Dogs and cats in same home?

[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.