Dogs and cats in same home?

[allmycats]

I've posted recently about possibly getting a dog. I have cats so I have to be careful of what kind of dog I get.

how many of you have dogs AND cats? which did you get first, was the dog a puppy when you got it, or did you get them both as a puppy/kitten at same time? those of you that have both, what kind of dogs do you have?
how do they get along together, how do the cats react to the dogs?

thanks.

[chocolatepuppy]

I have three dogs and two cats. The cats were here first. As I brought each puppy home, the cats put them in their place , so to speak. My dogs are forbidden to chase or rough house with my cats. All in all, they get along well.
I did however, when I got my first cat Sassy, have a 90# dog and they got along great. I never left them alone together for quite a while though to be sure.

[blue]

I have 1 cat and 2 dogs. Erp the Cat was here for 6 months before I brought Blue home, at that time Erp was bigger then Blue. Erp taught Verde who was boss within the first few days Verde was home.

When I was a teen I had a pair of kittens, and my stepmom had a confirmed cat killing dog. That dog helped raise my kittens.

[cloverfdx]

4 dogs (well 6 with my Mum's) and 1 cat live here, everyone gets along fine. The cat is the boss, and the dogs do as she says or risk getting smacked in the head with sharp kitty claws .

[Freedom]

LOL, take a look at my siggy for your answer!

I had 5 cats here, then added dogs and cats. Cats were adults, dogs were adults. Then added a few kittens.

If you adopt from a rescue, the foster parents will test the dog with cats to be sure they get along.

If you adopt from a shelter, SOME of them will also test the dog around cats for you.

Its' tough, because you have basically decided on which dog you want, and then it may not happen. But it is best all around.

Some breeds are high prey drive (terriers for example). But even with in breeds, some dogs may be high prey drive. (And some high prey drive breeds may have a dog with low drive.)

Bichons have little to no prey drive. And yet, I had 2 foster dogs who thought cats were edible! Hectic 48 hours while we lined aup another foster home for them. I've had 11 bichons through here who were all find with cats. But bichons are high maintenance dogs, I am not suggesting you get one, may not be for you. Just explaining how things work.

In my house, CATS RULE! Although they will all sleep together on my bed, it is clear the cats are in charge. Marlin will stand at the water bowl and whine, waiting for a cat to leave. RB Vita used to just sit there when she was done, grooming, looking at the ceiling, just teasing him! The dogs usually get the message after one bop on the nose. The second (or sometimes the 3rd) time, the cat will swat with nails OUT and that definitely gets the message across.

[Andie]

At one point we had 3 dogs and 2 cats in this house. I have to boast that we had it easy.

We had Fluffy looooong (8 years) before we had the dogs then we got Katie as a pup. Needless to say she was not amused but after breaking up a couple fights Kate got the point that Fluff was the boss. Next came Bull pretty much an adult (9 months is the vet's guesstimate) after a few curious sniffs he ignored the cat. Soon after came Isis who learned very quickly from Fluffy how to train the dogs. Finally here came Duke. Duke has the highest prey drive of all the dogs. If it moves Duke will chase and possibly kill it. It took a veeerrryy long 6 months after we moved back in of chasing Duke while he chased Isis to convince him that she is not prey. After too many bops on the nose to count, nape grabbing, barking, hissing, yelling, and whacking my brother in the head a few times (he wasn't helping the problem teaching Duke to chase the cat) we are a big happy family again. Dogs ignore the cat, cat ignores the dogs, everyone knows their places. I even caught Duke and Isis sleeping on the bed side by side touching paws though that could have just been their shared interest in spreading as much light hair on my black sheets as possible. I'll take peace and teamwork any day though.

You just have to be watchful and patient.

[FurkidsMom]

I've had cats all my life (at least two and at times 3). I got my first dog 4 years ago. She's a border collie mix and had been around cats. However, she still barks and will chase a cat up the street if she sees it yet pays no attention whatever to the ones living w/her. She seems to know they are part of the deal and just ignores them. My cats took about a week to settle w/it but never hissed or clawed Mickey. They did stay up on their perches a bit more but after about a week, they pretty much ignored her as well. That's my experience anyway.

[kokopup]

I have one dog Koko, a Lab/Golden mix, that is 100 pounds of sweetness and her best friend is Rascal a smallish TUX. They are always together and to watch them play you would think that Rascal would be badly injured. They wrestle and play almost endlessly and neither has ever been hurt. You can see pictures of them together in their album in my profile. They were both grown when Rascal came to our house as a rescue and they were friends from day one.

[mruffruff]

I have 2 dogs and 12 cats. The dogs were here first. One is Chow/Belgian Shepherd mix about 50 pounds and the other is a 22 pound Polish sheep dog. The cats were all strays, mostly feral. The cats have their own room with a gate to keep the dogs out but let the cats roam.

I only had to discipline the dogs a couple of times. The water bottle worked. The cats always had a way to escape so they felt secure. Now they all get along just fine---mostly ignoring each other. Even the ferals aren't afraid of the dogs. But it took a couple of years to get to this point.

[happylabs]

I have one dog, Casey, who is 13. She was about 6 or 7 years old when I got my first cat and she was a major cat hater (at least I thought she was) until I got Kit-Kat. I was concerned about what Casey would do to Kit Kat so I kept them separated for about a week. Casey got into the room by accident where I had Kit Kat and all she really wanted to do was sniff her. After that they were best of buddies. I have had 2 litters of kittens in my home since then and also now have a total of 4 cats. They all get along and the cats love the dog. Three of the cats I now have will lay with the dog in my bed or on the couch or one of the pet beds. The cats will come up to Casey and rub their head into her. Buddy will walk alongside Casey rubbing his head all along her body, turn around and come back rubbing on her. They also talk to each other. I know this because Buddy will come in, meow at Casey and she will get off of the couch and bark at me!