Cats and dogs together - experiences?

B

bex1984

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 February 2007
Messages
5,745
Location
Leicestershire
Visit site
OH and I are considering getting a dog - we want a small dog so it is likely to be something terrier-ish. We already have 2 cats, who as far as I know (they were rescues) haven't lived with a dog before.

The downstairs of our house is totally open plan, but the dog wouldn't be allowed upstairs (we will put a stairgate in), so the cats would be able to get away up there.

Just wondering how other people's cats have reacted on getting a dog? any advice?

We do want to get a puppy, I want it to get used to the cats from an early age and will be aiming to buy one from a home which has cats (not asking much, I know!) so that it has seen and smelled them from day one.

Really I am looking for some reassurance that the cats (who are laid back, mainly indoor cats) will be OK...
 
Ive always found the best thing to do is to set aside plenty of time when its quiet and then introduce the puppy into the home under supervision.

Cats in general are very good at intimidating puppies and most will hiss, puff up and have a good spit which is usually enough to get a pup to back off in the beginning. It may be that the pup will get a bat on the nose but IME cats rule the house.

However I wouldnt leave my spaniel pup alone in the house with cat access. She is 8 months now and I know full well that she would get over excited and lose the plot, chasing the cats round the house until something got broken!

All our animals get on well, thats the rules - even FOR the chickens who are happy for the cats to go in the hen house for a sleep!
 
I've got two semi feral rescue cats that spend fair bit of time inside but won't be handled and we recently (3months) took on a rescue dog.

Didn't have a clue how they would get along but it's been fine, we kept the cats in solid for a week to get used to the dog and vice versa and it couldn't have gone any better.

The cats have upstairs and the dog mainly stays in the lounge, we feed in seperate rooms and they get on ok.

I would say that we were given advice on here to go for an older dog as puppies can be a bit of a nightmare for cats, just exuberant youthfulness I guess so I'm glad we went for an older dog who just isn't interested in the cats and doesn't chase them.

We also haven't needed a stairgate as dog quickly realised it wasn't allowed upstairs.
 
We had our two cats before we had Jack.

We made upstairs a cat 'haven' and Jack is not allowed up there at all. We also made sure the first introduction was calm and for a while they weren't in the same room unsupervised. Our cats beat Jack up a bit when he was little but since they just ignore each other (except when he gets too close to the older one and she goes for him).

With you looking to get a terrorist I'd also make sure you nip any chasing in the bud. Jack does it a little bit but only if they run, being a herding breed he is litterally trying to herd them and if they stand still he doesn't bother. I'd be worried about a terrorists 'kill' instinct kicking in.
 
We had our 2 cats before Herman arrived. Elmo (Norwegian Forest) gets on well with him, they play together and then when Elmo gets bored he just climbs up onto one of his cat trees and ignores him. Belly (Siamese) HATES him with a passion and tells him so, loudly and continuously. If she ignored him, he'd ignore her :rolleyes:

Both cats are indoor cats. Their food and water is up high so the dog can't get at it (and, to be fair, he isn't that interested, unless it's a tin or a pouch which they don't get very often). Their litter tray is between the stairs and a wall - it's a covered one - so he can't eat what is in there.

The only issue is Belly and I swear it's due to her breed :rolleyes: If she just walked by him quietly, he would stay on the floor. As it is, she commando-walks by, yowling and chuntering, so he gets up to see what her issue is. Then she has a hissy, spitty fit and all hell breaks loose. The only time he's worth paying attention to is when she's in season, but this is a cat who spent her last season calling to a cushion.

:sigh: I can't wait to get them back when we're home, I've missed them :(
 
Last edited:
I think we'd move the cats food and water upstairs, and their litter tray is up there in the bathroom anyway. They sleep on the landing all night and most of the day, so a downstairs-dog shouldn't disrupt their lives too much....I hope...

OH and I both work full time, but have flexible hours and work within about 5 mins drive of home, so could pop home during the day, but I am a little worried about leaving cats + dog unsupervised when we're out. Hopefully they'll get on and then dog can have free rein of downstairs plus garden via the cat flap. In the short term I'm thinking of getting a large pen, complete with bed, toys etc as we're not able to shut the mutt in a separate room - has anyone done this?

