Need help from GLP family: dog and cat owners--adopting new dog into household with a cat

Yes keep hium a while in there first, so the cats get used to the sound and smell. Give the dog something that smells like the cat so you can get a first impression on how he reacts.

If everything else fails, shoot the cat and keep the dog.

yup keep him crated for a while and get him to understand his boundaries in the house...

make sure the cat has a place to go hide where she/he feels safe, if doggy starts barking insanely at kitty keep them separated til he starts to understand that is bad behavior...

take your time and be patient too! =D

hhhmm
That is a hard one. My cat is a scaredy cat also.


Maybe you could put your dog in a crate and have the cat sniff outside the crate.

But I see probs. The cat would hide for hrs leaving the poor dog in the crate.

The dog barks at the cat so the cat runs and hides again.

Dang. I would suggest putting the dog in a room and let them sniff thru the bottom of the door. But i see the same probs.

I brought my scaredy cat in as a kitten and he wasn't scaredy then.

Sorry. Maybe close the door to the cat's fav hiding place. Mine hides under beds.

Be prepared to give the cat extra tlc he might get mad and get even.

No, the cat is sweet. She has suffered enough already. Someone had her fully declawed ... Also, the dog is staying with a foster family now that has six cats and he is afraid of the cats.

Coat the cat with bacon grease and the dog with tuna, they will become best friends...

at our house the cat pretty much runs the lower floor and the dog runs the upstairs floor.

and then she waits until he goes to bed at night so she can roam upstairs

he is a dachshund and can't get off our bed at night

but during the day he likes to chase her when he can.

Last Edited by Anubis on 07/14/2010 10:23 AM

I am a firm believer in crates, we have a german shepherd who we used one as a puppy for house breaking etc. He now freely goes into it, and loves it.

Do not think of it as doggy jail. We think of it as a doggie safety zone. The kitty and doggie will work things out, and control is an important factor in successful introductions to the dog, cat and family.

Last Edited by Lisette The Compassionate on 07/14/2010 10:24 AM

If you want to have fun with a fully declawed cat, wait until it's in the middle of a freshly polished hardwood floor and jump out from behind a wall and scare the fuck out of it...fun as hell...

Oh i bet they will be just fine then!

Oh i bet they will be just fine then!

lol
thanks for the good advice so far--but not re shooting the cat.

Oh, don't over analyze this, OP. Bring the dog home, let it have run of the house to sniff and learn and sniff some more....the cat will be fine. It might live behind the washing machine for a few days, but it'll eventually come out.

I've done this MANY times with different dogs and cats...THEY adapt just fine....it's we HUMANS who turn it into a big hairy scarey deal :)

Yeah with what op posted about them both being timid...im betting they will steer clear of eachother for a while...might become best buds in the end tho

that's what we're hoping for. i have visions of them both snuggled up in the cat's cozy cot (it's actually a fleece dog bed that she loves to sleep in). But who knows, I have been delusional before!
thanks guys.

Actually, the best idea is to select a room in the house whose door you can leave open all the time, and where there's a place to hide. Your bedroom, for example.

Then, keep the cat in there for a week, while the dog adjusts to the house. See how she's doing after a week.

The two animals will get used to each other's scents and presence.

Then put the dog into the crate, and let the cat out for two or three hours per day for the next week. At the end of the second week, you should be able to let them both out and be around each other.

We have a cat and a dog too, they are not best friends but respect eachother...

We've had two small Corgi mix dogs, one larger Pit Bull mix, two indoor cats, six outdoor cats, chickens, ducks and tortoises, and most of them arrived at different times, and all but one cat (who thought she was a princess and shouldn't have to be subjected to the riff-raff) ended up getting along just fine. We got to where there wasn't enough room on the bed for my husband and I because all the dogs and three of the cats wanted to be there, all snuggled up together.

Our only real "trick" was to actually "introduce" them to each other. He'd hold one and I'd hold the other, we'd tell them the other's name, then pet and scratch them alternately, telling them "this is a gooood kitty", "this is a gooood doggie".

Of course, as soon as we'd let them go, they'd head for opposite ends of the house, but it didn't take long before they all understood that this was their family. Other than that introduction, we never forced them to be anywhere they didn't want to be, and they all had neutral corners they could retreat to. That helps.

A lot depends on the animal's own personality, just like people, but there really shouldn't be a problem, at least not one that lasts very long. We'd try to bring new ones in when someone would be home most of the time, like a weekend or vacation. Just us being there helped.

Good luck and congrats on your new addition.


ETA: Before the introductions, we'd keep the others elsewhere while we showed the newcomer where the food and water was and let him/her fill up and sniff around the common area, a bit, so they already knew there were "others" there.

Last Edited by Little Penguin on 07/14/2010 10:42 AM

this

Hopefully the dog you adopted is not of the hunting breed. Case in point....

