to chase after small things like cats, rabbits and even small dogs. This could be the reason that it nibbles on your cat.

They have actually been known to kill small animals, so it would be important to separate your husky and your cat until you are sure that it is well trained enough to be around it. More will be discussed on how you can train it below.

It hasn’t learned to control its bite

When huskies are puppies, they learn to control their bite because when they bite too hard on the other puppies they will yelp and stop playing. If your husky did not socialize much with other puppies when it was young, it might not have learned what not to bite and it might be a reason that it nibbles on your cat.

It is just playing

It could be the case that your husky is just playing when it does it. This would be more likely if it does not do it in an aggressive way.

However, even if it is just playing, it will still be helpful to train your husky not to do it using the tips below.

It is being dominating

The reason that it does it might be that it is being dominating. This would be more likely if it does it in situations such as when your cat is eating.

In this case, it would help to feed your husky and your cat separately since this is a time where your husky is most likely to become aggressive towards your cat.

Jealousy

It might be the case that your husky does it because it is jealous of your cat. This would be more likely if it does it when you are giving your cat attention or right after giving your cat attention.

In this case, it would help to give your husky attention throughout the day in the form of exercise, training and play. It would also help to avoid reinforcing the behavior by not rewarding it when it nibbles on your cat and using the training tips mentioned below.

Things to consider

Below are some things to consider in order to help figure out why your husky does it.

How old your husky is

If your husky is still a puppy then it would make it more likely that it has not learned to leave your cat alone yet. If it is a puppy, now would be a good time to start training it to behave the way that you want it to so that it is well behaved as an adult.

If your husky is older then it would be more likely to be due to a combination of having a strong prey drive, jealousy and being dominant.

When your husky started to nibble on your cat

It would also help to consider when your husky first started doing it since it could be the case that there was an event that caused it to start doing it.

If it did start doing it suddenly, it could be because it became jealous especially if you stopped giving it as much attention.

If it has always been jealous, it would make it more likely to be due to its prey drive and it would help to train it to be better behaved around it.

When it does it

It would also help to consider the timing of when your husky nibbles on your cat. If you notice that it only seems to do it at certain times then it would help to consider what else happens at around that time. Perhaps, it does it when you are about to feed it food and it doesn’t want the cat beating it to it.

How to get your husky to stop nibbling on your cat

Below are some things that you can do in order to get your husky to stop doing it.

Separate them

Since huskies have been known to be violent with cats, it would help to separate them whenever possible especially when feeding them. By doing so you will be able to minimize the risk of something bad happening.

Train it not to

one option that you have is to train your husky to leave your cat alone.

To train your husky to leave it alone you’ll do it in three stages. First, you’ll teach it to stay, then to stay when it’s being distracted then to stay when the cat is around.

I have written about how to teach your husky to stay and how to do it when being distracted in the past here.

After you have taught it to stay when being distracted it will be time to slowly introduce the cat.

You’ll do this by telling your husky to stay and then start by just putting the cat in the same room.

Then after your husky maintains its attention on you you’ll reward it for doing so. You’ll repeat this process where you get your husky to stay with the cat in the same room until you’re able to get it to keep its attention on you easily.

Once it’s good at doing that, you’ll continue to tell it to stay but you’ll reduce the amount of distance between your husky and your cat until you’re able to get your husky to keep its focus on you even when the cat is nearby.

Watch the video below to see how it is done.

Feed them separately

A particularly high-risk time is when you are feeding your husky and your cat. Huskies and most other dog breeds can become aggressive when they are eating especially if they have resource guarding tendencies. In order to minimize the risk of something bad happening, it would be important to make sure that you feed them separately.

Be consistent

When training your husky it is important to be consistent. It will be difficult to achieve drastic results with just one training session, but if you are consistent with the training you will be able to see better results.

Train it early

If your husky is still young, now would be a good time to start training it since it will be less likely to form bad habits and you will be able to get it to develop the habits that you want it to have.