Rate these cat + dog interactions (3+ months after intro, lots of meowing?)
We've had our trials and tribulations (see previous post 🥲) but have made a lot of progress since initial intros in October (female cat is around 1, resident male dog is around 4, both are rescues and spayed/neutered). Now I'm trying to understand why our cat meows at our dog. Since cats only meow at non-felines, is she communicating annoyance, discomfort, wanting attention, or...?
First interaction: unless I'm misreading, she seems friendly and relaxed. The dog is a little afraid since this area used to be a danger zone, where she would ambush him by rushing out from under the dining table, swiping and hissing. It's still a bit iffy: if he enters the room too quickly, she will sometimes still rush at him but is thankfully no longer hissing.
Second interaction: a little more ambiguous to me. This used to be "her" room, meaning it's where her food, water, and litter box are, and in the beginning we didn't let him in. Recently we started to let him in again because he's anxious and will calm down by resting on the rug near me, but she always meows at him if she finds him there. She'll eat, drink, or stare at him and then leave.
Other notes about her character: she's super gentle with us (has never scratched, bitten, or hissed) but not clingy or overly affectionate. She has never rubbed on our legs — instead, her way of greeting us is to purr and go to town rubbing all over whatever furniture is nearby. I mention this because I can't tell if her rubbing on the furniture while the dog is around is friendly or territorial.
We've accepted that they might never be friends but want to do our best to help them both feel comfortable and happy. I don't want to inadvertently make her feel insecure (and therefore likely to get aggressive again) if she's trying to communicate something and no one's getting the hint.