I think we're going to have to work at training from day one that cats are not to be chased - but that's fine, one of the reasons we want a dog is to train it! I suspect my female cat will put a puppy in its place pretty sharpish, and male cat will just...sleep!! I think we'll get them one of those scratching posts with a ledge high up for the cats to sleep on downstairs.
 
We have a cat and he loves our dogs. We got him when we had three adult dogs and he was a 6 month old kitten. At first there was lots of spitting and one of the dogs never got over his obsession for the cat, though the cat soon learnt to stand his ground. He has since been introduced to 5 puppies and each time has put it in it's place pretty quickly.
The only thing you have to be careful of it's cat's scratching at the dog's face with it's claws out. Ours never does this normally but did once and caught the dog in the eye.

Unfortunately Otto was too big and boisterous when he first met the cat and the cat has never stood up to him, so Otto is obsessed with chasing him. However today he recieved a good wallop off the cat, and does seem a bit worried by him now :D

With the dogs he is used to, the cat loves them! He plays with them, runs behind them if another cat comes into the garden looking for a fight, curls up and sleeps with them and generally acts like another dog! It's funny as our dogs wouldn't chase our cat, but any other cat is fair game to them!
 
Short answer.

N - lovely, treated them like her little pets.

B&B - CARNAGE!

Wish we'd done more work with them sooner. They've both caught both of the cats and the cats have bashed them, but they still want to chase. I can recall them now though :p
 
We got our cat when we already had Peanuts & Beezle but both of them were puppies. They literally grew up together and are totally fine now, Jazz (the cat) ignores them most of the time (you can clearly sense this feeling of feline superiority...) but at times she likes to play with their tails if they are wagging on the floor!!!!!

After about 4 years we introduced Florimell (as a puppy). Jazz wasn't happy at first and there was a lot of hissing etc but they got on pretty quickly and now they actually spend a lot of time playing, really funny to watch - Florimell chasing Jazz and one second later Jazz chasing Florimell.

The whole of the house is open to all animals, but Jazz can always find some 'privacy' from the dogs as she can jump on desks etc. - her favourite spot is in the office (highest room of the house...), on the desk, on top of the printer/fax machine (!).

zydk0i.jpg
 
Thanks follks, good to hear positive experiences :) My cats are odd - they really don't behave like cats and have quite a few dog-like behaviours, so it may be that they have met dogs before but I don't know much about the 1st year of their lives before I got them.
 
We got a 9 week old lurcher puppy a year ago and already had a very laid back cat but not sure if he's ever had any experience of dogs. After a few hisses and smacks round the face if the dog got too close we've not really had any problems although the dog does want to "play" with the cat and even brings toys to him, she does chase him but not agressively, it is only done in play and they have even been known to share a sofa. We keep the cats food behind the stairgate and he tends to spend most of his time upstairs, although does sometimes go into the dogs crate to drink her water!!! We got another lurcher yesterday who is 8 months old and so far he has paid no attention at all to the cat so fingers crossed all will be well!
 
Hello,

Got Winston, a cocker pupppy, a couple of months ago to join two 9month kittens and one 2yo cat. Older cat had experienced dogs on farm before i got her and kittens were with a tin chihaua x yorkie who they grew to ignore.

When WInston came home he got beaten up by older and one of the kittens, older cat diaapeared for the night. Grew to cope with him, the two kittens now seem to like him most of the time, he stands on top of them and sometimes plays with them.

The cats can all get out of his way as he is not allowed on sofas or upstairs. He doesn't chase the cats in house and everyone will sit on the floor together. Older cat regularily hits him. Winston has his crate to get away from them but i think they sometimes stick their paws in. If you put the food in the wrong place then the cats can reach through with their paws and pick it out a piece at a time!

In he garden he will chase the kittens but i think htey usually encourage this, he has been taught leave it which usually gets him off them, but i am keen to get this perfect. The kittens sit just out of reach of the scary staffies next door to tease them.

Poppy and WInston
puppies003.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top