Cats and dogs - question

[slleipnir]

I'm only posting right now cause I have a question I need to know.

I was curious if anyone has had a dog or 2 (anywhere around 2-5 yrs old) and introduced a young cat to them? I really want Kiba to come live at my dads. I don't have the time to go see her at my moms and I don't think its fair for her to be there when my mom works everyday. My mom is always complaining shes destroying everything. I doubt my dad would allow it, he says he wouldn't. But I think if I took her over and they all got alone good he wouldn't mind. I took her over once and let the dogs see her for like 2 mins. Josie looked like she wanted to either just smell her or attack her. Wasn't sure. I think Zeke would be ok. They've never seen a cat right up before..so I'm worried. I wouldn't chance it if either dog would hurt her.

She bothers my older cat a lot too. Always wanting to play. I figured she could play with the dogs all she wanted (Zeke is the same) but do cats and dogs play like that? And how would the dogs know not to bite her hard so not to hurt her? I was thinking of taking her over in her carrier and letting them smell her while shes in it..any sugestions? Is it possible or does it depend on the dog?? Anyone else do this?

[Aspen and Misty]

I would keep the dog's on a leash and introduce them one at a time. If you have a head halter that works great. When introducing Nova to my sisters puppy I put her head halter on, and as I suspected Nova went to bite him, but I had full controlle over her head so she wasn't able to.

I also have introduced Nova (not sure how old she is) to Sada, who is a kitten. They got along great. I used the head halter though.

Ash

[aly]

The techniques to introduce cats and dogs really depend on each of their personalities.

I adopted Lolly when she was 5 years old. She had never lived with a cat and her background information at the shelter said that she barked at cats who she saw out the window. It was a bit of a rocky start, but thankfully it worked out.

The carrier technique can work, but I generally put the dog in the carrier and let the cat check the dog out. I don't like to make the cat feel trapped because generally its the cat who is afraid of the dog. After they've gotten used to each others' scents, I would take the dog out on leash and see how the dog reacts.

Its definately a slow process. The most important thing to be sure of is that the dog is not cat-aggressive. It won't matter if the cat doesn't like the dog so much because the cat will probably get used to the dog in time. I wouldn't allow them together unsupervised for at least a month to be on the very SAFE side.

[catnapper]

We had a black lab mix that passed away a few years ago. She was about 5 when we introduced Allen to her. At first, she wanted to EAT Allen because she never met a cat.. and it looked like dinner to her. We kept Allen locked in a spare bedroom and introduced each other slowly. After a few weeks, they were allowed to spend extended time together and became best buddies (they slept cuddled together... it was soo sweet.) Allen went into a depression after Sammie passed away

About a year after we introduced Allen and Sammie, we introduced Nicki into our hme. Nicki lived with my parents and never met a cat before. We didn't need to separate Nicki and Allen for nearly as long because Allen immediately realized that Nicki was a wimp and he started to be boss of her!

[aly]

I forgot to mention that my childhood dog was an only pet for 13 years when I found Shiloh and introduced her into the house. It went VERY smoothly surprisingly enough!

So there is hope! Good luck.

[Rottieluver45]

PJ and Bailey have been here b/4 barclay got here. He was really little and they were fine with eachother. Barclay greew up and now he and Bailey are the best of friends. Sometimes Bailey will play with him and try to clean his ears. If she`s away from him for a looong time, when she gets back and sees him she goes crazy.

[slleipnir]

Well, I don't know if they are cat aggressive as they've never really seen one up close before..

Kiba, (kitten) I can't see her being afraid of the dogs. She isn't afraid of anything O_O I don't think I could lock the dogs up..it's their home after all. I think I'll take Kiba over just to see what happens. I'm pretty sure Zeke will be fine with it. Not sure about Jo, but I'm worried if they do get along..what if the dogs play to rough and hurt Kiba? I love her so much, I don't want her to get hurt.


I'll be so happy if she can live here. My 3 favorite things in one spot I think my dads place would be better for her too. It's much bigger..

[aly]

Thats why its good to supervise them for the first several weeks. Then you can make sure they won't play rough. If they do, Kiba will most likely give them a smack or two and tell them thats not allowed.

[slleipnir]

I figured she'd do that, but also that it might annoy the dogs I really dont know anything about this stuff O_O

[slleipnir]

Yeah, it didn't go well Kiba doesn't like dogs at all...She hissed at Zeke and tried to scratch him (he was just wanting to smell her). I was holding Kiba and dad Zeke. I thought I'd just show her one for for a few seconds for today..I doubt she'll ever live here but it would be cool if they'd get along incase I ever needed too...

[boscibo]

I've done it. It takes time. At first we put up a door (bi fold) so the cats were separated from the dogs, and across the other doorway we put in a swinging door so the cats could fit under and access the dog part of the house but also escape to the cat side if they wanted. The dogs were not allowed on the cats side. We have a large fenced yard, so I didn't feel too guilty about taking a little house space away from them.

Then when I got Hanna, I closed the access because she was a squirrley little kitten, and Bandit the dog is old and grumpy. She was separated from the dogs until she matured a little, but now all animals have full house access and it is going OK. Everyone gets along, and the cats respect the dogs' space. The dogs are even a little timid around the cats - we don't allow them to chase, harrass or growl at the cats. I learned the hard way that even a little dog bite can be life threatening to a cat, so be sure to keep a close eye and make sure there is no incidents of a dog snapping at the cat. A dog can easily kill a cat with one snap, so that is why I was so careful.