My grandmas dog attacked her cat
Here’s the story:
My grandma was making coffee in the kitchen, and didn’t notice the cat was right behind her and accidentally stepped on him when she turned around. The cat was startled and probably hurt a bit, so he turned around and scratched at her leg. Once she yelped, the dog came over and started attacking the cat (I’m assuming because he was trying to protect her.) He freaked out, grabbed onto the cat with his mouth and shook him. My grandpa pulled them apart, and the dog bit him.
We took the cat to the vet, he only had minor scratches on the outside. They did X-rays and did not see any internal damage or puncture wounds. He seems to be sore on his front end, and he has been mainly hiding since the whole incident happened. They sent home pain meds.
For background, the cat is around 18 years old and has lived with my grandma since he was around 1-2. He is good around dogs, mainly keeps his distance from them and stays out of their way.
My grandma got the dog in early 2023 when he was a few months old. He was incredibly reactive from the start. She worked with him and he has calmed down a lot from how he used to be, but still jumps on people and doesn’t listen at times.
There have been a couple of incidences in the past where the dog would try to bother the cat and run after him, but he has never done anything like today.
My grandma doesn’t want to get rid of the dog. My grandpa feels like he needs to go before something else happens. I’m torn, because I don’t want him to hurt the cat again. I told my grandma that they need to be separated at all times. But other than bothering the cat, his biggest problem is just jumping on people. He’s not aggressive towards us.
I’m stuck in the middle because I feel like she never should’ve gotten this dog in the first place, and he crossed a huge line with what he did to the cat. But, he has made a lot of improvements in most areas. I also feel like he would do great as the only pet in the household. The cat is 18 and when we took him to the vet, we found out he has heart issues, and he is only 5lbs, which is very different from his typical weight of 12-13lbs. We don’t know how much longer he has left.
I’m not sure what the right thing to do is. I’m open to any suggestions, I just want to hear other opinions on this. Thanks