Bringing a dog into a home with a cat

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thorney84

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I have a beautiful kitty cat that i love to bits but i have'nt had a dog for about 12 years and want to seriously consider having one but want to make sure all is well first.
Have any of you had a cat in the home and then brought in a dog? And if so how did it go?
 
We did it, brought Jack home when we already had two cats.

They mostly just kept out of each others way and the older cat beat him up when he got too close. He now tries to get one to play with him like he would a dog and she just bats him with her paw but the other runs away from him and he tried to herd her, which results in faster running and on the rare occasion he gets close enough, him getting beaten up and running away!

I'm not sure I'd introduce an adult dog unless the cats were used to dogs though. Bringing a puppy in gave the cats a chance to put him in his place.
 
I on the other hand would much rather introduce an adult rescue dogs who is proven with cats.

A puppy can be to much for a cat that isn't use to living with dogs.

An older dog that is good with or has lived with cats before will know the cats always rule the roost and after an introduction will usually not make a deal out of it.

I would suggest going to a rescue place and telling them you want a dog that must be good with cats.
 
When I was a child many eons ago(!):D we had a male cat for about 3 years when we got our first dog. Tbh from what I can remember, the cat treated the pup with utter disdain and ignored him for a good while. There were never any scraps or 'incidents' between them, they just co-existed with us. Although after Ben died, puss cat did mourn for him, so there must have been some sort of affection between them!
 
I recently took on a rescue dog.he was 7 months old at the time and I have 5 cats at home.I have had him now for almost a month and with 3 of the cats within 2 weeks they tolerated each other really well.In fact 2 of the cats are already quite happy to snuggle up next to the dog.The other 2 cats are still somewhat wary and prefer to avoid the dog although he has never done anything to make them wary of him.it is just their instincts kicking in.They are getting better but I am told it can sometimes take months for a cat to accept a dog.It really all boils down to the dogs and cats personalities.
 
I have done it on several occasions and have never had a problem at all. I have lurchers and was told they were not good with small furries. I simply let the cats come and go as they wanted and the dogs were told off in no uncertain terms if they chased the cat. took me 2 days and the lurchers accepted that my cats were not to be attacked. They still stalked them and trfied to get them to play but never with any agression. The cats just swatted the dogs and a few red noses and order restored again. I currently have 2 lurchers and a tom cat( neutered) and they adore each other. The cat lives outside and sits by the back door everymorning waiting for the dogs to appear. he rubs himself over both dogs wanders into he kitchen, helps himself to some of their dried food, they poke him, then off to turn out horses. Bob was a rescue cat, Boz an old lurcher (12) and Poppy a 6 month old puppy when we got Bob as a year old cat. Boz had lived with my cats before , Poppy hadn't seen a cat and Bob had never been with dogs apparantly. They just all got on. Bob trusts my dogs completely even though they squash him, and lick him and chase him, never once has he given them bloody noses, but woe betide an liveries dog that gets too close, he makes mincemeat of them.

Set the ground rules the second the new dog sees the cat and make sure they learn the word 'leave' and 'no' immediately. If you have got a laid back tom who will stand his ground and not run then fantastic - your job is halfway done.
 
I have just taken on a 3 yr old lurcher girl from the Dogs Trust. We have had our rescue cat just over 2 yrs. The cat has been very dominant from the start and has given the dog a few slaps on the backside. We are only a week in but they are learning to live along side each other. I have been lucky in that my cat stands his ground and doesn't run off encouraging any chasing!
 
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