I own two Miniature Schnauzers, which are believe it or not, hunting breed. One is a twenty pound male and the other is a 14 pound female. I also own one female calico cat that is fortunately declawed (before everyone goes into a tirade about how "terrible" it is to declaw a cat...too bad it's done and my furniture stays intact). Both dogs, at least once a day, will hunt down what they consider the "furry rodent." The male will catch, flip and pin the cat to the floor. The cat, while she is pinned, will reach up and bat the snout of the male with her left and right paw. each time she hits him he looks down at her like "Is that all you got?" Meanwhile the female stands off and barks her head off, occasionally taking a nip from the hind quarters of the cat. A real circus! I have done everything under the sun to break them of this in short of a newspaper, which I would never hit them, or make the cat taste (or smell) unappealing. To no avail. I finally resolved that the breed is what it is.

Good luck!

We have a very large greyhound/deerhound cross although he was 12 weeks old when we brought him into the house. He is petrified of the cat - who has all his claws (de-clawing is not done here unless for medical reasons) and the cat uses them regularly! He bats the dog on the nose every morning to let him know who's boss.

We sprayed him with water, from behind, every time he even showed the slightest interest in the cat as the cat was here first and had tenancy rights! If this is an older dog then a crate or even keeping him on a leash when the cat is around is a good idea. If the dog is in the crate then the cat will feel safe enough to investigate. Never let the dog worry the cat, even in play, until you are confident nothing will happen and never leave them alone in the same room. Also, be alert when the cat is outside as even dogs that live with cats may chase them outside as they think they are fair game outdoors.

I have heard of ex-racing hounds even being able to be cat-trained so unless your dog turns out to be a real, no hope, small furry chaser you will be okay.

Yeah, I like this too.
Thank you all for your great advice and good wishes. I knew I could count on you guys.
To the poster with the schnauzers, this dog is supposed to be a Shi Tzu, Yorkie and Poodle mix. Apparently rescued from someone who was breeding shi tzus and yorkies when a poodle snuck in and ... well you know the rest. The breeder didn't want the mix he ended up with and a kind soul rescued him and took him as a foster dog.
He seems really sweet but timid, looks like he is smiling, and the foster mom says he rarely barks.

It almost sounds like that's their game and the cat's in on it. We've seen something like that with our bunch. The Corgi/Jack/Chihuahua mix would go outside when he was bored and herd the chickens, but only if the head chicken was in the mood. If she didn't want to be bothered, she'd jump on his back and give him what-for.

When the Pit Bull mix (daughter's dog) came to live with us, she told us that a previous owner had trained her to be mean by attacking chickens and the first time she went into our back yard, she went on full alert when she saw ours. We were extra careful with her, even doing the formal face-to-face "this is a gooood doggie", "this is a gooood chicken (not THAT way)" routine with each chicken and duck. After that, she totally relaxed. She'd still sniff them, sometimes, more out of curiosity, but we could swear that we could see her looking relieved that she didn't have to hurt them, any more. She was almost the biggest baby of all of them.

She went after the mellowest one of the cats, once (this cat was almost a dog, himself), chased the cat into our daughter's room, where the cat apparently made a stand 'cause a few seconds later we heard a mighty YELP and the dog came running back out with a huge scratch across her nose. After about a week of avoiding each other, they became best friends.

Also, be alert when the cat is outside as even dogs that live with cats may chase them outside as they think they are fair game outdoors.




The cat never goes out because she doesn't have claws, and we live in a wooded urban area--meaning there are cars to run her over and coyotes to eat her. So because of the coyotes the dog probably won't be out much by himself either. Also lots of deer in our yard and am a bit concerned about ticks.

Oh, and by the way, the method I suggested was taught to me by a veterinarian. It worked really, really well for us (although it was two cats, not a cat and dog-- two cats that just HATED each other at first).

I own two Miniature Schnauzers, which are believe it or not, hunting breed
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When we got our Lab puppy 6 years ago, being a Bird Dog, I had to make him afraid of birds: we have three parrots.

So, I held him tightly to introduce him to the big macaw - she lunged and hissed at him (which is what I WANTED her to do - lol) so he learned right away to Stay Away. I knew she wouldn't bite him, maybe a good beak peck and that's it.

Have done this with the three cats in the house, too - they know that them inside birds AIN'T like the outside birds...

Keep the dog outside on a chain (where it belongs). Never let the cat out of the house, where they belong (that is why they call them house cats). The cat deserves to be safe and stress free. Cats can die from stress. Be nice to your kitty, dogs can handle the outside and are safe on chains. That is why they sell "dog" chains, and not cat chains.

I stand corrected...I should had said "ratting." *Which can be every bit aggressive as a hunter...hmmm?

This^^ also we have a attached to the wall baby gate that the cats can fit under but the dogs can't on the doorway to the cat room (where the box and food are) this way the cats always have a safe spot to go to if they want time away from the dogs

hi,
first i would explain to your cat that it's gaining a brother that is a dog and that the cat shouldn't see it as a threat but as a family member.
do the same with the dog...explain that the cat is not dinner or a play thing but a family member.

hold your dog and let the cat sniff it...
hold cat and let dog sniff it.

maybe at first you could put them both in a separate crate so they can see each other and sniff. you'll have to trial and error.

eventually they'll both figure it out. chances are the cat will scare your dog enough to not even bother the cat too much.

i've lived with cats and dogs and they always figured out more or less how to be friendly to each other or at least leave each other alone.
good luck.